Architectural Drawing

One issue that I have with architectural drawing was mentioned briefly in a recent article from the Journal of Architectural Education entitled On Obeying the Rules by Michael Webb.  The first paragraph of this article is especially interesting to me.  The author states "We, the survivors of architecture school curricula, are all too familiar with the syntax that applies to the making of orthographic projection drawings. We follow a universally accepted set of conventions that, when applied, makes drawings easier to read—at least by other survivors. For example, the section and the elevation are to be placed above the plan, not beneath it; or lines defining the edge of a plane should be stronger than those not defining the edge.  But if the depiction of motion, that fluctuating concern of architects since the Futurist movement, is what we would wish to represent in our drawings, then a relentless adherence to those conventions results in the drawing becoming not easier to read, but interestingly difficult."  In other words, while these universally accepted set of conventions allow the drawings to be easier to read by individuals who have gone through the architectural school curricula, they make it more difficult for others, including users and clients, to read.  From the few architectural drawings that I have been exposed to it is not the organization of drawings on the page or heaviness of a line that makes it difficult to read.  Instead it is the lack of labeling and legends or keys.  For example, if one were to look at a graph the legend labels what each color corresponds to.  This is often understood by architects such that the legend is entirely left out.  If these elements were included it might make the drawing more understandable.

After publishing this entry a friend pointed out that I neglected to mention that just like architectural writing, audience is important to architectural drawing.  One must write or draw to one's audience.  If the audience is other architects than it's totally fine for drawings to lack labels, legends and such.  If, however, the audience is non-designers of some sort than labels may be more important.