Plan (drawing)

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Three view plan of Latecoere 28 for presentation purpose Latecoere 28.svg
Three view plan of Latécoère 28 for presentation purpose

Plans are a set of drawings or two-dimensional diagrams used to describe a place or object, or to communicate building or fabrication instructions. Usually plans are drawn or printed on paper, but they can take the form of a digital file.

Contents

Plans are used in a range of fields: architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, industrial engineering to systems engineering.

The term "plan" may casually be used to refer to a single view, sheet, or drawing in a set of plans. More specifically a plan view is an orthographic projection looking down on the object, such as in a floor plan. [1]

Overview

Plans are often for technical purposes such as architecture, engineering, or planning. Their purpose in these disciplines is to accurately and unambiguously capture all the geometric features of a site, building, product or component. Plans can also be for presentation or orientation purposes, and are often less detailed versions of the former. The end goal of plans is either to portray an existing place or object, or to convey enough information to allow a builder or manufacturer to realize a design.

The process of producing plans, and the skill of producing them, is often referred to as technical drawing. A working drawing is a type of technical drawing, which is part of the documentation needed to build an engineering product or architecture. Typically in architecture these could include civil drawings, architectural drawings, structural drawings, mechanical drawings, electrical drawings, and plumbing drawings. In engineering, these drawings show all necessary data to manufacture a given object, such as dimensions and angles.

Plan features

Format

Plans are often prepared in a "set". The set includes all the information required for the purpose of the set, and may exclude views or projections which are unnecessary. A set of plans can be on standard office-sized paper or on large sheets. It can be stapled, folded or rolled as required. A set of plans can also take the form of a digital file in a proprietary format such as DWG or an exchange file format such as DXF or PDF.

Plans are often referred to as "blueprints" or "bluelines". However, the terms are rapidly becoming an anachronism, since these copying methods have mostly been superseded by reproduction processes that yield black or multicolour lines on white paper, or by electronic representations of information.

Scale

Plans are usually "scale drawings", meaning that the plans are drawn at a specific ratio relative to the actual size of the place or object. Various scales may be used for different drawings in a set. For example, a floor plan may be drawn at 1:48 (or 1/4"=1'-0") whereas a detailed view may be drawn at 1:24 (or 1/2"=1'-0"). Site plans are often drawn at 1" = 20' (1:240) or 1" = 30' (1:360).

In the metric system the ratios commonly are 1:5, 1:10, 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1:500, 1:1000, 1:2000 and 1:5000

Views and projections

Symbols used to define whether a projection is either Third Angle (right) or First Angle (left) Convention placement vues dessin technique.svg
Symbols used to define whether a projection is either Third Angle (right) or First Angle (left)
Comparison of several types of graphical projection Graphical projection comparison.png
Comparison of several types of graphical projection

Because plans represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane, the use of views or projections is crucial to the legibility of plans. Each projection is achieved by assuming a vantage point from which to see the place or object, and a type of projection. These projection types are:

Classification of Plan (drawing) and some 3D projections Comparison of graphical projections.svg
Classification of Plan (drawing) and some 3D projections

Planning approach

There is no universal standard for sheet order, however the following describes a common approach:

Where additional systems are complex and require many details for installation, specialized additional plan drawings may be used, such as:

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Structural drawing</span>

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Peter Jeffrey Booker was a British engineer and technological drawing historian, known for his 1963 A history of engineering drawing, a seminal work on the history of technical drawing.

References

  1. "Plans or Drawings Definition". Law Insider. Retrieved 2024-11-21.