Modern Home Architecture Blueprints

Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bennett is a seasoned television watcher who pays homage to the medium in his work. More than just amateur blueprints, these detailed drawings can be found in the collections of both the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art. He also has two books: How to Live a Sitcom Life and TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes. After the jump, peruse some of our favorite fictional floorplans — from Wayne Manor to Lucy and Ricky’s apartment — and let us know which TV home you’d like to see him tackle next.

 Personally, we’d like to see Bennett try his hand at Arrested Development‘s model home. Then we could finally figure out the logistics of Tobias’ infamous Mary Poppins entrance.

 Any modern-house-plan in the civilized world has to meet the requirements of local and national building codes. You will need thorough blueprints to get a building permit. The blueprints will need to consist of many of these measurements.

 Floor Plan -This is what most people are familiar with when they are designing a home. It is the layout of the exterior and interior walls. The modern-house-plan also needs to include the dimensions for walls, rooms, wall thickness, windows and doors, kitchen and bath layouts, electrical and plumbing layouts, stairs, ceilings, and flooring. 

Elevations- This part of the plans help the inspectors understand the height of the outside of the house. It also shows the shape and size of windows, doors, trim, roof material and slope, and anything else that can help describe the outside of the house.

Details -this is a plan for some of the smaller things that have special instructions to build. This is more for the carpenters so they can get a good idea of what the architect has designed, but inspectors also like to know what's going on.

Some of the details might include how a fireplace should look, stairs and handrails, molding and trim or just anything that is different from normal houses. The details sheet is part of the modern-house-plan and is as many pages as needed. 

Sections-This part of the modern-house-plan just shows how the parts of a building fit together. Most of it is common sense, but sometimes walls, stairs, and things like fireplaces need a little extra explaining to get the clear picture. Like detail plans, the sections plans are more for the builder than the inspector, but they like to be kept in the loop. House-blueprints need to fit together seamlessly.

Interior elevations-This is a plan of the important interior items that need special consideration. The usual items are kitchens, bathrooms and fireplaces. Most house-blueprints will include specialty interior items like these. 
Whew, that seems like a lot of stuff!Most of it is redundant, but it's always good to be over prepared. I hope this isn't too discouraging to first time home builders. I know it can be in the beginning. The best thing to do is go get some really big paper and get started. You'll find that it's the excitement of starting your plans that motivates you. So go ahead, get some paper, tape it down to the kitchen table and start to draw your plans with a yardstick. It will flow from there.