Little Known Ways to Make Snappier Elevations

Elevations dictate the impression we leave on people who see our work. Perhaps it comes next to clever planning with regards to hierarchy of importance. Though I would say these two must be coordinated during the planning phase, reality says most of the time, floor plans are given much more importance. As the saying goes: “when the planning gets tough, the tough drinks coffee and keeps sketching all night”. But how about the time huh? So I say, in times like this, when all we can make are “not so good, not so bad” plans, we turn to elevations – we make them look snappy, they pull us up by hiding minor flaws. Though the design really depends on you on how you mix and match patterns and shapes and themes, some of these tips may help.

1. Look around

I remember a quote I happened to read a long time ago while surfing the web and it says: “architecture is the art of plagiarism”. At some point I agree with this. It is all about mixing and matching designs you see around you. You may get your concept from a fruit, a car, a tree but when looking for immediate patterns, you can look at other buildings too. See what features you can get from it and mix it up with other designs you can see from other structures. Columns, ceiling designs, etc.

2. Use line weights

This one was really taught by my instructor really but I put it into practice after I have read it in an old book with a title I can hardly remember, it was like “Architectural Drafting and Design”. Actually there are four ways to use line weights but my two best bets are the shadow, and outline. In shadow, you use heavier lines on the parts where shadows are set to originate. And in outline, you use heavier lines on the.. outline (duh!) It gives emphasis to the structure and makes it look a lot better.

3. Gather some patience and add shadows

I’m not referring to shady shady stuff we do using pencils when were almost finished, bored and have nothing left to do. What I mean here are shadows that would really show where the light source is, and where shadows really are supposed to be cast. It adds a sense of depth and gives a hint whether the surface is protruded, round, empty, slanted, etc. It gives a 3-dimensional feel to the elevation which is actually drawn as 2 dimensional. Though it really eat up some time, it’s really worth it.

4. Do not use colors you cannot handle

This is the common mistake I see in many plates, they’ve got a good floor plan, great perspective, great elevation, but annoying color combinations. The “could have been” classy building looked like a dirty bitch. You get what I mean? Color is critical. It affects the mood of the people who sees it, and of course affects the overall look and feel of the building. So better settle with calm tone and easy to match colors like, white, brown, or better stick with monochrome.

Courtesy: Blogger at Archidumdum.com