You need to be smarter to document buildings in 2D than in 3D.

Properly documenting that is, rather than ‘just drawing’.

Using orthogonal projection-rules faithfully and making sure everything is fully resolved and defined.

Coordinated, sorted, kept up to date, throughout the project’s lifetime, regardless of the interfering circumstances.

In fact it is so difficult that almost no-one does it any more.

Furthermore, this has been going on for so long and all over the world that the skill-set required for 2D based (proper) documentation has almost totally died out.

The industry has compensated for the loss by evolving the ‘pit-bull engineer’.

A creature weak on the technical side, strong on persuasion, will ‘manage’ him/herself out of any tricky situation both in the design office and on the construction site.

Helped by a string of construction bubbles dominating the AEC environments over the last 2 decades, the industry took on the characteristics of a gambling room.

The skills needed to consistently win were not in line with what 2D based documenting would have asked from its loyal practitioners.

The growth of tools that collectively became to be known as ‘BIM methodologies’ for a while looked like the answer for the ones questioning the sustainability of pit-bull managed project-practices.

Where they got it wrong was missing out on the fact, that while it may be easier to document in digital 3D, ‘project management based on bullying’ is still cheaper.