Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?
- What aspects of a building design are most affected by the terrain features?
It’s important to accurately model land features with a toposurface because land features can have a significant impact on critical components of the design. The aspects of the building design that would be most affected by terrain features are the floors, walls, driveways, and other aspects that have interact closely with the terrain. Such aspects and their structures require that hills, bodies of water, and other topography be counted for in order for them to be properly constructed and fit into the overall building design. Land features are also important to accurately model with a toposurface to provide as much detail as possible, which is helpful in the design process.
When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
It is more environmentally conscious and economically efficient for the building to adapt to the terrain. In many cases the terrain is much more expensive and challenging to manipulate when compared to building materials, architectural design, and location. Adapting the terrain can also result in serious environmental harm and lead to future problems for the building.
What considerations affect a project team's decision-making when deciding the floor-to-floor height to use in a multi-story building?
- From a real estate developer's perspective?
- From a designer's perspective?
- From an engineer's perspective?
- From a builder's perspective?
- From an owner's perspective?
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?
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?
Stairs follow specific proportions in order for them to be usable. If the stairs didn’t follow the set relationships they could end up being too steep or broad, and properly fit into the building structure. In this way, building modeling can help prevent mistakes because they require that these specifications are before the building is designed and installed. This is why accurate modeling is important, because having accurate stairs can help prevent future issues from arising.