Building Design and

Drawing Lab Manual

Civil Engineering Department
School of Engineering and IT
September 2015

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

Table of Contents
1

Course Objectives:.............................................................................................. 3

Drawing Objectives: ........................................................................................... 3

Preparation of Technical Drawing....................................................................... 3

3.1

Projection: .................................................................................................. 3

3.2

Layout of drawing sheet: ............................................................................. 4

3.3

Conventional Signs: ..................................................................................... 5

3.4

Drawing to Scale: ........................................................................................ 5

3.5

Dimensioning: ............................................................................................. 5

3.6

Instruments................................................................................................. 6

Residential Building Drawing .............................................................................. 7

4.1

Floor plan .................................................................................................... 7

4.2

Section View ............................................................................................... 7

4.3

Elevation View ............................................................................................ 7

4.4

Method of drawing ..................................................................................... 7

Lab Exercises .................................................................................................... 10

5.1

Lab exercise 1: Foundation Design and Drawing ........................................ 10

5.2

Lab Exercise 2: Combined footing and Rafts .............................................. 12

5.3

Lab Exercise 3: Doors and Windows .......................................................... 13

5.4

Lab Exercise 4: A Hall ................................................................................. 15

5.5

Lab exercise 5: 2 bedroom residence ........................................................ 16

5.6

Lab exercise 6: A Small Hospital ................................................................ 17

5.7

Lab exercise 7: A School Building ............................................................... 18

5.8

Lab Exercise 8: Introduction to AutoCAD ................................................... 19

5.9

Lab Exercise 9: A Hall using AutoCAD ........................................................ 19

5.10
6

Lab Exercise 10: A two bedroom residence using AutoCAD .................... 19

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 21

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

1 Course Objectives:
The construction industries require implementation of projects exactly as per
specification and dimensions shown in the drawings. Designing, preparing working
drawings and interpretation of drawings on field for implementation of construction
activity are the very basic requirements for students to acquire the knowledge and
expertise. The syllabus is meant to impart knowledge of planning, designing and drawing
of residential, public and Industrial buildings.
The objectives of this course are as follows:

To prepare working drawing of Masonry foundations, RCC Footings - Isolated,

combined and raft footings.
To practice drawing of component of buildings: Doors and windows.
To study functional design of building (Residential, Public and Industrial),
positioning of various components of buildings and development of line diagram.
To develop plan, elevation, section and schedule of openings from the given line
diagram of residential buildings.
To draft plan and elevation of RCC building in AutoCAD

2 Drawing Objectives:
The following are the drawing objectives that students should try to attain:
1. Accuracy: No drawing is useful if it is not accurate. Therefore, an engineer or
designer must acquire the habit of accuracy to achieve success in
professional employment.
2. Speed: Time is money and so theres no demand for a slow drafter, engineer
or technician in industry; so, what one needs to focus on is speed. However,
it cannot be attained by hurrying; rather it comes with study and practice.
3. Legibility: Drafters, technicians and engineers must remember that a drawing
is a means of communication to others, and that it must be clear and legible
to serve its purpose well. Care should be given to details, especially to
lettering.
4. Neatness: if a drawing is to be accurate and legible, it must also be clean.
Untidy drawings are the result of sloppy and careless methods and will be
unacceptable to an instructor or employer.

3 Preparation of Technical Drawing

3.1 Projection:
All drawings must be created in orthographic projection. Orthographic Projection is
the standard drawing form of the industrial world. Orthographic Projection is a way
of drawing a 3D object from different directions. Usually a front, side and plan view
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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

is drawn so that a person looking at the drawing can see all the important sides.
There are two ways of drawing in orthographic - First Angle and Third Angle. They
differ only in the position of the plan, front and side views. The IS code recommends
the use of first Angle orthographic projection for all technical drawing. An example is
shown in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1

First Angle Orthographic Projection.

3.2 Layout of drawing sheet:

The details of layout showing margins, frame and title block are shown in example
below. Note that all drawing drawn in first angle orthographic projection must
include the relevant notification as shown in the example below:

Figure 3-2

Figure 3-3

Details of title block

Layout of drawing sheet

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

3.3 Conventional Signs:
In sectional views of a building, parts of the structure which are cut by section plane
may be hatched indicating the nature of material used. Some of the common
examples to be used for building drawing are shown below:

3.4 Drawing to Scale:

It is generally not feasible to draw buildings or part of the buildings in its actual size.
Instead they are drawn in proportion to the actual measurement of the object. This
proportion is known as the scale of the drawing. Common scales are 1:10, 1:20, 1:50,
1:100, 1:200, and 1:500. A scale of 1:10, 1:20 or 1:50 is usually used for isolated parts
of the building such as footings and foundations. A 1:50 and 1:100 scale can be used
for the floor plans of the residential as well as commercial buildings. A scale of 1:200
can be used for floor plan of large buildings or for site plan of small buildings.

3.5 Dimensioning:
It is important that all drawings are fully dimensioned, so that the builder and others
know the required size of every part of the building. It is however sensible to not
duplicate dimensions. Usually in building drawing, horizontal dimensioning wherever
possible are indicated on plan view. Where feasible dimension lines should be
located outside the building or object. On the other hand, vertical dimensions
wherever possible are indicated on section views.

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

3.6 Instruments
Following is the list of Drawing Instruments and other materials required:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Drawing Board
T-square or Drafter
Set Squares (30-60o and 45-45o)
Protractor
Drawing Instrument Box (compass, divider, Scale/lengthening bar)
Drawing Sheet: They are available in many varieties and good quality paper
with smooth surface should be selected for Drawings which are to be
preserved for longer time. For this lab, only A2 size (594mmx420mm) sheets
should be used for all drawings.
g. Drawing Pencils: The accuracy and appearance of a Drawing depends on the
quality of Pencil used to make it. The grade of a Pencil lead is marked on the
Pencil. HB denotes medium grade. Increase in hardness is shown by value put
in front of H such as 2H, 3H etc., Softer pencils are marked as 2B, 3B, and 4B
etc. A Pencil marked 3B is softer than 2B and Pencil marked 4B is softer than
3B and so on. Beginning of a Drawing may be made with H or 2H. For
lettering and dimensioning, H and HB Pencils are used. The final fair work
however, may be done with harder pencils like 3H and upwards. For freehand
sketching, where considerable erasing is required to be done, soft-grade
pencils such as HB should be used.

Figure 3-4 Instruments required for Drawing

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

4 Residential Building Drawing
The design and drawing of residential building consists of two components. First is
architectural perspective and floor plans and second is the engineers perspective
and section views, structural stability, and materials. The dimensioning of the
building should be exhaustive and drawings should accompany the building
specifications and schedule of door and windows for complete information so there
is no doubt about measurements during construction.

4.1 Floor plan

Floor plans are the views of a building obtained by cutting horizontally through the
building at some point above the floor level. You move away the top part and look
down at the plan of the remaining bottom part. The plan view is meant to illustrate
the arrangement of the rooms and other spaces within the house and also show the
thickness of all the internal and external walls. The doors and windows in the floor
plan are numbered and marked as D1, D2 etc. And W1, W2 etc respectively. All
horizontal dimensions of the building should be marked in this view of the building.

4.2 Section View

A section is a view of the building or object obtained by making an imaginary vertical
cut through it. A vertical section through a building is meant to show the details of
construction such as foundations, walls, floors, roof, and other parts. All vertical
levels of the building should also be marked in this view.

4.3 Elevation View

An elevation is a view that you get if you look in a horizontal direction at the vertical
side (or face) of a building. When drawing an elevation you need to take the
horizontal dimensions from the plan and the vertical dimensions from the sections.
The purpose of a location elevation is to show the external faces of the building and
locate the door and window openings and other features of the building.

4.4 Method of drawing

Figure 4-1 [Prabhu et. al. 1999] outlines the basic steps of drawing the three
fundamental views on building drawing from a given line diagram. Note the different
levels within the buildings that are important for the contractor for reading these
drawing during construction.
An example drawing of a residential building is shown in Figure 4-2 [Prabhu et. al.
1999] showing all the details required in the complete building drawing.
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Figure 4-1 Steps in building drawing

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

Figure 4-2 Sample building drawing

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5 Lab Exercises
5.1 Lab exercise 1: Foundation Design and Drawing
1. Draw section views for three different ways in which footings can be planned
for walls. Assume the following data for the footings:
a. PCC base used for footings is 200mm thick.
b. Foundation level is 800 mm below the ground Level.
c. Finish floor level is 600mm above the ground level.
d. Floor finish of 20 mm.
e. Floor concrete of 100 mm.
f. Wall thickness is 300mm.

2. Show foundation details for steps and wall. Assume the following for steps:
a. Tread is 300mm
b. PCC for steps is 100mm thick

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3. Draw section and plan view of an Isolated RCC column slope footing for a
300mm x300 mm square column. Assume the following:
a. Square footing of 160cmx160cm
b. Reinforcement in both directions: 14 bars of 10mm dia each.
c. Stirrups: 8mm @150mm c/c
d. Column reinforcement: 4 bars of 160mm dia each
e. PCC is 100mm thick
f. Base Slab is 400mm thick

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.2 Lab Exercise 2: Combined footing and Rafts
1. Draw the plan and section views for combined footing. Assume the following
data for the footings:
a. Two square columns 400mmx400mm spaced 300mm apart c/c
b. Column reinforcement: 8 bars of 16 mm dia each
c. Column stirrups: 8mm @150mm c/c
d. Base Slab: 500cmx200x60cm
e. Top main reinforcement: 16mm@150mm c/c
f. Bottom reinforcements: 16mm@200mm c/c in both direction
2. Draw the plan and section views for raft foundation. Assume the following
data:
a. Raft Slab: 1200x600x20cm
b. 6 Square columns: 400x400mm
c. Three Cross beams are spaced 500 cm apart
d. Two main beams are spaced 400 cm apart
e. Cross beams: 300 mm deep
f. Main beams: 400mm deep

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.3 Lab Exercise 3: Doors and Windows
1. Draw the plan and section views of panelled door and glazed window
showing all the necessary details. See example showing different components
of door and windows:

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5.4 Lab Exercise 4: A Hall
Draw to a suitable scale plan, section and elevation view of a hall as shown in figure
below given the following data:

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.5

Lab exercise 5: 2 bedroom residence

The sketch shows the line plan of A two bed room house with R.C.C. roof. The
dimensions noted therein indicate the clear dimensions between the inside walls.
Draw plan, section and elevation view to a suitable scale

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.6 Lab exercise 6: A Small Hospital
Below is the plan of A small hospital (all dimensions are in CM) and the
corresponding schedule of doors and windows [Prabhu et. al. 1999]. The height of
the hospital building is 300cm. Draw plan, section and elevation view to a suitable
scale. Assume any missing dimensions.

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.7 Lab exercise 7: A School Building

Below is the plan of A School Building [Prabhu et. al. 1999]. Draw plan, section and
elevation view to a suitable scale. Assume any missing dimensions.

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

5.8 Lab Exercise 8: Introduction to AutoCAD
AutoCAD or Automatic Computer Aided Design/Drafting tool is most popular
software from the Autodesk Company. AutoCAD can work through user friendly
buttons as well as command line.
When you start a drawing in AutoCAD, it is important that all basic layout details are
set up in AutoCAD such as units, scale and extents. You should keep your units in
metric and keep a scale of 1 while drawing. All the dimensions can be automatically
scaled when printing the final drawing.
Below are list of some commands and properties in AutoCAD that you will need to
know to complete the next set of lab exercises:
1. View setup (MVSetup)
2. Zoom (Z)
3. Options (Op)
4. Coordinate system (absolute (x,y) and relative (@x,y))
5. Line (L)
6. Erase (E)
7. Ortho Mode (ORTHO)
8. Drafting Settings (DS)
9. Offset (O)
10. Trim (Tr)
11. Extend (Ex)
12. Copy (co)
13. Move (m)
14. Mirror (Mi)
15. Rotate (Ro)
16. Array (Ar)
17. Distance (di)
18. Explode (x)
19. Point
20. Hatch (h)
21. Match Property (Ma)
22. Dimension

5.9 Lab Exercise 9: A Hall using AutoCAD

Using AutoCAD, draw to a suitable scale plan, section and elevation view of a hall as
shown in figure below given the following data:

5.10 Lab Exercise 10: A two bedroom residence using AutoCAD

The sketch shows the line plan of A two bed room house with R.C.C. roof. The
dimensions noted therein indicate the clear dimensions between the inside walls.
Draw plan, section and elevation view to a suitable scale using AutoCAD given the
following:19

Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

Foundation:Foundation shall be of C.C. 1:4:8 mix, 1000 wide and 300 thick laid at 1100 below
G.L. for all main walls and verandah retaining wall. It consists of two footings of size
700 X 400 and 500 X 400 in C.M. 1:6.
Basement:The basement will be in brick work in C.M. 1:5, 300 mm wide and 600 thick above
G.L. A Damp Proof course in C. M. 1:3, 20 thick will be provided for all walls.
Super Structure:All main walls will be in brick work in C.M. 1:5, 200 mm thick. The inner partition
walls in toilet will be 100 mm thick. The height of all the walls will be 3000 mm above
floor level.
Roofing:
The roofing will be R.C.C. 1:2:4 mix, 120 mm thick flat slab. Verandah slab will be of
R.C.C. 1:2:4 mix, 100 thick at a height of 2600 mm from verandah floor level.

Lintels:R.C.C. lintel 120 thick over all the openings shall be provided. Suitable sunshades for
all external openings shall be provided.
Flooring:The flooring will be in C.C. 1:4:8, 120 mm thick plastered smooth with C.M. 1:3, 20
mm thick for all the portions.

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Building Design and Drawing Lab Manual 2015

6 REFERENCES
1. Prabhu Balagopal T.S., Vincent Paul K. and Vijayan C. Building Design of Civil Engg.
Drawing, Spades Publishers, Calicut. (1999)

2. Shah and Kale, Principle of Building Drawing, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co.,
New Delhi (1985),

3. IS National Building Code [1970]

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