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Architectural Drawing: Home

Introduction of work type in the Collection

Introduction

Architectural drawing is a type of drawing, more specifically, created throughout the design process of a building, built or unbuilt. 

This guide aims to introduce the types of architectural drawings you can find in the M+ Collection Archives.

Description of drawings

Within our collection, different vocabularies will be used to describe the drawings based on:

The completeness of the creative process
  • Sketch: preliminary idea put down by the architect
  • Rendering: a more solid visualization of the project in its form of completion
  • Floor / Layout / Site plan: layout of each floor, sometimes with technical details, e.g., drainage, electricity

CA2/11/3CA8/3/1

From left to right: sketch (CA2/11/3), rendering (CA8/3/1), floor plan (CA10/2/8)

The angle of perception
  • Elevation: a two-dimensional representation of one side of a building or space. It can depict one of the building’s facades or an interior surface from a straight-on viewpoint (Museum of Modern Art)
  • Section: a graphic depicting the profile where a surface (usually a plane) intersects the ground and the underlying structures along the plane (Archives Terminology, SAA)
  • Perspective: a representation of three-dimensional objects or spaces in two dimensional artworks (Tate)
  • Axonometric: a geometric drawing of an object, such as a building, in three dimensions showing the verticals and horizontals projected to scale but with diagonals and curves distorted, so that the whole appears inclined (Collins English Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers)

From left to right: elevation (CA16/7/39), section (CA38/6/4/1), perspective rendering (CA16/4/27), axonometric drawing (CA39/4/6/2/5)

Information on drawings

In detailed drawings produced at the later stage of the project, you may see different numbers written by the previous creators, including:

  • Project no. assigned by the architectural firm
  • Drawing no. assigned to each drawing individually, sometimes when there is an amendment, Roman numeral or alphabet is added at the end
  • Date
  • Amendment(s)

Highlight: architectural archives

Here are some fonds in the Collection Archives that include an abundance of architectural drawings:

M+ Reference Library