Design Journal Entry - Module 12 Wrap Up

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Module 12 - Sharing Your Project

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Mar 15, 2025 6:20 PM

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Mar 15, 2025 10:46 PM

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Josh

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https://pin.it/7idDoFsqa

Overview

I came into this class with no prior architectural experience and only a vague idea for what sustainable design I wanted to create. Originally, I wanted to create a hobbit-hole esque structure that blended seamlessly into a hillside. Unfortunately, I realized around Module 4, the site planning module, that an XL hobbit hole wouldn’t be possible given the structure square footage requirements and provided site footprints. From this point onwards, I pivoted to a much larger, multistory building, but still wanted to keep the organic feeling of my original concept and focused on round shapes throughout my structure.

Starting from my initial site massing studies, I opted for a southeast facing, half donut shape. I found this orientation to not only have the best daylight hours given the highrises to the north of the site, but also provide the best view and access to the open green space to the east of the site. With the half donut, I was able to expose the inner section of my building to daylight which wouldn’t have been possible if I had completed the circle.

In the center of my donut, I placed a large, glass-roofed, underground atrium that would provide the basement level with natural light and create an interesting viewpoint for visitors. For all of my above ground levels, I made extensive use of glazed glass on both sides of the donut to allow for natural light at all hours of the day. On my topmost level with an indoor garden, I utilized skylights similar to the SF Academy of Sciences to provide direct sunlight into the space.

Keeping with my original hobbit hole theme, I chose to integrate greenery into my building with a green rooftop viewing area on my auxiliary gift shop/ticketing office building overlooking the main structure. Similarly, I implemented a green roof on my main structure and aforementioned indoor garden to maintain the building’s connection to nature. These green spaces serve as both natural insulation and a source for water recycling using greywater.

I think one of the more successful features of my project is the building structure itself with few 90 degree corners that aim to create a more organic feeling environment. Some of my favorite architectural building features are the elliptical underground atrium, passthrough breezeway on floor 1, and rooftop viewing area of my auxiliary building that looks through said breezeway to the surrounding green areas.
Mechanically, I think my heavily zoned HVAC system is another more interesting aspect of my project, allowing for explicit control of east and west sides of each floor according to their respective HVAC loads.

My building’s organic donut shape was very much a double-edged sword as it made EVERYTHING else from structural supports to plumbing WAY more difficult. Hindsight 20/20, I created my building core in module 5 & 6 with little forethought to what systems I would have to add later on and very much screwed myself in later modules, having to redesign floors/make additions to my core for each successive module.

This class has been super insightful in shedding light on how buildings are actually constructed, but it’s very much been a trial by fire with each successive module revealing something new that I hadn’t thought of previously. I think adding recommended dimensions/MEP spaces in the Module 5 prompt instead of leaving it completely open ended would be very beneficial in helping students develop the foresight to avoid future coordination model problems.
In my particular case, while my chosen building form certainly forced me to develop more Revit prowess than a more standard one, I think it pulled me away from the actual building component coordination/integration process of this class. To future students, I’d recommend keeping it outwardly simple and focusing on the interior spaces, zoning, and systems that make up the core of this class.