INTRODUCTION
In the previous module, we studied plan drawing and its recording of a building through its spatial orders, geometries, and various sequences. This information on a building is abstract in essence, as a graphic flattening of a horizontal condition, and does not reflect our human sensory experience of the building.
This module, as we rotate our picture plane 90 degrees, we will study and record buildings on a vertical plane of projection—through elevation and section drawings, which closer reflects our typical experience of a building.
Module Learning Objectives Explore correspondence between plan and section and elevation drawings.
Identify how to construct section and elevation drawings from plans.
Readings Francis Ching, Design Drawing, Chapter 6: Pictorial Systems, 135–161
Architectural Graphics, Franics Ching – Sections and Elevations (PDF,
4207.6 kb)
Module Coursework Read and view all module content and media in the pages that follow.
Complete all items in any Graded Coursework, Other Activities, and Quizzes and Exams areas included in this module.
Strategies for Success It is recommended that before reading this module, you will complete the assigned reading for this module.
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Student-drawn conceptual section drawings (UCSLO)
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Student-drawn conceptual section drawings (UCSLO)
SECTIONS
Photo and cross-section drawing of a pepper
As a conceptual “slice” through a building, the section reveals the interior condition, and potentially the relationship of the various spaces within a structure. In this way, it is similar to a plan drawing—the section providing a snapshot that orients one at a particular moment in the building in relation to its adjacent spaces (in this case, spaces both next to as well as above and below you) that are not normally visible or apparent.
Distinct from a plan, however, the section is visually and conceptually “occupiable”; we can and often do include a human figure within a section drawing and one is able to directly witness how the building and space(s) respond to and accommodate (or not) the body—what is within view, sight, touch, and reach.
The poche of the cut, similar to poche in plan, reveals the profile and form of the interior spaces, their degree of separation (or connection) to each other, and also to the exterior.
The drawing of the space itself behind the section cut, though, reveals the interior elevation—their scale and proportion, their surfaces, materiality, and details—qualities which mirror what we would actually see and experience of the spaces. One is able to communicate, for instance, the quality of light in a space and the solidity and texture of an enclosing wall, as in the following drawing of the Pantheon (introduced in the previous module):
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Here the poche of the structure is lightly colored, while the interior of the building is rendered to reflect the depth of the coffered ceiling modules making up the round dome and the elements and depth as well of the niches and sanctums on the ground level.
The following project is a home by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto that is a rigorous investigation of the possibilities of section driving a design:
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Third floor and roof plan of home Description:
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Exterior of home Description:
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SITE SECTIONS
Section drawings can show us how a building responds to its site. At a smaller scale, the drawing has sufficient space to allow for the section cut to extend to slice the ground beyond the building, and traverse one or both sides of the surrounding context of the building. The drawing is able to depict adjacent buildings, structures, or landscape elements, as well as nearby changes in topography.
By showing the condition of the building section alongside this site information, the drawing reveals the relationship of the various design elements and spaces of the building to its adjacent context. Elements of the design and spaces can continue or extend existing site conditions (such as building heights, or open spaces), inflate or exacerbate particular site conditions (such as ground slopes or building density), or even conflict or contradict existing conditions.
The following building examples reflect different responses to their individual sites, revealed in their section drawing.
Rokko Housing Development, Kobe, Japan by Tadao Ando, 1983–99
The Therme Vals, Switzerland, by Peter Zumthor, 1996
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This housing complex anchors itself into the steep hillside, and mimics the slope to
terrace housing units such that each can have view.
Description:
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Section drawing of Rokko Housing development, by Tadao Ando, 1983 Description:
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Section Drawings of Therme Vals Bath, by Peter Zumthor, 1996
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The building becomes an extension of the groundscape for the hotel above. The building slowly emerges from under the ground.
In this example, the building becomes an extension of the groundscape for the hotel above. The building slowly emerges from under the ground. The way in which light is introduced into the interior spaces reflects this underground condition, where tiny slots of light between the heavy ceiling panels shine intense strips of light onto the richly textured stone walls.
CaixaForum Arts Center, Madrid, Spain by Herzog and de Meuron, 2008
The last project, set within a historic city fabric, responds very differently to its site compared to the previous two examples. The Caixa Forum Arts Center, designed by Swiss firm Herzog and de Meuron in the city of Madrid,
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Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor, 1996 Description:
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One of the semi-underground spaces of the bathhouse, with slits of light entering
from above. Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor, 1996
Description:
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Spain, and completed in 2008, converts and adds to a former power station structure to house art galleries, administrative offices, an auditorium, and a restaurant.
As opposed to following or extending the existing surroundings’ conditions, the architects chose to lift the existing building, and create a “chasm” between the ground and the building—a demonstrably different relationship between building and site than the surrounding buildings. This detachment from the ground allows not just a memorable entry to the building, but also a sizable covered public “plaza.”
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CaixaForum Arts Center, Madrid, Spain by Herzog and de Meuron, 2008 Description:
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Section drawing of CaixaForum Arts Center, Madrid, Spain by Herzog and de Meuron,
2008
Description:
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DETAIL SECTIONS
Section drawings can also deftly illustrate the construction systems and components that make up the building. At a larger scale, the poche—the armature of the building— can be examined beyond simply its role to define spaces and their separations. It is also literally an intentional assemblage of materials that uniquely define and characterize the design and building. As described in Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis’ book, Manual of Section:
“The section illuminates the interplay between a building’s structure and the space framed between foundation and roof. Gravitational loads of structure trace vertically down through a building, with window loads registering lateral loads against the side of a building’s section. The material investment and spatial invention necessary to creatively resist these loads is best explored and depicted through the architectural section.”
Section drawings are often included in construction drawings to explain how different materials and components are intended to come together. In the following example, the section drawing is an essential component of the building’s design.
MIT Chapel, Cambridge, MA by Eero Saarinen, 1955
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Inside a seemingly simple cylindrical volume, Saarinen crafts an exquisite undulating experience of light.
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Within the double-layer wall that creates the cylindrical shape, a slot of space between the wood wainscoting and the brick wall allows light to reflect off the water of the moat outside into the sanctuary.
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This very unique feature can be seen planned into the section drawings of the building:
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Entrance view of shelter for Roman ruins, Peter Zumthor
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Section drawing for shelter for Roman ruins, Peter Zumthor
Shelter for Roman Ruins, Graubunden, Switzerland, Peter Zumthor, 1986
In this example, Zumthor’s detail section drawing of the entry to this humble museum is exquisitely rendered to capture the lightness and materiality of its floating stair.
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Detail axonometric drawing of wall section of MIT Chapel, by Eero Saarinen Description:
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Section Drawing of MIT Chapel by Eero Saarinen Description:
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ELEVATION, PART 1
Building elevations are essentially sections taken at a position outside of a building, with the picture plane set parallel to one side of a building’s exterior vertical surfaces. Principal elevations can be understood as the face of a building, or ‘”façade.” As the very first visual and physical plane typically viewed and engaged by a building user or occupant, the façade often plays a dominant role in one’s experience, memory, and understanding of a building. Whereas a building’s plan is digested bit by bit, by walking through and mentally sequencing and mapping interior spaces, the elevation immediately confronts and divulges itself, in direct relation and scale to one’s own body and senses—visually and physically.
The “face” of a building and its expression of “frontality” has preoccupied architects and their designs for centuries, even at the expense of what lay behind, within the building. Below is the façade of Palazzo Rucellai, designed by Leon Battista Alberti and built in the early period of the Renaissance in the mid- 1400s. In this and a series of other palazzi façades, Alberti reinterpreted and transformed the language of classical architecture utilized in ecclesiastic structures of that time to heighten the prominence and significance of these homes. In the Palazzo Rucellai, the composed symmetry and vertical order of the façade belies the hodge- podge of accrued agglomeration of structures that lie behind that make up the villa, revealed in its side elevation and irregular plan.
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ELEVATION, PART 2
Form Follows Function
In the early twentieth century, as structural innovation and technological progress were transforming how buildings were constructed and designed, this formal frontality was also questioned. Rather than buildings exhibited as emblems of status and power, architects chose to expose and celebrate the everyday condition of living. Buildings sought more transparency between interior and exterior, and the principle “form follows function” grew to dominate the architectural conversation. Exteriors became more directly reflective of interior layouts and volumes. This philosophy took many forms, as architects worked to form new architectural vocabularies and language reflective of this new era.
Mies van der Rohe, a German architect and Bauhaus school director who emigrated to America in 1937, engendered, within his ideology of pure expression of structure and of universal space, a dissolution of the façade. His designs pushed the technical boundaries of his time for the greatest literal transparency a building could possess.
Two other examples that clearly articulate the “form follows function” principles:
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Main atrium of Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1952
Description :
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Farnsworth House, Mies van der Rohe, 1951
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Villa Mairea, Noormaku, Finland, by Alvar Aalto, 1939 Description :
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Wall House, Ridgefield, CT, John Hejduk, 1973-2001 Description :
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ELEVATION, PART 3
Surface and Skin
In contemporary architecture, one might argue that there has been a shift back—where building elevations have become more about its surface quality and tectonic rather than a reflection or deliberation of its function or interior arrangement. The work of Herzog and de Meuron exemplifies this approach. Below we show their following project, Ciudad de Flamenco, designed in 2005 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain:
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Elevation
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They write: “The surfaces of the Ciudad del Flamenco consist of poured, perforated and artificially processed concrete; they follow the lines, shapes and patterns of Gypsy tradition and Arabic ornamentation. Both traditions are extremely contemporary; to be more precise, they are
观Q a蚁 Q曾 成的
centuries-old and ceaselessly new source of inspiration for contemporary art and daily culture. We encounter them in punk and rock music, in tattoos, in symbols and emblems, in patterns and in many other places. This kind of ornamentation informs the concrete at the Ciudad del Flamenco.”
In contemporary architecture, even without the vocabulary of classical elements, the significance of the building’s façade, with its contribution to the urban fabric, and its introduction to the building, persists.
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Museum of Folk Art, New York, NY by Todd Williams and Billie Tsien
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CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PLANS, SECTIONS, AND ELEVATIONS
Constructing Sections and Elevations
As part of your project work, you are asked to not simply trace, but actually construct sections and elevations from the plans you have found of your case study. Just as in drawing your objects for your first project, the three types of drawings—plans, sections, and elevations—should work in tandem to fully describe the three-dimensionality of the building. Dimensions (length, width, height) of both spaces and architectural elements should be consistent between drawings.
Please review the following video for demonstration on constructing sections and elevations from plans:
Correspondence: Plan, Section and Elevation Drawing, Part 2
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CONCLUSION
In this module, we reviewed how to craft a thoughtful, professional, and effective presentation layout. We also introduced drawing work by several seminal architects to demonstrate the significance of drawing as a tool to both develop and communicate design intention and concept.
Readings Francis Ching, Design Drawing, Chapter 6: Pictorial Systems, 135–161
Architectural Graphics, Franics Ching – Sections and Elevations (PDF,
4207.6 kb)
Module Coursework Complete all items in any Graded Coursework, Other Activities, and Quizzes and Exams areas included in this module.
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