To engage in professional design practice, I have been challenged to partake in a 14-day challenge requiring me to create some kind of output for each of the fourteen days and document my process and progress throughout, including a final journey post which you are now reading.
We were given the freedom to use any medium or software that we wanted, leaving me with endless ideas and opportunities for skills to develop or explore. I considered photography, taking fourteen different kinds of photos and editing them in exciting new ways, or sketching things, people, places and whatever I found interesting, however, ultimately, I settled on mastering ArchiCAD and the skills required to create a set of basic working drawings for designing a home. It felt like a good opportunity to push myself and take on something that has always seemed so daunting.
Rather than setting a concrete outline and steps for my challenge, I decided to create a list of possible working drawing sheets that I could complete, aiming to complete one sheet each day of the challenge.
My list of possible sheets were: dimensioned floorplan, existing Site plan, proposed site plan, roof plan, elevations, door schedule, exterior door and window schedule, bracing plan, bathroom layout plan, electrical, kitchen layout plan, landscaping plan, site set out, floor framing set out, and an earthworks plan. This gave me the opportunity to tackle a sheet that I felt capable and confident in completing on each day that suited me and allowed me flexibility in terms of how much time I needed to set aside to complete the task and what I felt like learning about on a given day.
Due to the nature of my challenge, I created a daily process that was fairly general to guide my sessions without too much constraint: the first step was selecting the sheet I was going to complete, followed by looking at a reference working drawing set to understand the elements required, then completing any necessary or relevant research in the NZ Building Code or other specifications to enhance my understanding of technical requirements, before I then started to work on completing the task in ArchiCAD, saving the view and adding it to a new layout sheet in my working drawings set.
Daily Output: Ensure each post (or section of your single post) includes the output you produced that day.
Personal Insights: Share personal reflections on what you learned, challenges you faced, and how the practice has impacted your design journey.
Visuals: Include visuals such as images, sketches, screenshots, or video clips to illustrate your progress and outcomes.
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Day One: Sunday 24th August
On the first day, I decided to tackle an easy sheet that would help set me up for the rest of the challenge: the existing site plan. This required me to find and select a site suitable to utilise as the supposed location for the build that I was proposing in my working drawings set. Fortunately, I know a decent vacant site nearby to my football club and where I regularly walk my dogs and always wonder why it is still yet to be built on.
The purpose of an existing site plan is to establish the current state of the build site. I referenced consented architectural plans to understand the main components required for an existing site plan: legal details, site locality, and an aerial picture.
This required me to source key details about the site, which is something that I had never had to do in practice before and so I wasn’t quite sure where or how to go about finding this information. A quick online search informed me that I can use council websites like Auckland Council GeoMaps and BRANZ Property Viewer – websites I didn’t know that publicly documented so much information about property in New Zealand. This allowed me to add in the key details like wind zone, earthquake zone, road classification et cetera.
I completed my first sheet, with all of the necessary technical details and I am proud that I managed to use my general knowledge to find the necessary information required to complete this sheet and that my final output looks feasible and professional.
Day Two: Monday 25th August
Following yesterday’s existing site plan, I decided to follow this with the proposed site plan. Fortunately, in previous assignments I had already made a base model for a build that was applicable to the site so I was able to jump into the proposed site plan fairly easy without requiring much set up.
I did some base research into height in relation to boundary (HIRB) which is something I know of but didn’t know a lot about but was a required element on the sheet. Then I designed the sheet using the reference working drawings to understand the necessary components: site layout, boundary line, concrete areas, decking etc, and organise them in a logical layout.
This was a real learning experience for me: I haven’t had to situate a design on a site before and mockup the site plan, so there were lots of technical elements and details required that I hadn’t had to do before, but I think that I managed really well to overcome these issues. I did experience a few struggles creating software elements using ArchiCAD: how to get the outline of the house onto the site because it wouldn’t allow me to scale down the outline as an item, and how to use the fills to create the site drawing, as it is not a tool I often use. But after some time spent adjusting the elements I managed to figure out how to use the fills and adjust the patterns etc to create the site, and using views to make the process easier as views automatically update if any changes are made to the model – which is common in builds.
Day Three: Wednesday 27th August
My next challenge was to create an overall floor plan sheet, which includes key legislation requirements about outlook space and outdoor living spaces.
Outlook space requirements and outdoor living space requirements are elements that I haven’t had to document or research before, so this was a great opportunity to learn about the required details. I learnt about the Auckland Unitary plan requirements for outlook space and outdoor living spaces, which are outlined in building code H5 - one of the H codes I've never read through before so was a great opportunity to take in more knowledge. I have always known that there were restrictions and covenants regarding requirements for outdoor living space and outlook space, however, I never knew what the actually required dimensions were or how the spaces are measured on a home. This allowed me to successfully complete the overall floorplan sheet, including the fills required to demonstrate the outdoor living spaces and outlook space.
I had a slight issue as the way that I had initially setup my site sheet by using fills meant that I didn’t actually have a working model of the site to use when trying to model and check the outdoor living spaces fulfilled the required dimensions. So I had to create a site mesh, driveway and fencing that modelled the site before I could correctly orient my outdoor living spaces and outlook spaces. This was a good challenge to face as now I know for next time that I need to setup these elements before I attempt to complete the rest of the details for this sheet.
Day Four: Friday 29th August
The purpose of a site coverage plan is to demonstrate the orientation and coverage of the house on the site. This requires the set-up of schedules in ArchiCAD to auto calculate using the elements created in the model i.e driveways and patios for impervious areas.
One of the key learnings from today’s session was how to alter the site area value in object settings, as this is used automatically in the schedule calculations and is needed to fulfil the legend details on the site coverage plan. Again, as I’ve had limited practical work this was a new skill that I learnt that will be useful for future projects.
However, I couldn’t find details of what the required/maximum impervious area and landscaping area need to be for a site, whether that’s a square metre value or a percentage, so I need to speak with an architectural technician who can provide me with the information and insight to complete these last details.
Despite these issues, I think that I did really well to work through the different technical steps required and find the right tools to create a decent basic site coverage plan.
Day Five: Monday 1st September
Creating a roof plan seemed like a fun challenge for today’s session. I started out by creating a roof for my house model, which I elected to incorporate a gable into to make the design more complex and appealing. I also added downpipes in necessary areas surrounding the house - in line with building requirements and general good design practice.
Unfortunately, personal circumstances disrupted today’s working session and I didn’t manage to complete the technical details required or complete the sheet. Creating the roof details took me slightly longer than expected, but I’m glad that I took the time to do the roof properly and add the small details like drainpipes. So in addition to tomorrow’s sheet, I will start off by completing the last elements of this roof plan.
I picked up where I left off and started by learning about the different roof type specifications in the E1 building code – the details were hard to find in the document at first but good to learn and understand, especially as I didn't realise it differs based on roof pitch. I then used this information to calculate the downpipe service areas (area of the roof that each downpipe caters to rainfall on) which were well under the maximum amount.
The building code is quite an extensive document and covers a range of different codes an requirements, so sourcing information from it can be quite difficult and it took me a while to find the downpipe requirements for different roof pitches. But overall, I’m glad that I learnt something new for today’s session and have completed my fifth sheet for my working drawings set.
Day Six: Friday 5th September
Today I worked on adding dimensions to my model to create a dimensioned floorplan. I have used the dimensions tool extensively in ArchiCAD so I was fairly confident to complete this, and easily created dimensions across all four sides of the house to provide the required measurement details for the slab and frame to be built.
However, I did actually learn something new that I didn’t expect to today. I learnt about where to position a Meter box inside a home, and the specifications required for different structural elements like the framing or the hot water cylinder.
Whilst doing my dimensions, I had to make a few small adjustments to the wall layouts (and therefore the slab as well) to line up walls or round dimensions to desirable numbers. This impacted all of the other technical elements that I have already worked on creating, lie the roof area which had to be recalculated. So in future, now I know to always do dimensions first to avoid issues and reworks later down the process.
Day Seven: Saturday 6th September
Elevations seemed like a logical next step following doing dimensions, and fortunately elevations are something I learned to do a long time ago, and have had to do regularly at my work, so this sheet didn’t pose too much difficulty or take too long to complete.
Elevations can be easily created using the external elevations tool in ArchiCAD, which I used to create the four elevation angles of each side of the home. I then imported the elevation views into the working drawing sheet and laid them out so that they are easily interpretable. I did have a slight glitch where the roof didn’t come through right in the view, but I was able to easily fix this.
Day Eight: Sunday 7th September
Another basic working drawing sheet is the exterior door and window schedule which provides the details for the location and dimensions of each of the exterior windows. This is another activity that I commonly do at work, so it was fairly straightforward to update the automated window and door schedule. However, I first checked all of the exterior doors and windows in the plan, in that they match other windows i.e the sliding doors have the same profile and the windows are matching heights across elevations to create a consistent look.
However, I also learnt that there are technical details required on the sheet relating to the door frames and glazing, I almost missed doing this because I hadn’t realised it was a requirement until I double checked my reference working drawings.
Most of the simpler sheets that I already know how to do have been completed, so next I plan to step into the unfamiliar and take on a sheet that I don’t know much about how to complete or the technical elements that are involved.
Day Nine: Monday 8th September
Today was a daunting challenge: learning how to do a bracing system sheet. This required me to do a lot of research on Learning about the basics of bracing in a single storey home and fulfilling different technical specifications for bracing across different requirements i.e wind zone, earthquake zone, ground roughness etc.
I spent a long time reading the Bracing Design chapter of the New Zealand Standard document, to determine the bracing required for this design and the necessary allocation of bracing throughout the design of the house. I was able to determine the technical classifications for various aspects relevant to the final bracing requirements: including Wind zone: A, Topography: T1, Wind zone - urban and sheltered: L, Figured out roof apex of model: 4.2m, and Wind direction: across 30 BUs vs along 35 BUs.
I struggled with a few of the technical specifications, like determining whether the roof was light or heavy as although I have general knowledge there was no set guidelines. Further, despite doing a google search for BRANZ or construction guidelines, I didn’t find anything that specifically outlined the bracing requirements in a home in terms of where the bracing should go. The New Zealand Standards stated that bracing should be incorporated in all corners of a home, but obviously a lot of homes and the one I designed aren’t perfectly square so I wasn’t sure where other than corners it was required.
I did a basic job to indicate where the bracing systems should go and what BU required and left it at that for the time being, as I will get feedback from an Architectural technician to check whether it is suitable or if any changes need to be made.
This may not be the best bracing plan sheet and probably is not a feasible working drawing to work off of to design and build a home in real life, but the knowledge I have learnt has made it very worthwhile: I learnt what BU units are today which are bracing units – this was terminology I didn’t know prior to today so learning what they are and the requirements was good build knowledge to have.
I will continue to develop my understanding further of bracing requirements so that I can get better in future.
Day Ten: Tuesday 9th September
To finalise the last of the schedule sheets required, today I tackled completing the internal doors sheet. I started off with some good design fundamentals practice: checking that all internal doors are realistic sizes for their location i.e 860 into the garage, or smaller doors for cupboards.
Then I proceeded to update the automated internal door schedule and created a sheet to outline the dimensions – creating a legend to provide the necessary technical details for the door materials and product specifications.
I tried to add the door handle details to the view for the internal doors, however, it seems that the automated setup on ArchiCAD didn’t allow these to display. I tried to adjust the view settings but couldn’t manage to make them visible so I just left it as it is and this will be a work on for future projects.
I find that with this practice and repetition that I am getting a lot better at using automated schedule tools in ArchiCAD and creating working drawing sheets to provide details of the elements.
My final sheets require me to learn a new ArchiCAD tool and skill: interior elevations, to allow me to create internal elevation sheets of key spaces/rooms in the home that require added detail.
Day Eleven: Wednesday 10th September
Bathroom elevations are a highly useful sheet to showcase and demonstrate the layout of the different objects and dimensions between items to ensure that they are installed correctly and with the correct style of items in mind i.e wall hung vanities require different plumbing compared to full height floor vanities.
Interior elevations is something that I have never done before, so I learnt about a new tool: the interior elevations tool. It took a little while to learn how to use it correctly, as it is different to the exterior elevations tool, but I decided to give it a go. At first I got it wrong, by including the walls surrounding the bathroom which meant that my elevations only showed the walls and not anything internal. But with some slight adjustments, I adjusted the settings which fixed the issue and created elevations for both bathrooms.
Day Twelve: Wednesday 10th September
I felt like keeping the progress flowing, so I proceeded to create the ensuite layout as well to work on the skill more thoroughly.
When I did the ensuite layout it was much quicker, with less issues and changes required to get the elevations correct, which is a positive as it indicates that I had better learnt how to use the tool and the functions of it so the process and output was much quicker and more accurate.
Day Thirteen: Thursday 11th September
Similar process to yesterday, I worked on creating kitchen elevations to provide guidance for the kitchen plan to be designed and built.
I did make a slight change in which I changed the names of the elevation views for the kitchen layout, which made them easier to comprehend later when it came to adding the relevant and necessary elevations to the kitchen plan sheet – so this is good learning for in future when I do internal elevations, as I didn’t do this with the bathrooms and it meant I had to go back and check the views each time before I added them to the sheet.
This was especially useful for the kitchen as the layout isn’t a perfect square, there are a few elevation views that are created in the layout that are irrelevant (i.e the cupboard or within the pantry which is all full height shelving) so this took me a moment to correct and figure out which elevations were useful to be incorporated in the final sheet and which weren’t necessary.
I am proud that I managed to do this as the kitchen is quite a technical, detailed space. In future, next time I would hope to capture more useful views like of the bench from the cabinetry side and create elevations for the pantry shelving as well as this is useful for cabinetry design and supplying to cabinetry companies to ensure you get the desired look.
Day Fourteen: Thursday 11th September
The final sheet that I wanted to try was a foundation plan: showing the different elements of the foundation, like the area under tiling/hard floors and the plumbing fixtures and piping throughout the foundation slab.
This required me to situate the stormwater pipes in the local area in the ArchiCAD model and then create a feasible network of pipes to take wastewater from the house's plumbing fixtures to the stormwater collection pipe.
I then created a legend for the plumbing fixtures by collecting details from my reference working drawing set and cross checking that information with our supplier product details and general specifications of standard NZ products.
It was great to finish this last sheet and see the complete collection of my finalised working drawing sheets come together at the end of this challenge: seeing all of the learning and progress that I have made in both knowledge and technical skills.
I got feedback from an Architectural Technician, who looked over the final sheets and provided feedback: they helped me to finalise the details on the site coverage plan that I had struggled with, and said that overall they looked good and demonstrated basic build knowledge and could be developed to use as complete working drawings with some slight alterations.
Then I ordered the sheets in the order that they would typically be: in line with the build process and standard working drawings. Exporting the final working drawings as a PDF.
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The final working drawing file is linked here. Please feel free to provide feedback or insights that you may have or use my project for your own educational development to help yourself learn. Sharing our progress as designers is how we grow, learn new skills or methods, and inspire others.
Engaging in this 14-day challenge pushed me as a designer to practice old skills and to see others’ methods to complete the same tasks which challenged my approach and helped me to grow as a designer. It also forced me to learn new, more challenging skills that further my design skillset and knowledge of build standards in New Zealand and how to comply to them. As a designer I have been reminded of the value of regular on-going practice, as well as constantly extending my skillset and growing as a professional.
