Construction drawings-from model to building


When you have a design worked out in detail, you need construction drawings (CD’s) to guide the builder. CD’s are a description of how the final building should be: materials, dimensions, connections… They do NOT describe the construction sequence to follow or how to make all the pieces to achieve the final result. That is where the skills of the builder come in.

The elevations (north and east) are pretty easy to read. The posts and beams are drawn the size they will actually be. They are thinner than in the model. I couldn’t cut the foam core thin enough to represent the actual size.

The enlarged detail cross section shows how some of the pieces go together. It is drawn larger to show more detail. CD’s use drawings at progressively bigger scales to show larger and larger detail of the critical areas where the different pieces come together.This section shows the beams at the top of the deck, the deck handrails, the decking and supporting beams.

The framing plan is a little confusing. It shows a plan view (looking down) of
the beams that support the second floor decking. Every beam is shown as a single line, the posts are shown as squares. The sizes of the posts, beams and connectors (nails,
hangers or bolts) are explained with notes.

These CD’s are blueline prints.
Although widely associated with architects and buildings, blueprints haven’t been widely used for about 50 years. They were replaced by blueline prints. Where a blueprint turned black lines into white lines on a deep blue background, bluelines have dark blue lines on a light blue background. Both prints were created by shining light through drawings on translucent paper, onto photo-sensitive paper. They have been replaced by inkjet prints of digital drawings, and xeroxes or scans of pencil drawings. These bluelines have aged a little, you can see some yellowing on the detail section and framing plan.