EXTERIOR ELEVATIONS

The next item in the set is the exterior elevations. Every exterior wall is shown on the elevations and generally is drawn at the same scale as the floor plans (⅛" = 1'-0" is common). Besides showing the overall picture of the exterior of the building, the elevations are mainly used to key specific areas to larger-scale details.

The elevations show the materials drawn to scale, indicating doors, window patterns, exterior grade, and mechanical penthouses, to name a few. The building elevations are a bit like the view seen from several hundred yards-an overall picture of the building rather than specific details. The materials seen in the elevation can be delineated if it makes the building read better. Brick can be shown by drawing the horizontal brick joints. Concrete can be drawn by dotting the wall, wood by showing the joints, and windows by showing the mullions. This treatment should not be overdone. The intent is to inform, not to confuse, the contractor. The elevations should not resemble a rendering for design development. In most cases, only a portion of the wall is delineated to show the material. The rest of the wall is left blank. Making a note of each material and running an arrow to its location on the elevation is a good practice.

Dimensions generally are not given on the elevations. These are given on the floor plan

and larger-scale wall sections. The one exception is the elevation of every floor and roof deck. If the building has an established grid system, the grid spacing is shown and numbered on the elevation. Elevations are used to show proportions but also to indicate areas through which wall sections been cut.

Two difficulties commonly arise in drawing elevations - labeling the elevation direction showing door swings. Elevations are titled by labeling the compass side of the building view. The north elevation is on the north end of the building. The confusion is that the viewer is looking south to see the north elevation.

A door shown in elevation is generally delineated to show the side on which the hinges are placed. This is done by drawing a dotted line from the top and bottom corner of the door on one side to the center of the door on the opposite side. The side of the door that has the hinges is the center-point where the two dotted lines intersect.

Start the elevations (after the sheet is laid out) by drawing the grids on the back of the sheet in blue. Since the floor plan was drawn before the elevations were started, a short cut would be to run a print of the plan, locate it under the sheet, and project all of the corners, doors, and windows up into vertical lines in the elevation. If the pan was drawn accurately, this system eliminates scaling the elevations.

The next step is to scale the horizontal heights, such as the ground elevation, floor heights, and roof lines. It is generally wise to lay out the major horizontal and vertical lines lightly at first and then to darken them after the length has been established.

The next step is to draw the remainder of the materials that are seen in the elevation, including doors, windows, control joints, mechanical pent- houses, lights, and stairs, to name a few.

The building elevations are a two-dimensional view of the actual picture that could be seen by standing back and looking at the building, with one exception - the areas below grade are visible. Spaces that are below the ground level and outside the foundation wall, such as a stair to a basement door or a window well for basement light, are

shown dotted. Some firms have adopted the practice of dotting a portion of the foundation wall and footings to indicate their presence. The actual dimensioning of the footings occurs on the structural drawings.

The final step in detailing the elevations is to key notes to larger details, specifying materials and giving floor elevations. Wall sections are indicated by drawing a dotted line through the wall with an arrow pointing to the direction in which the section is cut, with the detail and sheet number inside the arrow. A blow-up of a particular part of the elevation is indicated by ddrawing a dotted box around the area and keying it o the larger-scale detail number and sheet number.

Other details are shown by noting the area with the sheet and detail number where it may be found. All materials should be noted with an arrow pointing to the location. If the material occurs many times along the elevation, the arrow could contain several arrow heads to denote repetition, as follows:

The height of each floor and roof should be drawn to the side of the elevation. This specification consists of a dashed line from the floor or roof line with a ¼” circle that has opposite quadrants darkened. A not above the dashed line calls out the place the elevation is taken, while the dimension below the line gives the feet and inches above the benchmark.

An important point in dimensioning the elevations is that the dimension should be to the highest structural material that has a known thickness. This is not necessarily the top of the floor or roof. If a concrete floor deck is to have a pad and carpet on top of it, the elevation dimension is to the top of deck, not including the pad and the carpet. A common roof treatment is 1 ½" metal deck. 1 ½" rigid fiberglass insulation, over the deck, and pitch and gravel on top of the insulation. The elevation is then given to the top of the metal deck.

Architectural Technology