A drawing is not the size of a building. Scale is the ratio between the dimensions on a drawing and the actual dimensions of the building. A floor plan drawn at 1/4 inch equals 1 foot means that every quarter inch on the paper represents one foot in the real world. Change the scale, and the drawing can show more or less detail.

Different scales serve different purposes. A site plan might be 1 inch equals 100 feet. A floor plan might be 1/4 inch equals 1 foot. A wall section might be 1 inch equals 1 foot. A detail might be 1 1/2 inches equals 1 foot. The larger the scale, the more detail you can show.

Scale is also a design concept. A building's scale refers to how its size relates to human size. A house has a small scale. A cathedral has a large scale. A building can have good scale, meaning it feels appropriate to its context and function, or bad scale, meaning it feels too big or too small for its purpose.

Architects use scale figures — drawings of people — to show how a building or space relates to the human body. Without them, a rendering can look like a toy. With them, it becomes a place.