Understanding Architectural Floor Plans and Key Terms
Understanding Architectural Floor Plans
In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above of the relationships between rooms, spaces, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensions are usually drawn between walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths. Floor plans may also include details of fixtures such as sinks, water heaters, furnaces, and similar items. They can incorporate notes for construction specifying finishes, construction methods, or symbols for electrical items.
A floor plan is often simply called a plan. This refers to a measured plane typically projected at a standard floor height (often considered 4 feet or 1.2 meters above the floor level). This contrasts with an elevation, which is a measured plane projected from the side view of a building along its height, or a section (also cross-section), where a building is depicted as if cut along an axis to reveal the interior structure.
Key Architectural and Engineering Terms
- A-frame
- A structure, such as a house, with steeply angled sides that meet at the top in the shape of the letter A.
- Above ground
- Describes any utility brought into a property that is situated or takes place on or above the ground surface.
- Angle of Repose
- The maximum angle, measured from the horizontal, at which granular material remains stable without slumping.
- Architect
- A person who designs and supervises the construction of buildings or other large structures.
- Azimuth
- The horizontal angle reckoned clockwise from the north or south meridian.
- Backsight (BS)
- In surveying, a sight taken with a level or transit to a point of known elevation or position, used as a reference.
- Begin Vertical Curve (BVC)
- On an engineering drawing, the point at which a road transitions from an even slope to a vertical curve.
- Benchmark
- A known reference point or location of known or assumed elevation and/or horizontal coordinates.
- Cartography
- The science or practice of drawing maps.
- Clamp screw
- A mechanism that locks a surveying instrument in a horizontal or vertical position.
- Deflection
- The degree to which a structural element, such as a beam, bends under a load.
- Eave
- The lower part of the roof that projects from the wall (also see cornice).
- Floating foundation
- A type of foundation constructed as a rigid mat or box, often used where soil bearing capacity is low, designed to ‘float’ on the soil.
- Geodetic surveying
- Surveying that takes into account the true shape and size of the Earth, used for large areas.
- Impact loads
- Dynamic forces applied suddenly to a structure, often considered as an increase to live loads.
- Lateral loads
- Loads acting horizontally on a structure, such as wind or earthquake forces.
- Modulus of elasticity (E)
- A measure of a material’s stiffness or resistance to elastic deformation under stress. Often represented by ‘E’.
- Overhang
- The horizontal measurement of the distance the roof projects from a wall.
- Perspective Drawings
- Pictorial drawings creating an illusion of depth. Lines representing depth converge towards one (one-point) or two (two-point) vanishing points on the horizon.
- Run
- 1. The total horizontal distance covered by a flight of stairs. 2. The horizontal depth of a single stair tread.
- Scale
- 1. A measuring device used to draw a proportionately reduced representation of a design. 2. A mineral deposit left by hard water.
- Vibrations
- Rapid oscillations or back-and-forth movements.
- Zenith Angle
- In surveying or astronomy, the angle measured in the vertical plane between the zenith (directly overhead, 0°) and the line of sight to an object. A horizontal line has a zenith angle of 90°.