Scale: Another Word with More than One Meaning

Another word worthy of some clarification at this time is “scale.” A ruler is called a scale after you enter college to study landscape architecture. The word “scale” can be used to communicate three very different ideas in the design professions. The wooden or plastic instrument we knew as a “ruler” in kindergarten is referred to as a scale in landscape architecture, engineering, and architecture. In its first meaning, the word “scale” refers to the device used for measuring (determining the dimensions) to guide the designer in creating a plan or detail on paper or with a computer. For drawings created on a computer, there is a measuring function in the program to guide the designer. The second meaning of the word “scale” refers to proportions—that is, a means of representing the actual dimensions of a building, object, or project property site by a drawing that fits on a sheet of paper. This second meaning of the word refers to the scale of a drawing or map. In order to make a drawing of a large property, a space, or object, it is drawn not at its actual size but drawn at a size to fit on a piece of paper. For instance, in a drawing that is produced at 20 scale or 100 scale, one inch drawn on a piece of paper would be equal to 20 feet or 100 feet. All objects delineated in plan or section would be drawn using the same relative scale. In the case of a tennis court with dimensions of 60 feet by 120 feet, it might be drawn where one inch equals 20 feet in order to fit on a design plan. Using a scale (ruler), the designer would draw the tennis court at 20-scale so that the drawing would be 3 inches (or 60 equivalent feet for the width) by 6 inches (or 120 actual feet for the length). Keep in mind that the drawing on the paper is representing the tennis court but drawn so that every 1 inch on the paper is equal to 20 feet on the ground. Metric scales have corresponding equivalents drawn to represent the actual size on the ground.

A third meaning of “scale” refers to the size of an object relative to the size of a person. In this case, when we use the word “scale,” as in “the wall height is in scale with people,” we mean that the height of the wall is not overwhelming relative to the space and the people using the space. A designer uses the word scale to characterize the height of the wall to mean the wall is a comfortable height relative to a person standing next to it. Or the paved area of an urban plaza is of a size that would make people feel comfortable in the space relative to the buildings that surround the plaza.

The pattern of the campus walkway shown in Figure 2.1 is located in the central quadrangle on the UCLA campus.11 The early twentieth-century Californian landscape architect Ralph Cornell designed this heavily used walkway. His intent was to aesthetically relate the pedestrian circulation systems and the spaces defined by the buildings by incorporating selected architectural details and materials. The buildings are all faced with brick, using both standard (35⁄8 × 2¼ × 75⁄8) and Roman (35⁄8 × 15⁄8 × 115⁄8) sized bricks. The basic module that underlies the size, shape, and pattern of the walkway is based on the Roman brick. The walkway was designed with a sufficient width to comfortably handle the traffic of large numbers of students. The