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Creating Interior Volume and Architectural Elements in Building Section

Explore the meticulous process of creating architectural designs through sections. The article provides a detailed walkthrough of how to represent roofs, walls, and other building elements in a section view, including managing line weights and geometries.

Key Insights

  • The article explains how to accurately depict different parts of a building, such as the roof, in section view. This involves understanding how different elements transition and intersect, and using various tools to create accurate representations.
  • The author places emphasis on the importance of line weights and geometries in conveying depth and distinguishing between building elements that are in the foreground, midground, or background of the section view.
  • Lastly, the author highlights the importance of using architectural elements, such as footings and walls, to help define the interior volume of the house within the section view.

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Let's now get our other section up to the same level. So z-spacebar, d-spacebar. I'm going to go over to this image and hit spacebar.

Now what we need to remember is that this section is essentially in two parts because we have a jog in the section. So I'm going to zoom back a bit so we can get a better handle on how the roof is going to be working. So what I have going on is I have the part of the garage roof that's going here up to this point.

It's stopping and then it's transitioning. We have this line that we will be using as the demarcation or the break line between the two sections. So here's what I need to know.

I need to figure out at this point in the roof how high is it. So I'm just going to draw a line from the intersection of here down to there because again remember this section is looking up. So I'm going to have my roof go up to here and it will go straight over until it meets the roof that's going up at this point.

So I'm going to draw my line from the intersection of here straight over. I can go in and erase out this attic vent. I can trim that roof and I'm going to pan.

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So this roof is going to go straight over to this point and then it's going to start going up. So I'm going to draw a line from the end of my polyline straight over and a line from that intersection straight down and that's showing me where the roof is going to transition. Since the roof slope will change at that point, I'm going to do trim, use my pull down line as my cutting edge and then get rid of that little segment that was right down there.

I can now erase out e-spacebar, these guidelines that I was using. I'm going to zoom in and I'm going to copy this part of the roof from the end of there down to there. I'm now going to match properties, MA for match properties.

Here's my source, here's my destination, spacebar control S to save. Trim, here's my cutting edge, enter to say I'm done. I will get rid of that part.

Then trim. Now you can see I have that small segment from the upper roof coming down. I'm going to turn on selection cycling, so TR for trim, TR spacebar.

Here's my cutting edge, enter to say I'm done. I'm going to pick on this line, it's saying which one. I want to choose the medium one and then enter control S to save.

So I have the roof that comes over, it goes up, I have this roof that comes down, again everything is stopping at the break line. I'm going to erase out this roof that was from before, erase out this roof that was part of the elevation and erase window, the geometry in through there, up to the downspout, control S to save. Again, I see I have some heavy and medium line weight geometry happening here at the fascia, but as we know from before, that's going to be disappearing in the near future, so control S to save.

So I have this roof that goes up, it goes level, it comes up, the roof will end up jogging at this point and through here. Now, between this roof going over and up and then transitioning up to here, the roof will be flat and so nothing's going to be changing in that area. You can see though that my building section does go pretty much to the ridge of the roof, so I'm just going to confirm and I'm going to draw a line from the end of the poly straight over and you can see that it's close, but not quite there, so this part of the roof will be in the distance beyond.

So because of that, I'm going to draw a line from here straight down and I'm going to copy that line from the end of that intersection to there, control S to save. I'm going to extend up to here, extend to these, these geometries. Now again, we know that we're going to have a heavy line that's in front of us, but I'm just going to draw a line segment here to here.

I'm going to open up my bracket point, I'm going to pin it open, bracket point this line at that intersection, bracket point this line at this intersection. I'm going to do a match properties, MA for match properties, here's my source, there's my destination, there's my destination, the attic vents going to go away. So again, this is a part of the roof that's beyond.

Now if you remember from the other elevation, we're using two by six trusses. I'm going to offset by six inches, go down, go down, and go down, and fill it, and fill it, and control S to save. I can now erase out these guidelines that we just used.

Now one option I always have in these kinds of situations is to move my section cut back an inch, so then I don't have to deal with this kind of challenging situations. So this section now goes across, we see a bit of the roof beyond, the roof is going to go down like we're seeing. You can see here's the edge of the actual house volume itself, and here is the edge of the storage area that's in the distance, and again, the edge of the roof is perfectly lined up here.

If you remember, we have the laundry room here, and the kitchen down here. Let me just pan back to better clarify. We have the laundry here, and the kitchen here, and the fireplace is forward of the building section.

So I can erase window the chimney, the window that's in the family room. We will be seeing the door in the distance that goes into the storage area, and I'm also going to erase out this outer line, which represented the right-hand side of the chimney, which was this line right here. So again, here are the storage doors, here is the edge of the building, and we can see what's happening there.

The next thing I'd like to do is to do some more extending. I'm going to erase out that roof, ex for extend, extend down to my fascia, these entities, and control s to save. As we continue to analyze our section, we realize that this section is going to be cutting through the interior volume here, but that we're going to be seeing the covered porch beyond.

So there's some architectural elements that we're going to have to be solving in the near future. But what I'd like to do right now is to start preparing for the standard interior volume of the house. We know that this line here, this top of plate line, is where our roof framing will be sitting.

So I'm going to go to break at point. I'm going to be breaking this entity at this intersection. I'm going to pan over, go back to break at point, break this entity at that intersection, and control s to save.

I know, for example, that this exterior wall will go to the underside of the ceiling framing, so ex for extend this line up to there. I know that the wall is six inches thick, so offset by six and go to the right. I know that this is going to be my plate, my floor plate, so I'm going to go on and say break at point, take the plate, break it right there.

The ground, similar thing, break at point, break this there at the exterior. While we're here, let's do the similar things over here, but remember, this is an exterior wall. This is the patio that's at this point.

So what will happen in this point is break at point this entity at this intersection, break at point the ground at that intersection. I'm now going to erase out the ground over there. I'm going to say ma for match properties.

Here's my source, there's my destination, enter, control s to save. Now I can easily go and recreate the condition we had for the footing or go to zoom dynamic, z space bar, d space bar, go over to here, and I can say edit, copy with base point. My base point is at the intersection here.

I can get these entities. Now you can see that when I selected, it also got the wall, so r enter for remove and choose that wall, z enter, d enter, go back to here, control v, and I can bring it to this point here, and I can fillet those entities together, tr for trim. There's my cutting edge.

I'm going to erase window, get rid of my down spout, control s to save. I know I'm going to have a footing over here, so z space bar, d space bar, go to here, edit, copy with base point. My base point will be here at the plate line.

Again, you can see that's going to be an entire entity, but I'm going to select these. I'm not going to select the bottom of the concrete because I already have it, r enter for remove, select that line, z space bar, d space bar, come back over here, control v, and place it at the intersection here. I can then fillet this line and that line, trim.

Now I'm getting my footings showing properly. Pan over to here, and the footings look fine on that side. Zoom back, control s to save.

The last thing I'd like to do before you get caught up to this point is I'm going to do an ma for match properties. Here's my source. There's my destination.

Offset by six, come in with the wall, trim, and then I'm going to extend up to here these guys, and while I'm at this point, tr for trim, exterior to exterior, and I'm going to trim out this fascia work that's not actually inside the building, control s to save. If you would please get your building section up to this point, and we will continue on.

Al Whitley

AutoCAD and Blueprint Reading Instructor

Al was the Founder and CEO of VDCI | cadteacher for over 20 years. Al passed away in August of 2020. Al’s vision was for the advancement and employment of aspiring young professionals in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries.

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