Architectural Drawing and Light Construction

While I am not an architect or an engineer of any stripe, I have sold and setup CADD systems for engineers and seen them convert from their drafting boards (this was years ago - I am sure most students learn on computer systems today). I do like the fact that this text still talks about the manual methods of drafting and believe that it has some benefit to the student to learn to draw by hand in order to develop their sense for the methods and means in a very direct way. Learning to letter by hand, sketch freehand, and all the other aspects of architectural drawing can only help one use the computer-based systems in more rich ways. Also, even in our day and age it is conceivable that one would be in a situation where a computer system is unavailable and one has to produce a drawing. It is good to have the skills to do so. The text also discusses the use of CADD systems (particularly AutoCAD). Since architectural and technical drawings are meant to communicate specific things to many users, it is good to learn the conventions as well as the lessons of what has been shown to work over the years and what does not. This book communicates this important information very well. There are twenty chapters and they are: 1) Drafting Equipment and Its Uses, 2) Computer-Aided Drafting and Design (CADD), 3) Lettering, 4) Drafting Expression, 5) Modular and Metric Drafting, 6) Basic Technical Drawing, 7) Axonometric and Oblique Pictorial Drawings, 8) Freehand Sketching, 9) Perspective Drawing, 10) Shades and Shadows, 11) Presentation Drawings and Renderings, 12) Principles of Light Construction, 13) Structural Member Selection, 14) Typical Architectural Details, 15) Basic Residential Planning, 16) Building Models, 17) Writing Specifications, 18) Working Drawings of Small Homes, 19) Residential Mechanical and Electrical Systems, 20) Drawing a Small Commercial Building. As you can see, this book centers on learning how to draw residential and small commercial buildings. This is a great place to start and happens to be what I was interested in learning when I obtained this book. There are six appendices that cover abbreviations, modular vertical brick coursing, metric system in construction, tables from the UBC, span tables for wood structural members, and heat loss / gain calculation examples. There is also a helpful glossary and a useful index. A very good text that has helped many and has passed the test of time.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for quick building or construction reference. Excellent for Design students.