DEFINING THE PLAN CUT
Critical to the reading of a floor plan is the ability to
distinguish between solid m
atter and spatial void
andto discern precisely where mass meets space. It
is t herefore important to emphasize ina graphic way
what is cut in afloor plan, and to differentiate the
cut material from what we can see through space
below the pia ne of the cut .
• To the left is t he first fioor plan of theVanna
Ven uri House in Philadelphia, designed by Robert
t
Venturi in1962. 1 is drawn with a single line
t
weight.
D
0
• To convey depthina floor plan we can use a
,
hierarch of line weigh
y
ts.
-- --- The heaviest line weigh profiles the plan shapes of
t
cut elements. As a profile line, this cut line must be
continuous; it can never intersect another cut line
or terminate at a line o lesser weight.
f
• Intermediate line weights delineate edges of
horizontal surfaces that lie below t heplane of the
plan cut but above the floor. The farther away a
horizontal surface is from the plane of the plan cut,
'" "
the lighter the line weight.
·· ·· -- - • The lightest line weights represent surface lines.
These lines do not signify an change inform; they
y
sim represent thevisual pattern or textureof
ply
thefloor planeand other horizontal surfaces.
• Drawing scale influences the range of line weights
that one can use to convey spatial depth. Smallscale drawings utilize a tighter range of line
weights than do large-scaledrawings.
42 /ARCHI TECTU RAL GRAPHICS