Process
5 min read
The section comes first
Plans organise a building. Sections give it a soul. Why our design reviews always start with a cut through the middle.
(Written by)
Inês Moreira
Partner, Design Director
A plan tells you where things are. A section tells you how it will feel to stand there: how high the ceiling is, where the light comes from, how far you can see.
Volume before layout
We draw the long section of every project before the plan is fixed. It is where the decisions about daylight, ventilation and proportion are made.
If the section is right, the plan usually follows. The reverse is almost never true.
Our students are often surprised by how much time we spend on a single drawing. But a good section can hold the whole idea of a building in one line.
