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A triangular architect's scale, made of brass

An architect's scale is a specialized ruler designed to facilitate the drafting and measuring of architectural drawings, such as floor plans and orthographic projections. Because the scale of such drawings are often smaller than life-size, an architect's scale features multiple units of length and proportional length increments.

For accuracy and longevity, the material used should be dimensionally stable and durable. Scales were traditionally made of wood, but today they are usually made of rigid plastic or aluminium. Architect's scales may be flat, with 4 scales, or have a symmetric 3-lobed cross-section, with 6 scales.

United States and Imperial units[link]

In the United States, and prior to metrification in Britain, Canada and Australia, architect's scales are/were marked as a ratio of x inches-to-the-foot (typically written as x"=1'-0"). For example one inch measured from a drawing with a scale of "one-inch-to-the-foot" is equivalent to one foot in the real world (a scale of 1:12) whereas one inch measured from a drawing with a scale of "two-inches-to-the-foot" is equivalent to six inches in the real world (a scale of 1:6). It is not to be confused with a true unitless ratio (inches to inches)-- a 1:50 architectural scale would be a 1:60 unitless scale.

Typical scales used in the United States are:

• Full scale, with inches divided into sixteenths of an inch

The following scales are generally grouped in pairs using the same dual-numbered index line (one scale is read from the right, and the other scale is read from the left):

• three-inches-to-the-foot (3"=1'-0") (ratio equivalent 1:4)/one-and-one-half-inch-to-the-foot (1½"=1'-0") (1:8)

• one-inch-to-the-foot (1"=1'-0") (1:12)/one-half-inch-to-the-foot (1/2"=1'-0") (1:24)

• three-quarters-inch-to-the-foot (3/4"=1'-0") (1:16)/three-eighths-inch-to-the-foot (3/8"=1'-0") (1:32)

• one-quarter-inch-to-the-foot (1/4"=1'-0") (1:48)/one-eighth-inch-to-the-foot (1/8"=1'-0") (1:96)

• three-sixteenths-inch-to-the-foot (3/16"=1'-0") (1:64)/three-thirty-seconds-inch-to-the-foot (3/32"=1'0") (1:128)

Metric units[link]

Architect's scale rulers used in Britain and other metric countries are marked with ratios without reference to a base unit. Therefore a drawing will indicate both its scale (ratio) and the unit of measurement being used.

In Britain, and elsewhere, the standard units used on architectural drawings are the (SI) units millimetres (mm) and metres (m), whereas in France centimetres (cm) and metres are most often used.

In Britain, for flat rulers, the paired scales often found on architect's scales are:

For triangular rulers, the paired scales are:

Less common scales are:

• 1:25/1:250

• 1:33¹⁄₃

External links[link]

• Engineering and Architectural Scale Information.

Jan Gehl
Jan Gehl in 2006
Born	(1936-09-17) 17 September 1936 (age 75) Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Alma mater	Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture
Awards	Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize (1993) Civic Trust Award (2009)
Work
Practice	Gehl Architects

Jan Gehl (born 17 September 1936) is a Danish architect and urban design consultant based in Copenhagen and whose career has focused on improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design towards the pedestrian and cyclist. He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects.

Biography[link]

Gehl received a Masters of Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1960, and practiced architecture from 1960 to 1966. In 1966 he received a research grant from the institution for "studies of the form and use of public spaces," and has since been a lecturer and professor there, and a Visiting Professor in Canada, the US, New Zealand, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Norway. He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects – Urban Quality Consultants.

As a "young architect working in the suburbs," Gehl married a psychologist and "had many discussions about why the human side of architecture was not more carefully looked after by the architects, landscape architects, and planners... My wife and I set out to study the borderland between sociology, psychology, architecture, and planning."^[1]

Influence[link]

Gehl Architects' project for Brighton New Road employing shared space, awarded the UK Civic Trust Award

Gehl first published his influential Life Between Buildings in Danish in 1971, with the first English translation published in 1987. Gehl advocates a sensible, straightforward approach to improving urban form: systematically documenting urban spaces, making gradual incremental improvements, then documenting them again.

Gehl's book Public Spaces, Public Life describes how such incremental improvements have transformed Copenhagen from a car-dominated city to a pedestrian-oriented city over 40 years. Copenhagen's Strøget carfree zone, the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe,^[2] is primarily the result of Gehl's work. In fact, Gehl often uses the phrase "copenhagenize" to describe his vision of how urban centres can embrace bicycle culture and urban cycling.

Gehl participates in and advises many urban design and public projects around the world:

• In 2004 he carried out an important study in to the quality of the public realm in London, commissioned by Transport for London and supported City of Wakefield and the town of Castleford in developing and delivering better public spaces, as part of an initiative known as "The Castleford Project".
• In 2007-08 he was hired by New York City's Department of Transportation to re-imagine New York City streets by introducing designs to improve life for pedestrians and cyclists. The DOT used Gehl's work to "directly inform" the implementation of their new urban planning and design policies and projects.^[3]
• Gehl has been influential in Australia as well, where he prepared Public Life studies for the city centres of Melbourne (1994 and 2004),^[4] Perth (1995 and 2009),^[5] Adelaide (2002)^[6] Sydney (2007),^[7] Auckland (2008)^[8] and Christchurch.^[9] In 2010 Gehl was hired by the Hobart City Council to prepare a design strategy for the city of Hobart, Tasmania.^[10]

Awards and distinctions[link]

• 1993 Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize - for exemplary contributions to Town Planning and Territorial Development, International Union of Architects
• 1998 EDRA Award, Environmental Design Research Association, USA
• 2007 Honorary Academician, The Academy of Urbanism, UK
• 2008 Landscape Institute Award, Landscape Institute, UK
• 2009 NYC Award, New York City, USA^[11]
• 2009 Civic Trust Award for Brighton New Road Civic Trust, UK
• Honorary Member of American Institute of Architects
• Design Futures Council Senior Fellow

Selected publications[link]

• Gehl, J (1987) Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, translated by Jo Koch, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. (ISBN 978-87-7407-360-4)
• Gehl, J. and Gemzøe, L. (2000) New City Spaces, The Danish Architectural Press. Copenhagen. (ISBN 978-87-7407-293-5)
• Gehl, J. and Lars Gemzoe. (2004) Public Spaces, Public Life, Danish Architectural Press. (ISBN 978-87-7407-305-5)
• Gehl, J. et al. (2006) New City Life, The Danish Architectural Press, Denmark. (ISBN 978-87-7407-365-9)
• Gehl, J (2010) Cities for People, Island Press. (ISBN 978-1597265737)

See also[link]

• New pedestrianism
• Public space
• New Urbanism
• Transit-oriented development

References[link]

External links[link]

• GEHL Architects, Urban Quality Consultants, Copenhagen
• complete text of "Life Between Buildings" Chapter 1 in English
• The Castleford Project, an innovative urban revitalization program in Yorkshire, UK
• Metropolis Magazine 10-step program for pedestrianizing Copenhagen
• Streetsblog.org report: "Jan Gehl: Gridlocked Streets Are “Not a Law of Nature”
• The Royal Institute of British Architects, International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change talk presented by Jan Gehl(video)
• Jan Gehl interview from ArchDaily