Finance Q&A

symbol standards?

Q. can anyone tell me where i can find examples of standard symbols used in architectural drawings? i'm looking for simple things like a "section designation symbol", an "elevation designation symbol", or a "detail designation symbol", and more. i would like to make sure that they are the industry standards for such symbols to put on our drawings. i've done a search online for aia and other sites, but can't seem to find a simple file that shows how things should look

A. -Your best bet may be Technical Drawing textbook by Giesecke, Mitchell, Spencer, Hill, Dygdon and Novak. Covers just about everything in drafting. -First off, recognize that there is no true industry standard in Architecture. Many offices will use variations, or completely in-house graphics, sometimes because the 'standard' doesn't address their needs, sometimes because they 'think' the standard doesn't address their needs, and sometimes just because they want to. That said, 'Architectural Graphic Standards' (Ramsey & Sleeper) and 'The Professional Practice of Architectural Working Drawings' (Wakita & Linde) are respected resources. Another thing to think about. The 'standards' are almost all based on hand drafting, and often don't actually translate to cad drafting very well. Compressed text in a circle is one example, the traditional earth cross hatch is another, as is all caps in architectural lettering. Sometimes you deviate from the 'standards' because it allows you to more quickly or more accurately communicate what needs communicating. That should be the real goal, not adherence to an outdated drafting non-standard.

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