An orthographic projection for architectural design and communication
A section drawing is an orthographic projection. It is similar to a floor plan drawing, but it changes the cut plane from horizontal to vertical direction that is perpendicular to the horizontal line. A building section drawing helps to reveal internal spaces of the building.
A building section is one of the most helpful tools for architectural design discovery and examination. It allows a viewer to understand vertical spatial connection. At the initial stage of design, I often utilize section drawing as a medium to explore spatial possibilities of my architectural design. A building section depicts a connection between each element of architecture such as floors, walls, roofs, vertical openings. In addition, it offers insight into the quality, light, flow, and movement of spaces as well as the proportion of rooms and spaces in terms of width and height. Drawing a building section does not have to be a formal approach.
A simple method of drawing such as freehand section sketching can be a very useful technique to generate and reveal our mental images of architectural design.
Section drawing not only can help reveal the connection of interior spaces. It’s also utilized to examine the connection of a building to its site and surrounding area. In this case, it is called a site section.