How to Read a Floor Plan - the drawing sheet

This is the first part in a series about understanding design and construction drawings. It's fairly common to work on a museum project and have folks at the table who aren't familiar with architectural drawings. Most of us are in that boat who haven't studied architecture (I know I was). Yet these same people are put in the position to make key decisions based on these plans, so it's important for them to be able to decode what they are seeing. Floor plans can be used at various stages in the museum planning process- from schematic all the way to final design. For the moment, we'll focus on scaled architectural plans. Let's start with the basics [click here to see the notes]: The Title Block: shown above is a blank drawing sheet with a title block and drawing label. The title block gives you the big picture information on the drawing. Such as: who the drawing is for, who made it, what project it is about, what phase of the project, and what the overall sheet is describing (a floor plan, an exhibit, or a component). The Drawing Label indicates what that particular item is, what type of view it is (a plan, an elevation), the scale, and the number. This number is important because often on a plan you will see a number in a circle pointing to something. On a plan, that directs you to the sheet and drawing on that sheet where you can find the details for that component. FYI, there can be several drawing labels on a sheet, but on a floor plan, there is usually only the plan. Next up on this topic: we'll delve into the sheet to sheet references mentioned above.