Section and Elevation Construction
The section/elevation describes what the plan cannot — spatial experience.
Why this matters
A plan drawing is a map. A section is an experiential description — it shows the vertical relationships between ground plane, vegetation, structures, and sky that determine how a space actually feels to someone moving through it. A flat, treeless site that looks benign in plan might reveal a dramatic grade change and a dense canopy in section. If you're not drawing sections, you're not fully understanding what you've designed. An elevation begins with a section, then draws what is visible behind the cut line.
The section/elevation you produce in AutoCAD also serves as the base drawing for your Photoshop photo-collage rendering later in the semester. Draft it with that downstream use in mind: clean geometry, clear massing, and useful scale.
Choosing the section cut
Cut your section through the most spatially complex and design-significant part of the site — grade changes, the transition from hardscape to planting, the relationship between structures and open space, or the sequence of spaces a user moves through. A section cut through the most generic part of the plan communicates nothing. Choose the cut that reveals something worth showing.
Construction method
| Step | What you're doing |
|---|---|
| 1. Draw the section cut line | A bold, continuous polyline through the plan on a dedicated layer. Add section arrows indicating the viewing direction. |
| 2. UCS OB | Type UCS then OB and select the section cut line. The coordinate system rotates to align with the cut direction — X now runs along the section, Y runs perpendicular (vertical in the section view). Make sure to keep your X and Y directions positive. |
| 3. Extend projection lines | From every intersection of the section cut line with design elements and contour lines, extend lines orthogonally downward (or upward) to a clear working area off the plan. These are your construction guides. |
| 4. Establish baseline and grade offsets | Draw a horizontal baseline representing finished grade at the cut. OFFSET at 1-foot intervals above this baseline on a separate non-printing guideline layer — these are your elevation markers. |
| 5. Block in massing first | Draw the major forms first: ground surface profile, building massing, retaining walls, major landforms. Get proportions right before adding detail. |
| 6. Add detail | Layer in planting symbols, paving materials, human scale figures (from blocks), handrails, and other site elements. Work from large to small. |
| 7. Clean up | Delete or freeze the construction guide layers. The section should read as a finished composition, not a construction document. |
Section vs. elevation
A section cuts through the ground — it shows a slice through the earth and everything above it. An elevation is a projected orthographic view that shows faces of elements without cutting through them. Landscape sections typically combine both: what the ground plane is doing (section through terrain) and what the elements facing you look like (elevation of vegetation, structures, and site elements). This combination is standard in LA drawing practice.
Human scale
A section without a human figure has no scale reference. The viewer cannot determine whether a space is intimate or monumental. Place figure blocks in every section. A standing figure at 5'-6" to 6' is the most common reference. If the figure looks wrong relative to the space, the section is telling you something — either the space is unrealistically scaled or there's an error in the drawing.
Try this
Before drawing a single line, annotate your section cut line from left to right with the names of every element it crosses: property line, existing walk, grade change at curb, building face, retaining wall, slope, planting bed, tree canopy. This is your construction schedule. Every annotation becomes a projection line. The section is already written — you're just drawing what you've described.
What breaks
Not aligning the UCS to the section cut direction before extending projection lines means your projection lines are not truly perpendicular to the cut. The resulting section will have horizontal inaccuracies that compound as you draw upward through the section height.
Treating every contour crossing as the same elevation — each contour the section line crosses represents one foot of grade change. Track cumulative elevation change from a known starting point. Missing a contour produces a section that is spatially dishonest.
Drawing massing and detail simultaneously — block in the major forms and proportions first. Adding planting detail before the ground plane is correctly drawn means fine work gets rebuilt when the base changes. Work large to small.