What do I mean about a different story? Well, I am a type of an architecture student who is used to and prefers drawing architectural plans manually and rendering my perspectives in paint or colored markers than working on it digitally. It is when I had my internship where I realized that I must keep up with the fast pace technology and ever changing work environment. During my internship at Concipio Tektura / Architectural Design Studio, I was tasked to work on the architectural schematic drawing of a project in AutoCAD. Even though I was still unaccustomed in AutoCAD and only had basic knowledge of the software, I took this as a great opportunity for me to learn and be acquainted of it.
So how did I manage to work on the task? Coordination is a major key to achieve that. Me and my mentor, Ar. Eric Baño, would always coordinate in the office about the task. He thoroughly checks any update of my work and corrected my mistakes. Creating an architectural schematic drawing can be both challenging and satisfying. It was challenging because I have to consider a lot of aspects in the plans, on the other hand, it was also satisfying to see how my work progressed each week. You can take a look at the list below to see a guide to creating an architectural schematic drawing.
- Before you start drawing in AutoCAD, study the project information – it lets you see what phase of the project you are working and see what else needs to be done.
- Since my mentor already has the schematic layout of the project in AutoCAD, I just need to improve the floor plans. This includes the addition of annotations, symbols, and details of the material to be used.
- Check if the plans are following the requirements of the subdivision management. This includes the setbacks, height limitation, design of the structure, etc.
- Open SketchUp and export the SketchUp model as a 2D CAD file. Once you’re set with all the CAD files, import it in AutoCAD and start working on the elevations and sections.
- Improve your drawings by assigning lineweights to layers. This will make other objects have a heavier lineweight to make them stand out better.
- You would not be able to arrive at the final output without the clients’ remarks on the plans. The client is one of the project’s stakeholders so it is important to know their opinions on the plans.
- If there are any revision, revise the plans according to what was discussed in the client meeting.