When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
This question will probably vary from project to project; however, I believe that the building should be able to conform and adapt to the terrain as much as possible. The terrain should not be viewed as an obstacle, but rather an opportunity to create original and creative projects that would otherwise be impossible without the given landscape. It is specially important that the vision of the building integrates and keeps the terrain in mind. For instance, if a project site is located on a steep hill, the project should take advantage of this and maximize the view as much as possible. Notwithstanding, it is totally acceptable to make changes in the terrain for crucial parts of your project, or to make it more viable.
What are the advantages of stacking the levels of a multi-story building vertically?
- Can you share an interesting example of a building that doesn’t vertically stack (where the floor plates change their shaped radically between the floor levels)?
- What were the advantages or reasons for non-vertical stacking?
Some of advantages include the following: To start with, it eliminates room for error. When stacking levels, you only have to fully focus on the details on one building, and then copy the building onto different floors. Doing different floors manually means checking for errors on each individual floor. Secondly, it greatly saves time needed to be put into a project. Additionally, it could also potentially reduce costs one the project is being built.
However, there might be also some advantages for non-vertical stacking. This might allow for more interesting or creative different patters within floors, which can increase the level originality and detail. This can make a building more attractive or visually appealing.
Casapueblo in Uruguay is a good example of this. Casapueblo is a very known building by the coast of Uruguay, that features this striking design that maximizes the cliff it is situated at. Because of this, every floor has a completely different pattern and design.
Why do stairs follow specific proportions with a set relationship between the tread length and riser height?
- How can building modeling help prevent the mistakes that often occur when designing and installing stairs?
This is the follow the natural mobility and movement that our legs and feet would do. A rise and tread length that are too high or too long, or too low or shallow may be uncomfortable to use. This could also bring hazard and tripping issues since the legs and feet would move in a way that feels natural, but that it doesn’t align with the rise or run of the stairs.
Building modeling can help this by standardizing the tread length and riser height to a specific measure that is appropiate for people to use. It also eliminates the chance of accidentally making steps of different heights or runs.