of various lines, symbols, colors, and patterns will not have to be guessed at. The legend will also reduce labeling requirements while improving graphic clarity and communication. Having a north arrow on a drawing provides the designer with an analytical tool not only to provide orientation and direction but to project sun and shadow patterns useful in making site design decisions. By knowing the direction of north, the designer can prevent the sun from interfering with a baseball batter, or position a building so as to reduce solar gain. Scale makes a plan useful for the purposes of knowing distance and dimensions, calculating degrees of slope and elevation in concert with the contour lines, and calculating areas and the dimensions of any feature currently on a project site or being proposed.
Following Drawing Conventions Prevents Miscommunication The function of landscape-grading plans, in tandem with technical sections and details, is to communicate clearly, and with as little ambiguity as possible, the relation between existing site conditions (such as topography, vegetation, man-made features, and important context features), and the proposed designed site grading and landforms. The landscape-grading plans, together with the full set of construction documents, are, in essence, the directions used by the contractor to build the project. The contractor uses the construction documents to plan and develop strategies to build what is shown in the construction package. We have described the importance of applying drawing conventions in landscape architecture in general, and specifically in the preparation of grading plans and drawings. There is room for personal graphic expression to convey the nuances a designer may want to use to communicate the grading information. There is room in the conventions of graphic representation for the designer to add shading, texture, color, and graphic composition (page layout) to make clear the nuances of the design. In some cases, graphic representation of grading information may have a more three-dimensional look, when the designer wishes to communicate specifics of sculptural form for which straightforward line drawing may not be adequate. A cautionary note: The nuanced aspects
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Landscape Site Grading Principles
