The document provides guidance on drafting a house axonometric from a floor plan by: 1) Projecting walls, windows, doors, and other elements up from the floor plan to appropriate heights. 2) Adding interior walls, windows and doors while ignoring openings at first. 3) Locating window and door openings in exterior walls from the floor plan. 4) Drafting in interior doors, openings, and furniture to complete the axonometric.

1. Drafting the House Axonometric

2. • The axonometric of the house starts with the floor plan, from where all the walls
are projected up to their appropriate heights.
• You can start with either the basic floor plan, or you may use your furniture plan to
project up from (but it may be more complicated with all its linework).

3. • Start by projecting up (10’-0”) the basic outline of the house – the exterior line of
the exterior walls first and then the interior line of the exterior walls to create the
thickness.
• Then add in the appurtenances – the chimneys and the bay windows – follow the
floor plan layout.

4. • Next project up the interior walls from the floor plan, ignoring the doors and
openings for now.

5. • Now begin to locate the doors and window openings in the exterior walls,
again, projected up from the floor plan and measured to the 2’-0” sill heights
(4’-0” for the windows above counters) and 8’-0” head heights.
• Remember, the sill lines in the axon are parallel to the sill lines in plan.

6. • With the exterior wall windows and doors located and drafted in, begin to locate the
interior doors and openings (remember the interior doors and framed openings go up 8’-
0” high, not all the way to the ceiling). You can draft in the fireplace opening as well.
• Some door openings will be obscured by walls in front of them – just draft in the part you
will see (you’ll have to construct the whole opening, however).

7. • With walls, windows, doors and openings located from the plan and drafted in, you
can begin to add the more detailed elements: cabinetry and furniture.
• Refer to this week’s handouts (Ching’s “Building Construction Illustrated”), as well
as the past weeks’ handouts, for further help in constructing the interior elements
in axonometric.

8. • Here are some examples of other house axonometrics.
• In this first example, the walls are cut at somewhere around six feet above the
first floor, and both exterior and interior detail are shown. Note the
treatment of the kitchen counters and cabinetry.

9. • In this image, the second floor is drawn directly onto the first floor, again showing
exterior and interior detail. These are sequential axonometrics.
• It is also drawn as a “phantom axonometric”, as the roof lines are indicated above,
but you can see through them to make out the details of the second floor. Again,
the cut line is about six feet above the second floor.

10. • In this example, the walls are again cut at somewhere around five feet high
and both exterior and interior detail are shown. Note the inclusion of the
North arrow (perfectly appropriate for axonometrics as well as plans).

11. • In this sequential axonometric view, like the last example, the next floor is
built upon the first floor and the details of the exterior (including the roofs)
are shown as well as the interior details. Again, we seem to be cut at around
five feet above the second floor level.

12. • Here, we’ve risen to the third floor (attic floor) and most of the detail is the exterior
of the house and it’s roof lines.
• Phantom elements are introduced to indicate the complete roof line of the house,
while allowing you to view the interior space of the attic floor. Again, for
consistency, the floor plan is cut at about five feet high.

13. • Here is an example of a partial axonometric of a kitchen and dining space, with
some of the walls drawn almost to their full height, while some other walls are only
indicated as floor plan lines on the floor.
• Phantom elements are also employed here (wall cabinets, refrigerator, blackboard)
to indicate bulky elements that would otherwise interfere with the rest of the view.