In-Law Apartment & Carriage House...AutoCAD Working Drawings

Narrative Drawing...a New Carriage House

A recent small project here, a rear yard carriage house and future in-law apartment for a very nice small 1910's-ish existing frame house in Essex, MA. A very lush and challenging site with mature tree canopies protecting the building on all sides. A lot of communities on the North Shore have begun to relax their previously strict rules regarding back yard residential structures as they begin to recognize the economic imperatives that elder care is beginning to place on many families. This project has a small workshop on the first floor and a open studio space on the second floor that has a lot future possibilities for residential use. The perspective drawing shown below is one of the early design study drawings I did to look at the second floor main studio space and stair. And a section drawing me a lot but it's not a presentation tool that always. 

This small project was perfect for a set of quick, fast drawings by hand. One of the clients is a both a good friend and a retired GC, so he knew exactly what he was looking at but his partner needed a set of drawings a little more graceful and descriptive than something from an AutoCAD file. A good set of drawings, even, or perhaps especially, working drawings should have a narrative quality. Here the drawing narrative combines the technical information needed to price and permit from, along with a more "story book" feel I often use for the entourage and title graphics. Being able to take liberties with consistency in how drawings are graphically framed and composed let's you work with your media size in more creative and supportive ways, such as portrait and landscape oriented sheets in the same set. This was typical of many of the beautiful working and presentation drawings from the late 19th / early 20th century when some degree of drawing standardization was beginning to emerge in architectural drafting rooms. Check out Cass Gilbert's working drawings some time. Seriously, go to Amazon and get "Inventing The Skyline: The Architecture of Cass Gilbert", Margaret Heilbrun, c.2000. Beautiful examples of this type of drawing that set the standard of its time and a great essay on his drafting room.

Here, all the drawings are 11" x 17" (A4/Tabloid), an obviously useful and universal size that allows you to print and copy in color pretty much anywhere and also (hopefully) maintain drawing scale. They are drawn on Bienfang heavy white tracing paper in pencil and Micron / Razor point ink pens and rendered on both sides of the media with Prismacolor pencils and ChartPak Ad markers.Being an all white building really helps here in terms of drawing time but these were the first and second design steps in terms of where the project has eventually ended up going. The graphic alphabet is something I have developed over time and use in a variety of sizes from both tracing templates and rubber stamps to lay the ground work for the drawings common graphic vocabulary.

This is the principal elevation facing the existing house. It sits at the rear yard's high point with the entry about two feet above the main floor level at the workroom.

Side yard elevation facing north into adjoining neighbor's rear yard. The site slopes down towards the existing house's rear yard about 32" and keeps on going.

First Floor Plan. The workroom to the right faces the existing house. The clients asked specifically for the 4 panel sliding doors to open the first level up to the rear yard. A nice idea that we are refining by using traditional french doors on folding panel hinges.

Second Floor Plan. The deck on the south side sits under a canopy of lush and mature trees, both deciduous and perennial. 

East Elevation facing the driveway. The building uses large shed dormers to capture the necessary headroom at the 2nd floor because of a restricted ridge height. The most technically developed elevation in a preliminary set of drawings. Note the use of smaller overhead carriage house doors.

All told, the drawing set above took about 50 hours over 5 days to complete, making it completely competitive with the cost of doing the drawings in AutoCAD and, I think, much more descriptive in terms of conveying what we were trying to do to a lot of different people. But this is the absolute threshold for that competitiveness in doing working drawings by hand. As a matter of fact, the final construction and permit drawings I did for this project were done in AutoCAD 2016. I will put those up in a separate post. They maintain the "narrative" graphic vocabulary explored and used here, they just do it digitally. To see this scheme, check out the post preceding this one about AutoCAD working drawings.

After some review, we decided you investigate a smaller build in terms of volume and ridge height. These are some of the quick design studies we did, which eliminated the full second floor in favor of a lower ship ladder loft. The detail and material vocabulary remained unchanged. We explored this as a concept only briefly before shifting back to the final scheme which has a full 2nd floor again and a solar roof. 

Each of these drawings took about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours to complete, including rendering time. The implied circular view port is a great framing technique and helpful in reducing the rendering time for a small drawing to the right is another 2nd Floor perspective of some alternate interior design options we studied during this phase of the project. Again, the final interior design concept is illustrated in the AutoCAD working drawing post before this one. A much larger building but the appropriately diminutive scale of the project remained a constant across all three schemes.

Each drawing is about 8-1/2" x 11", drawn freehand in ink with Pilot "Razor Point" pens over 3H pencil constructed bases on Bienfang yellow tracing paper. Color is developed using Prismacolor pencils and ChartPak AD markers on both sides of the media. The white building tones where applied on the back with soft white Prismacolor pencils. That took a little time, I must admit.

Note how the outsides limits and profile of the previous scheme are dotted in to provide a scale reference to the reduction in project size. This actually a vastly revised South Elevation that I kind of liked better. Don't miss the deck here at all.

I guess the last thing that I will add is that the graphic alphabet I used on both sets of these drawings I have digitized and converted to AutoCAD blocks (.dwg files, not fonts) that you can use as in a manner similar to what I have shown in many of my drawing posts here. Feel free to post a message here if interested.

Narrow Lot Urban Housing

These are some preliminary design drawings of elevations for a narrow lot urban housing project in Denver, CO. An interesting yet frustrating design problem in several ways, primarily because of an obtuse and unnecessary zoning plane envelope and very restrictive maximum floor elevation, ridge, eave and exterior wall bearing plate heights. The restrictions are very unevenly applied and seem more designed to protect the  rights and needs of the adjoining properties. While some of those needs are definitely legitimate and need some oversight, many of the restrictions are unduly prohibitive and are definitely not in the interests of generating good urban design. I'm a veteran of the Chicago zoning wars regarding urban infill housing, so for me to call these zoning ordinances and overlays obtuse and arbitrary means they are exactly that.

All that being said, these are narrow housing designs that had some of the following restrictions: A maximum ridge height of 27.5 feet; a maximum roof pitch of 9 over 12; a maximum exterior wall bearing plate elevation of 20'; a maximum ceiling height of 9' at the first floor and 8' and the second floor; and, finally a very restrictive FAR on site coverage. In other words, a building designed to max out the zoning envelope just to make a financially viable project.

Exterior Design Option using copper and cedar shake roofs, high density composite

material trim, 5-1/2" exposure cedar shake siding with mitered corners and a tuscan

red brick "plinth" base. See image below for description of drawing media. This is 

the most straightforward and simple of the schemes studied so far and the zoning

departments favorite. That should tell you a lot, right?

  

The buildings are approximately 22' wide by 55', excluding the first floor sun room extensions and bay windows at the 2nd floors. Note that by extending the bay windows as window seats only they are excluded from the gross floor area and keep the project at the threshold of the allowable FAR. The remaining portion of the design study focused on the materiality and fenestration issues and a working contextual vocabulary in a neighborhood of late 19th / early 20th century houses dominated by the iconoclastic American "Four Square" house type.

Exterior Design Option using copper and metal shingle "checker board" roof, high density
composite material trim and wide exposure mitered corner lap siding and Tuscan red brick
plinth base. All of the drawings presented in this post are hand drawn at 1/4" scale on Bien-
fang yellow tracing paper in pencil and ink and rendered with Prismacolor pencils on the back,
Chartpak AD markers on the front and back and light pastel washes on the back . The draw-
ings took 5 to 7 hours each to complete, excluding pencil setup. 

Different material options were studied for a variety reasons, the foremost being that the houses will often be built as pairs or in groups on adjoining lots with minimal side yards and detached rear yard garages. Ultimately, only these houses built as pairs will absolutely share common material vocabularies. The opportunities presented in varying the materiality  of houses in larger groups will be studied on a case by case basis. A full masonry version is currently being studied that eliminates the sidewall bay windows in favor of more privacy oriented fenestration.

Of all the schemes presented here this is my personal favorite. Copper and slate or wood shingle roofing with stained exterior wood trim, wide exposure wood lap siding with mitered outside corners and a deep red brick "plinth" base are the major materials here. Very simple as a form but still requiring a high level of craftsmanship to pull off. Those outside mitered corners can be a bitch to pull off in lap wood siding so the smart move would be to us a high density composite material like Azec which could also be used for the trim to create a truly maintenance free exterior with no sacrifice in terms of design quality. 

This is the rear yard elevation in terms of roof and fenestration design. The rear yard elevation was developed in response to assumed narrow lot width constraints including front entry and a detached rear yard garage with alley access. Different entry, sun room and porch options are possible with each design options shown here, including a covered roof connection between the house and garage.

Exterior Design Option for Corner Lot showing Transverse (non-entry) street front elev-
ation. Note the use of alternating shingle exposure coursing (two/one/two). The classic
shingle detail with its implied rustication is very effective here. Otherwise, the same ex-
terior materials and roofing as the image at the top of this post.

Okay, if you've stuck around this long I can already hear you asking, "where are the damn floor plans?" Not to worry but we do have a slight problem. They're too big to scan as a single image. So until I get to Staples later this week, elevations are going to have to do. That being said, these un-rendered elevations are part of the final design iteration of a proposed corner lot scheme using the same design footprint, basic composition and massing. I really pleased with this scheme for a lot of reasons but since the longitudinal elevations also won't fit on my scanner, I'll have to wait a day or two to post those images along with plans.

Hand drawn at 1/4" scale on Bienfang yellow tracing paper with 3H / 4H pencils, Micron
ink pens and Sharpie fine point markers. Render the windows on the back of the paper
to create the filtered effect shown here.

Proposed rear elevation for corner lot scheme. As for all schemes, note the deep (36") roof overhangs and the use of simple paired roof brackets. That's all for the day. Plans, site and side elevations coming soon.

Sketchbooks...A Small Portfolio

Sketchbooks. We all have them and use them. And if we don't, we should, right? But we don't and that is unfortunate because they were, and remain, the most immediate, descriptive and romantic means of expression and exploration in any architects' or designers' graphic vocabulary. Unlike the more elemental forms of architectural graphics, both digital and manual, it is rare today to find some means of instruction (beyond basic, generic drawing classes) in the importance and relevance of sketchbook drawing as part of an on-going design process. Architectural schools used to firstly lead the student to believe that architecture was properly to be practiced by those who had a talent for drawing pictures or, perhaps more properly, plans, sections and elevations. Secondly, it lead students to believe that the basis of their education should embrace to some degree an acquired familiarity with classical forms and building technologies and training in "design", and finally an understanding of the principles (unfortunately not always the details,) of construction.

Sketchbook Design Concept Drawing - Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prisma-

color Pencil Washes. Original image size is 11"w. x 14" h. Constructed as free hand drawing in ink

over hardline pencil set-up.

However, mere facility in drawing (or in this case, drafting) without imagination, the ability to conceive forms, and the confidence to carry them out, will not always produce an original or real work of architecture. It used to be a fact that in rare instances original and vibrant works of architecture and design were produced by those who had little or no aptitude for drawing; these might once have been "the exceptions that proved the rule". Even as recently as 20 years ago, many architects were as recognizable by their style of drawing as they were by their actual buildings. But now that representation in architecture is almost entirely digital, what was once the exception is now entirely the rule. Ideas are always the essence of any design project; the ability to explain them in their formative stage by skillful use of pencil, pen and paper, especially in a sketchbook, was and remains a valuable and absolutely necessary accomplishment. The language of the day, it least in terms of sketchbook drawing and exploration was "be yourself". Imitate those you admire to gain technique and understanding. When it comes to the process of creation, honestly all you really have to draw on is yourself and your own abilities. By embracing your own individual view of the world you pursue the best possible route by which you can  make a drawing or a building a fresh and original creation. Regardless of whether you embrace precedent.    



Sketchbook Design Concept Drawing for Public Library - Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with

Prismacolor Pencil Washes. Original image size is 14"w. x 11"h. Constructed free hand in ink over hardline pencil setup.

The cultivation and development of the faculty of observation through drawing is, I believe, one of the great essentials of design and should be a formative aspect in both education and practice. If you observe or explore with a pencil in your hand, you really see and understand  the reason for specific things into the plan or the most elemental forms of design.

 

The habit of unrestrained drawing is a habit of immense value, as a means of developing your powers of observation, of refining your own graphic vocabulary and techniques, and of expanding your own horizons in the realm of what is possible. Much of what is normal in one's own beginning work experiences is the expression of someone else's ideas.   



Sketchbook Precedent Study Drawing of Trinity Church Rectory Building by H.H. Richardson in Boston, MA. Drawn in Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper and rendered with Prismacolor and graphite pencil washes. Original image size is 9"w. x 6-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a free hand drawing with no hardline base.

First Concept Sketchbook Drawing of Residence in Vermont - Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with graphite pencil washes. Original image size is 11"w. x 11"h. Drawn in ink over hard line pencil setup.

 

Sketchbook Concept Drawing for Pole Barn - Study for both typology of building type and graphic vocabulary for presentation drawings. Pencil and ink on Canson sketchbook paper with graphite pencil washes. Original image size is approximately 20"w. x 14" h. 

First Conceptual Sketchbook Drawing for Residence in New Hampshire. Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prismacolor pencil washes. Original image size is 5-1/2"w. x 8-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a freehand drawing with no hardline layout.



First Conceptual Sketchbook Drawing for Residence in New Hampshire. Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prismacolor pencil washes. Original image size is 8-1/2"w. x 5-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a freehand drawing with no hardline layout.



First Conceptual Sketchbook Drawing for Residence in Memphis, TN. Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prismacolor pencil washes. Original image size is 11"w. x 8-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a freehand drawing with no hardline layout.

One last point about sketchbooks...if you're like me your sketchbook, or books, themselves become an on-going work of art. Kind of a graphic journal of where you've been and where you are going and how you think, create and develop ideas. And you naturally want to keep them whole. So, you think, here you have a problem. Because sometimes the best (or most immediately acceptable) means of distributing or presenting your image is with a desktop (flat bed) scanner. Which means that you often have to cut your drawing out of your sketchbook so you can close the platen and get the best possible scan. I know, I know. heresy, right? All I can tell you is try to get over it. If the drawing is really worth digital reproduction and presentation sometimes you have to sacrifice the sanctity of your sketchbook for the greater good. There are no hard and fast rules here. Sometimes you don't need a high quality scan. Or an iPhone jpeg is quality enough (see above). When it's possible to keep your sketchbook whole, by all means do so. But be ready to neatly cut or otherwise remove you drawing for digital reproduction. There are always additional refinements you bring to any drawing

First Conceptual Sketchbook Drawing for Residence in Massachusetts. Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prismacolor pencil washes. Original image size is 11"w. x 8-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a freehand drawing with no hardline layout.



Sketchbook study drawing for larger rendering of NYC. Pencil and Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper with Prismacolor pencil washes. Original image size is 11"w. x 8-1/2"h. Constructed entirely as a freehand drawing with no hardline layout.

First Conceptual Sketchbook Study for Mixed-use building in New York City. Ink on Canson Sketchbook Paper. Original image sixe is 11"w. x 14"h.

Color Working Drawings...

 

Sounds a little weird, right? But technology always catches up. In this case we have a major exterior remodeling project in Gloucester, Massachusetts. There was an accelerated project schedule and a client with a somewhat limited budget in terms of design fees and, more importantly, printing costs. When drawings are produced using AutoCAD and Revit, the reimbursable (printing) costs can often exceed the design fees for the work itself. So here what was attempted was to develop the design and the construction drawings as a single set of documents for the entire project. Design exploration and presentation, owner review, municipal review and approval, bidding and (pending) construction were all accomplished with a single set of hand drawings.

 

 

There are actually times, especially with smaller, more historically driven residential projects, where it can less expensive both for you and your client to develop your drawings by hand. If file sharing is not a major issue (i.e.; there is minimal consultant involvement) it can also be a speedier, more economical and much more elegant way to present your design concept without the creepy verisimilitude that is part and parcel of so many digital renderings and presentation drawings. 

 

I know, I know, you're thinking that can't possibly be true. Even I, by virtue of being highly literate in a digital sense, spent time while I was doing these drawings thinking "mirror" or "copy" or "array" or "hatch". But the payback here is in giving your client something that is truly "hand crafted", like the project itself, in the most literal sense of the word. And the inherent speed of AutoCAD or Revit is lost when measured against the time required to rendered the drawings in their early (or later) stages.

 

 

 

 

But color working drawings? Well, why not? The obstacle for many offices (and students, small practitioners and clients) has always been the costs involved in drawing reproduction by means of scanning and printing. And that is where digital scanning and printing technology has finally caught up with, and made very affordable, the reproduction of full size, large format color drawings. Go to Staples. Again, go...to...Staples. You can now scan a color drawing at any size for a mere two dollars. And print any color drawing at another two dollars per square foot. And once you have a high quality color scan you can print them as Xerox images for mere peanuts. That's what I did with the drawings. Everybody got a color set and then screened, grey-tone, black and white sets were printed for the more pedestrian uses needed to both bid and build the project. As each drawing is 24" wide by 18" high, it cost six dollars to print each drawing, or thirty six dollars per set, which is under the normal printing costs for basic CAD plotting at most of the firms I have worked.

 

All of the elevation drawings were drawn at 3/8" equals 1'-0". The use of larger scales in drawing is very useful for projects which are historically or traditionally motivated, projects which by their very nature are profile and proportion driven and where appropriate use of line weight are so critical to the overall success of the design vocabulary and drawing aesthetic. The detail drawings were developed at 3/4" equals 1'-0". All of the images here were drawn on heavy white tracing paper in pencil and Micron ink pens and rendered on both sides of the paper with Prismacolor pencils, Sharpie pens and ChartPak AD markers. As I have mentioned many times here, you have to use both sides o the tracing paper to get the necessary effects of color layering, filtering and screening, especially when you are going to scan the drawings. Each drawing is taped to a corresponding backup layer of bond paper prior to scanning, both as a means of protecting the drawing as well as highlighting and controlling the color effects you have created.

 

It is the detail drawings, and the elevations, where I think the advantages of hand drawing become most apparent. Let me be unequivocal here. AutoCAD and Revit drawings look like shit about 95 percent of the time. There are a lot of reasons for this, many of which I have bitched about before on this blog. First and foremost is the fact that very little emphasis is placed on drawing by hand in the climate of today's architectural education. However, when good digital drawings, especially working drawings, happen it's because the person who is doing the drawings has acquired along the way the ability to do beautiful drawings by hand and can bring those thought processes  and graphic skills to digital drafting exercises at all times.

 

"Are you high?!!!"

A drawing in progress. Sort of...

"I can't believe you drew every single brick. Are you high?!!!"

"Does a marker buzz count? Or how about spray fix?"
...
"Uh, yes"

"Well, then, maybe..."

 

Collaboration, Part Three...Color and Transformation

 

The fourth and final stage of the drawing...color and transformation. See the previous two posts for the evolution of this drawing in progressive stages. Each stage informs the next in terms of illumination, shading and entourage. The final drawing is pen and ink on stretched yellow tracing paper and rendered with ChartPak AD markers (www.chartpak.com) and Prismacolor pencils  (www.prismacolor.com) on both sides of the yellow tracing paper. The rendering was commissioned by LeVaughn & Associates Architects (www.timothylevaughn.com) who, of course, reserve all copyrights to the design and the image.

 

 

This is a larger detail image of the line work base drawing before the marker washes and then the colored pencil washes were applied. I kind of like this all by itself.



Collaboration, Part Two...Progression and Transformation in Alliterative Drawing

This shows a series of images of a drawing done in progressive stages with no Photoshop or other digital manipulation except for scanning at various stages of completion. It is, hopefully, a good example of drawing as transformative or progressive exploration through the use of a graphically alliterative vocabulary. Alliteration is used figuratively here as a metaphor for the repetition of consonant elements in a particular drawing. A more appropriate definition in this case might be 'symmetrical alliteration' through the use of the classically repetitive elements in the design of this particular project. This is a set of renderings that I did for LeVaughn Associates Architects (www.timothylevaughn.com) for a townhouse on Chicago's North Side. As with all of Tim's work this is a particularly well composed building. The drawings are presented in descending order from final to initial stages of composition. 

 

This is the third of the four drawing stages. You really need to click on each image to get a sense of the quality of the line work and the tonal representation. The 8-1/2" x 11" drawings are done in ink on stretched yellow tracing paper and rendered with Prismacolor pencils (www.prismacolor.com) and ChartPak AD markers (www.chartpak.com), primarily Cool Grey #2 and Warm Grey #4 on both sides of the tracing paper. The dark black sky is rendered on both sides with fine point "Sharpie" black markers. I've talked before about the need to render on both sides of yellow tracing paper, the primary reason being that it gives you the ability to combine media that otherwise cannot be applied on top of each other or to diffuse the impact of particularly bold, dark or messy markers. As far as ChartPak AD marker washes go, you should never use anything darker than a Cool Gray #3 or Warm Gray #4 in any circumstances, especially on tracing paper. Use lighter washes on both sides of the paper and then, only then, apply pencils washes over them. Applying marker washes over pencil washes is a recipe for disaster.   

 

This is the second stage of the drawing. The only appreciable difference between this stage and the third stage is that there is more contrast here between the sky and the window glass and more subtle shading in the grey tones. The nice thing about 'night' views like this one is that you can subtlety imply shadowing and changes in object plane through the use of dark sides / light sides by means of soft grey tones. Classical buildings such as this one really need the resonance of line work to fully define the principal elements of the design. For example, the detail in the cornice.

 

The final image shown below is the first stage image. It is purely the original drawing in ink on yellow tracing paper. This is the final base drawing that the fourth stage color will be applied to (see previous post) and does work well as a stand alone image if you're into that sort of thing. The line work drawing was done actually done twice. Why, do you ask? The first line drawing was the original base and was so saturated with pencil work that it would have been too 'muddy' to really render in color without destroying the crisp line work with a kneable eraser. So instead it became the base drawing for the second and third black and gray tone stages above and this 'clean' base drawing is now the original that I will now render in a softer, pastel driven palette. Once the original line drawing was done, re-tracing it to create the color ready base drawing only took a few hours.

 

Click on the original to get a better sense of the line work and how it actually works well, as I previously mentioned, as a stand alone drawing.