Architectural Floor Plan Symbols The symbols below are used in architectural floor plans. Every office has their own standard, but most symbols should be similar to those shown on this page. Building Section Wall Section Detail Section Exterior or Building Elevation Column Grid Call Out Plan Detail Call Out Horizontal Lines = Letters Vertical Lines = Numbers Wall or Partition Tag Number = Partition type Revision Cloud Number = Revision on this sheet Interior Elevations Letters = Sub-drawing Number SIM = Similar & OPH = Opposite Hand North Arrow Door Tag The number is relative to the room that the door leads to. Room ID Top Lines = Room Name Inside Box = Room Number Window or Glazing Tag The number identifies the window type or the glass type
Structural Plan Symbols Each structural engineering office uses their own set of plan symbols; however, the symbols below are fairly standard at many offices. Refer to the symbol legend sheet for special symbols used in a particular set. We also have another article that can help you identify structural abbreviations used in a drawing set. Moment Connection Cantilevered Moment Connection Braced Frame Steel Column Encased in Concrete Slab Opening Stepped or Depressed Slab Span Direction Electrical Plan Symbols - Lighting Each engineering office uses their own set of electrical plan symbols; however, the symbols below are fairly common. Refer to the symbol cover sheet for special symbols used in a particular set. 2x2 Recessed Light 2x2 Recessed Light on 2x4 Recessed Light 2x4 Recessed Light on Recessed Linear Light Recessed Linear Light on Surface Mounted Fluorescent Light Track Lighting Recessed Can Light Wall Mounted Light Recessed Wall Wash Light
Electrical Plan Symbols - Power Every engineering office uses their own set of symbols; however, the symbols below are fairly common across many offices. Refer to the symbol sheet for special symbols used in a particular set. Duplex Outlet Weatherproof Duplex Outlet Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt Duplex Outlet Duplex Outlet - One Receptacle Controlled by Switch Duplex Outlet on Quad Outlet - 4 Gang Box Switch 3-Way Switch Switch with Built-In Dimmer Power Panel Lighting Panel Through-Wall Sleeve Junction Box Recessed Floor Box Construction Document Sheet Numbers and Sheet Order Many architecture offices have their own standards with regard to the order of sheets in a construction document set and most architects are quite opinionated about whether the Structural drawings belong before or after the Architectural drawings. However, American clients are starting to demand that architects follow the United States National CAD Standard. The information below is adapted from and meets the US National CAD Standard. Components of the Sheet Number There are three components that make up sheet numbers in a set of construction documents. The first two letters, the discipline designators, identify the construction discipline that the sheet covers - architectural sheets, plumbing sheets, structural sheets, etc. The third digit, the sheet type, is a number that represents the type of drawings that are on the sheet - plans, sections, details, schedules, etc. The final two digits, the sequence numbers, are numbers that simply place the sheets in order. Each component is explained in more detail below.
Discipline Designators The discipline designator helps to identify the type of work that is included on the sheets. Since sheets are distributed to the different sub-contractors in the field, it is helpful for the drawings to be organized by discipline. Therefore, the plumbing contractor can easily take a set of "P" drawings, which has all of the plumbing drawings (plans, schedules, details, etc), and they will not have to sift through the unrelated electrical or structural drawings. The discipline designator can be a single letter or a double-letter. Very large or complex projects will want to make use of the double-letter designations to help sub-divide each discipline further. For instance, on a complex hospital job with hundreds of sheets, it may be helpful to separate the electrical lighting drawings from the electrical power drawings. On a small residential project with a few dozen sheets, it is probably easy to have the lighting and power on the same sheet or sequential sheets. The following table indicates the primary (single) letter designations that may be used and the order that the disciplines should take. In this case, a hyphen shall be inserted in place of the secondary discipline designator so that the format remains. The second letter designators can be found in the US National CAD Standards. DESIGNATOR NAME ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION Cover Sheet G General Sheet list, symbols, code summary, etc. H Hazardous Materials Abatement, handling, etc. V B C L S A I Q F P D M E W T Survey / Mapping Geotechnical Civil Landscape Structural Architectural Interiors Equipment Fire Protection Plumbing Process Mechanical Electrical Distributed Energy Telecommunications R Resource Existing conditions / buildings X Other Disciplines Z O Sheet Types Contractor / Shop Drawings Operations The Sheet Types designator takes the drawings of a single discipline and organizes them. Drawings are always organized from most general to most specific or specialized. Since plans are most helpful to see the overall design of the project, they come first. Elevations and sections are a bit more specific and come next followed by details and schedules, which are the most specific type of drawings. DESIGNATOR NAME
DESIGNATOR NAME 0 General: Symbol legend, abbreviations, general notes 1 Plans 2 Elevations 3 Sections 4 Large Scale Drawings: plans, elevations, sections (NOT details) 5 Details 6 Schedules and Diagrams 7 User Defined 8 User Defined 9 3D drawings: isometric, perspective, photos Sequence Numbers The final component of the sheet number is the two-digit sequence number, which is between 01 and 99. The sequence numbers do not have to be sequential so that space may be left within the set for future additions. Example Sheet Numbers NUMBER SHEET DESCRIPTION AD107 Architectural Demolition Floor Plan, seventh sheet A-204 Architectural Elevations, fourth sheet I-316 Interior Section, sixteenth sheet QH601 Hospital Equipment Schedule, first sheet FA601 Fire Alarm Diagrams, third sheet P-102 Plumbing Floor Plan, second sheet MH402 Large Scale HVAC Drawings, second sheet MP501 HVAC Piping Details, first sheet EP110 Electrical Power Plan, tenth sheet EL103 Electrical Lighting Plan, third sheet T-505 Telecommunications Details, fifth sheet RA102 Architectural Existing Building Plan, second sheet
Paper Sizes There are two main paper size standards in use around the world: the international (ISO) A series and the North American ANSI sizes. North American architects typically use the ARCH sizes for their large format drawings. North American Loose Paper Sizes Letter 8.5 11 216 279 Legal 8.5 14 216 356 Tabloid 11 17 279 432 Ledger 17 11 432 279 North American ARCH Series Paper Size ARCH A 9 x 12 229 305 ARCH B 12 x 18 305 457 ARCH C 18 x 24 457 610 ARCH D 24 x 36 610 914 ARCH E 36 x 48 914 1219 ARCH E1 30 x 42 762 1067 Ad - Article Continues Below North American ANSI Series Paper Sizes ANSI A 8.5 11 216 279 ANSI B 11 17 279 432 ANSI C 17 22 432 559 ANSI D 22 34 559 864 ANSI E 34 44 864 1118 International ISO 216 A-Series Paper Sizes A0 33.1 46.8 841 1189 A1 23.4 33.1 594 841 A2 16.5 23.4 420 594 A3 11.7 16.5 297 420 A4 8.3 11.7 210 297 A5 5.8 8.3 148 210 A6 4.1 5.8 105 148 A7 2.9 4.1 74 105 A8 2.0 2.9 52 74 A9 1.5 2.0 37 52 A10 1.0 1.5 26 37
Folding a Large Format Drawing The intent of folding large architectural or engineering drawings is to allow the lower portion of the title block to be visible without having to open the entire sheet. This allows a stack of drawings to be filed and then easily identified by the sheet number and drawing title. Step 1: Fold the drawing in half so that the content is concealed inside the fold. Step 2: Fold the top leaf back over itself, which will be 1/4 of the original width. Step 3: Fold the bottom leaf back under the top leaves. You now have an accordion folded sheet that is 1/4 the width of the full sheet and full height. Step 4: Fold the top half of the sheet under the bottom half. Step 5: For extra-large drawings, the drawing can be folded in half again.