Architectural graphic standards for architects, engineers, decorators, builders, and draftsmen

FOREWORD The Foreword below was in the First and Second Editions of Architectural Graphic Standards; yet it is as true today as it was then. But there is a difference: today it is even more pertinent. Watching the work of revision at the end of a five-year period I could not but be impressed with the far-flung field over which changes had already taken effect. And so I puzzled over how much a book of this kind, because it contributes to the distribution of knowledge of new materials and new techniques, affects the rate at which our environment grows old and becomes obsolete. *Frederick L. Ackerman* May, 1941 Twenty-five years ago, working drawings and specifications of important structures were turned out without reference to other than a few documents dealing with materials and the technique of fabrication and assembly. During the intervening period no less than a revolutionary change has taken place. The production of a competent set of drawings, today, necessitates reference to a vast amount of widely scattered information covering an endless list of materials and items of one sort and another—all of which involves highly specialized methods of production and assembly. Failure t