Learning to read plans and elevations is a necessary skill for every designer. Let's try to tackle this scale concept again.
Drawing to scale can seem confusing but it’s fairly straight forward once you’ve learned the steps in the process. There is more than one way to convert real measurements to scale measurements.
One Way
Let’s say we have to draw a floor plan of a room measuring 26 feet by 31 1/2 feet.
We need to produce a drawing that will fit on a piece of paper that’s 8 1/2 by 11 inches.
If we were to calculate for 1/2” scale we would soon discover that drawing would not fit.
26’ equals 26 “ then divide by 2 for 1/2 scale would result in a 13” wall. Too big.
1/4” scale it is. 26’ = 26” divided by 4 = 6 1/2 inches.
The other wall would be 31.5’ = 31.5 “ divided by 4 = 7.875 “ (3/4” is the same as .75, .875 is just a smidge bigger, more like 7/8”). With a ruler on blank paper we would measure out those lengths and draft our room in 1/4 scale.
Another Way
If you have 1/4 inch square graph paper to do this operation stop once feet have been translated to inches and count those little squares. In this case every square equals one foot. 26 feet equals 26 squares!
To draw in 1/2 scale on 1/4 grid paper, every two little squares equates to one foot.
To draw in 1/1 scale, when one inch on your paper equals one foot in real life, count four little squares. This is ONLY if you have 1/4 graph paper (which was included in your class supplies).
There are many types of graph paper, some common types are 8 squares per inch, 10 squares or 5 squares per inch. If you needed to make a drawing in 1/10 scale, you may purchase 10 square grid paper, and then 1 little square equals 1 foot. This drawing would appear much smaller than on in 1/4 scale.
It is good to be proficient in both processes so you have a real understanding and can perform the operation without being dependent on this or that kind of paper.
The ability to draw to scale is an essential skill for every designer. The most elemental use for this skill is when a designer creates a idea sketch, on a napkin or scrap of paper. Very often, this sketch expresses all the energy of the designer's original idea. The design is perfect. The proportions are just right. By understanding how to draw to scale, a designer can translate a napkin sketch into real world measurements, draw a model and ultimately a full scale version of their design.
Original Sketch FreeShed w/addition, 2005. FreeShed at The Headlands Center for the Arts, 2006.
