In building construction, deciding the location of columns and beams is a crucial step that requires careful planning and consideration. It establishes the location points for site boundaries, foundations, columns, centrelines of walls and other necessary structural parts.This video discusses the Column Layout plan of a 20x35 house. Architectural Column on Footing. Architectural column built up with wood studs, posts, and diagonal braces on concrete footing; optional slab on grade. A column footing is usually a block of concrete poured in the bottom of a hole so that the weight placed on the column can be distributed through a larger area. This document provides three thumb rules for column placement in building design: 1.