Architectural drawings are the primary communication medium between an architect and the people who will build and live in a building. For clients without an architecture background, being handed a set of floor plans, sections, and elevations can feel disorienting — a dense set of lines, symbols, and annotations that seem to require specialist training to decode. Yet the basic conventions of architectural drawing are not difficult to learn, and understanding them transforms you from a passive approver into an active participant in your own design process.
This guide explains the main types of drawings you will encounter during a project and what each one tells you about your building.
Floor Plans: The Most Important Drawing Type
A floor plan is a horizontal cut through the building, showing what you would see if you removed the upper part of each floor and looked straight down. It is the primary organisational drawing — the one that shows how rooms relate to each other, where doors and windows are, and how you move through the building.
When reading a floor plan, start by orienting yourself using the north arrow (usually shown in a corner of the drawing or on a site plan). Identify the main entry point and trace the circulation path — the route from the entrance to the living areas, bedrooms, kitchen, and so on. This mental walk-through is the most intuitive way to evaluate whether the plan works for how you live.
Key elements to look for on a floor plan:
- Wall thickness: External walls appear thicker than internal partition walls. Very thick walls may indicate a cavity wall system or structural walls.
- Door swings: Doors are shown with a quarter-circle indicating which way they open. Check that door swings do not conflict with each other or with furniture positions.
- Window positions: Check that windows appear where you want views and light, and not where you want privacy.
- Dimensions: Room dimensions are typically shown in millimetres. Compare these against furniture you know — a standard double bed is 1,500 × 2,000 mm; a standard dining table for 6 is approximately 1,800 × 900 mm — to get a realistic sense of the space.
Elevations: The Exterior and Interior Faces
An elevation is a flat, straight-on view of a facade — a wall face as seen from directly in front of it. Architectural drawings typically include four elevations (north, south, east, west) for the exterior of a building, plus interior elevations for key rooms like kitchens, bathrooms, and feature walls.
Elevations tell you the visual character of the building — the proportions of window openings, the expression of roof forms, the treatment of the facade surface, and the relationship between architectural elements. They are the drawing type most closely aligned with what the building will look like from outside.
When reviewing an elevation, imagine yourself standing in front of that face of the building at a comfortable viewing distance. Check that window and door positions shown in the elevation match those shown in the floor plan (they always should, but it is useful to verify). Note the floor-to-floor heights and evaluate whether the building feels well-proportioned.
Sections: Seeing Inside the Building Vertically
A section is a vertical cut through the building, showing what you would see if the building were sliced and you looked at the cut face. Sections reveal ceiling heights in each room, the relationship between floors, the structure of roof forms, staircase geometry, and the vertical relationship between exterior and interior elements like window heads and sills.
Sections are particularly important for understanding spatial quality in ways that floor plans cannot show. A section through a double-height living room reveals the scale of the space. A section through a staircase shows the headroom clearances. A section through a roof terrace shows the parapet heights and drainage details.
Site Plan: The Building on Its Plot
The site plan shows the building in its wider context — its position on the plot, the setbacks from all boundaries, the orientation relative to north, the position of gates and driveways, and the relationship to adjacent streets and buildings.
When reviewing the site plan, check that the setbacks are within the permitted minimums for your zone (your architect should have confirmed this during the design process). Verify that the car parking and driveway arrangement works for your needs. Evaluate whether the outdoor spaces — garden, terrace, entry court — are positioned relative to the sun the way you intend.
Detail Drawings: The Close-Up Views
Detail drawings zoom into specific elements — a window junction, a staircase railing detail, a kitchen counter edge — and show how they are constructed at full or near-full size. Clients are less commonly asked to review detail drawings, but understanding them is useful when reviewing joinery details, bathroom fitting positions, and any special architectural elements.
Understanding drawings is part of being an informed client throughout the design process. To learn more about what happens between the first drawings and construction, read our guide on what happens during the schematic design phase. And to understand how the full project process works, see our overview of how CITRA Associates approaches every new project.
3D Visualisations: What They Can and Cannot Tell You
Most contemporary architectural practices supplement their drawings with 3D visualisations — rendered images that show the building as it will look when completed. Visualisations are extremely useful for communicating spatial quality, material combinations, and overall character to clients who find 2D drawings difficult to interpret.
However, visualisations should always be interpreted alongside drawings rather than instead of them. A rendered image shows one moment in one lighting condition from one viewpoint — it cannot convey the full spatial experience of moving through a building. Decisions about room sizes, door positions, and spatial adjacencies must always be verified in the plan, not the rendering.
Good architects use both 2D drawings and 3D visualisations as complementary tools, helping clients understand their design through multiple means. If you are having difficulty interpreting your project's drawings, ask your architect for a walk-through presentation — this is a standard part of good design communication and any professional practice should be happy to provide it.
For context on what to look for when reviewing an architect's approach to communication and process, our article on the design brief and its role in the project explains how good documentation at the start of the project leads to clearer communication throughout. To discuss how we present design to our clients, visit our services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important drawing to understand in an architectural set?
The floor plan is the most important drawing for most clients. It shows how spaces are organised relative to each other, the size and shape of every room, the position of doors and windows, and the flow of movement through the building. Every other drawing — sections, elevations, details — is in some sense a clarification of something shown in the floor plan.
What does a scale of 1:100 mean on an architectural drawing?
A scale of 1:100 means that every 1 mm on the drawing represents 100 mm (10 cm) in the actual building. So a wall shown as 30 mm long on the drawing is 3,000 mm (3 metres) long in reality. Common scales for floor plans are 1:100 and 1:50; detail drawings may use 1:20, 1:10, or even 1:1 for very specific elements.
Should I approve architectural drawings before construction starts?
Yes, absolutely. The working drawing approval stage is your last opportunity to make changes before they become expensive construction changes. You should review drawings carefully, ask questions about anything unclear, and formally approve the complete drawing set before construction begins. A good architect will walk you through the drawings and answer all questions before requesting your approval.
