I need an architect
15 years ago
General
...or at least somebody who likes designing floor plans for big buildings. I've had this one project of mine always on the back burner to design the layout of the Yoshi Station.
It's a giant partially under-mountain complex that spans 7 stories. There are 'district' areas for its different uses, such as shopping (a super mall and food court), lab research (lab rental, conference labs, employee labs, and restricted labs), a hotel (yeah), indoor park (with a small river going through it), and residential (different sizes of apartments), then a good amount of filler things between said districts for entertainment (theater, arcade room, security checkpoints, medlabs, etc.)... and stuff like that.
I have a general idea of what rooms would go to which floor, but the devil in the details is what gets me. Especially with how to draw it out and stuff. Just curious to see if anybody out there could offer some help *shrugs*
It's a giant partially under-mountain complex that spans 7 stories. There are 'district' areas for its different uses, such as shopping (a super mall and food court), lab research (lab rental, conference labs, employee labs, and restricted labs), a hotel (yeah), indoor park (with a small river going through it), and residential (different sizes of apartments), then a good amount of filler things between said districts for entertainment (theater, arcade room, security checkpoints, medlabs, etc.)... and stuff like that.
I have a general idea of what rooms would go to which floor, but the devil in the details is what gets me. Especially with how to draw it out and stuff. Just curious to see if anybody out there could offer some help *shrugs*
FA+

In all seriousness though, I took woodshop oh so many moons ago (9 years), and I've had to draw floor plans for a house (and even build a scale model). I can't imagine it being TOO much different, but I'd be very rusty and I'm also very busy. The best I could do is give you some basic pointers from what I can remember, such as how to annotate things, etc.
If you're going to do measurements and be nit picky:
1) Hallways should be wide enough for two average people to walk by without bumping one another in residential areas (apartments, houses), and at least 3 people for offices, etc. Malls should be spacious and only have hallways when dealing with the 'background' that people don't need to see. Security areas, offices, bathrooms (to an extent).
2) It is assumed walls are 6 inches thick in most structures, unless otherwise noted in a blueprint. Walls are single lines, doors are double-lines with the wall-lines going to the center points of its depth. The door should also have an arc, quarter-circle in the direction it opens.
3) 2) Doors should never open into hallways. This is kind of 'doy' but some people forget.
4) I'm not 100% certain (was only mentioned once in class) on this but it seems to make sense: Revolving doors get two rectangles instead of one, butting up against one another. One side is marked in, the other out. Each side of the door should have a quarter-circle, to map out the full circle.
5) Everything should be to scale. Scale should be noted somewhere on the blueprint.
6) Measure everything, use rulers if done by hand. Graph paper is not necessary because you aren't accounting for wall thickness (its assumed), but it can still be used.
7) Use meters. You can use feet, but its ... less preferred. But since this is for you, and not an actual project, who cares? Walls, doorways, windows, staircases, everything should have a measurement.
8) When you first start detailing out a building, always give yourself more room than you thought. And be prepared to make erasures.
9) Buildings are rarely symmetrical. In fact, its more aesthetically pleasing to be asymmetrical. Unless its something like stock apartments and cheap offices where they aren't trying to look beautiful.
10) Curved anything is extremely expensive, and brings with it structural considerations and graphical representations. Its not used often, even though it looks cool, because of its prohibitive nature.
Everything else:
1) Industry should be far from commercial (malls) where possible
2) Parks and recreation should be adjacent to residential, between commercial stuff.
3) No one wants to live next to dump zones, trash, and government offices.
4) Bathrooms should be located near escalators, stairs, and elevators if they are not inside a single-floor store.
5) Make sure high-traffic areas have freedom of movement. That is to say, if everyone is going to want to go to some area, there should be more than one way to access it.
6) This is more for houses, but if it has a kitchen, it should have large, sweeping windows. And they should be facing the sun. A well-built house has a kitchen with a view.
7) Don't forget closets. Those take up space, and should be accounted for.
8) Try to not have wasted space. That is, four rooms that don't line up smoothly, with an unused gap between them. No one builds structures like this. Its expensive and wasteful from a per square foot standpoint.
9) Kitchens are designed with a triangle in mind. The kitchen, sink, and stove should form a triangle. An island can be in the middle, but should not drastically alter the way in which a person moves about the kitchen. Ideally, an island should form a square or rhombus if one is to be used at all unless it contains one of the three main elements of a kitchen. The sides of the triangle can 'bend' around the island if needed, but never force kinks. Sorry, I spent a lot of time on the kitchen aspects of houses when I had this class >.>
10) Ventilation is important. Don't forget to account for it in large buildings, and even underground structures.
Hope this helps. Hopefully this is also what you were expecting. Its been so long I'm forgetting the finer points. Some of them are 'doy' but I included them for completeness.
Oh and one last thing. When drawing out the city or whatever complex this is, there's two maps. One is a zoning and lot map, the other is the actual 'construction' map, which outlines the physical facades of a building. Many major cities also denote the ends of private lots which meet public areas (sidewalks) with little brass tacks in the concrete. They are numbered, and buildings can go up to, but not cover them. those tacks. I've seen them in New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle, so I'm pretty sure they're common place. I haven't looked out for them specifically, but I'm sure they're there.
Might be a while yet, since this mapping project is still not quite a high priority ^^;