I'm currently working on a writing project which attempts to frame architectural drawing for a non-architecture (but design friendly) audience. With this text, I'm very briefly touching on the conventions of plans elevations and sections and am looking for "soundbite" quotes that capture the essence of these drawings, or perhaps problematize them. I'm pretty covered on the plan front (Corbu's "Plan is the generator"), but having a hard time with section and elevation.
Can anybody point me to any very succinct writing on these drawing conventions? Quotes are great, quotes with references are even better.
Ah yes, I learned about sections through green peppers. :)
@Orhan
That quote is true and who am I to question anything Michael Rottondi says about drawing but I'm actually looking for quasi-poetic, "fantastic" type commentary. It needs to be imaginative and fun because I am putting it beside some really dry semi-technical stuff on projection.
Perhaps my inability to find anything means I need to get drunk on drawing possibilities and come up with something myself..
Regardless any input is greatly appreciated and thanks for sharing.
There's a teaching hospital in Detroit that has a preserved human body sliced into 1" sections like a loaf of bread. Would that have an ickiness factor that would appeal to your students?
"This is the great revolution in architecture: the solution of the plan in space...Just as mankind will eventually succeed in playing chess in the cube, so too other architects will, in the future, solve the plan in space."
a section is a plan reacting to the virtual gravity force trying to pull the drawing down off the drawing sheet. The difference between the plan and the section, therefore, is in the section playing a dual figurative role: simulating the physically local (walls, windows, ramps, trees..etc) and the virtually global (gravity).
an elevation is a section through air: the virtually local.
and what operatively separates the plan from the section is not how you virtually "cut" through the object as much as how you orient your mind's eye relative to gravity.
The old front , side , top sections only tell very limited facts, They are the old way to aproach the building structure, mainly pointing out what follow the planes. They also configure a box in your head. they dictate and set limits of not just practical but also mental issues. They are for boxes they work with boxes. Only recently means to compute , without beingbdependant on standard geometries and the tradisional planes has become an option -- as what is it these rigid planes are used for ?
noc's taking it a good direction. they're all really just cross-sections through the world, taken at strategic/specific locations in order to tell you something about a particular object.
i scanned through my file of collected quotes and couldn't find anything helpful...
plans, elevations & sections in a nutshell
I'm currently working on a writing project which attempts to frame architectural drawing for a non-architecture (but design friendly) audience. With this text, I'm very briefly touching on the conventions of plans elevations and sections and am looking for "soundbite" quotes that capture the essence of these drawings, or perhaps problematize them. I'm pretty covered on the plan front (Corbu's "Plan is the generator"), but having a hard time with section and elevation.
Can anybody point me to any very succinct writing on these drawing conventions? Quotes are great, quotes with references are even better.
hi greg,
i asked a question to michael rotondi when i interviewed him in 2007.
OA: Are plans, sections?
MR: Plans are more like strategic drawings where you look for organizational strategies. Sections are more of like spatial strategies.
I can't think of plans and sections without picturing two apples, one sliced vertically and one horizontally. Those seeds really tell a story.
@liberty bell
Ah yes, I learned about sections through green peppers. :)
@Orhan
That quote is true and who am I to question anything Michael Rottondi says about drawing but I'm actually looking for quasi-poetic, "fantastic" type commentary. It needs to be imaginative and fun because I am putting it beside some really dry semi-technical stuff on projection.
Perhaps my inability to find anything means I need to get drunk on drawing possibilities and come up with something myself..
Regardless any input is greatly appreciated and thanks for sharing.
There's a teaching hospital in Detroit that has a preserved human body sliced into 1" sections like a loaf of bread. Would that have an ickiness factor that would appeal to your students?
thinkin' drinkin'..... i like the sound of that!
Raumplan
-Adolf Loos
here is something even more dry;.)
plans are drawn, elevations are dropped and sections are cut.
and, nobody questions why.
plans are boring sections
sections are unfinished elevations
elevations are finished plans
b.d. 2008
coupe du jour...
a section is a plan reacting to the virtual gravity force trying to pull the drawing down off the drawing sheet. The difference between the plan and the section, therefore, is in the section playing a dual figurative role: simulating the physically local (walls, windows, ramps, trees..etc) and the virtually global (gravity).
an elevation is a section through air: the virtually local.
and what operatively separates the plan from the section is not how you virtually "cut" through the object as much as how you orient your mind's eye relative to gravity.
The old front , side , top sections only tell very limited facts, They are the old way to aproach the building structure, mainly pointing out what follow the planes. They also configure a box in your head. they dictate and set limits of not just practical but also mental issues. They are for boxes they work with boxes. Only recently means to compute , without beingbdependant on standard geometries and the tradisional planes has become an option -- as what is it these rigid planes are used for ?
noc's taking it a good direction. they're all really just cross-sections through the world, taken at strategic/specific locations in order to tell you something about a particular object.
i scanned through my file of collected quotes and couldn't find anything helpful...
Beautiful, awesome, drool-worthy section here.
Sorry, I know you want quotes Greg and I'm blank - I've only got images.
Elevation - GM Clark
Section - GM Clark
Everything goes to hell once Gordan-Matta Clark gets tossed in the mix! :P
Really though, I think some of his work might work with this discussion, so thanks for reminding me about it.
Thanks folks! :)
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.