Overview
Replace this text with your reflections on your design journey through class from a higher level and share your insights about the entire experience. What were:
- Key / Essential / Unique Design Features that you explored in your project.
During this quarter, I explored lots of tradeoffs between sustainability and feasibility as well as what I wanted to achieve versus what I had the skills to accomplish. I am proud of the values that guided my design: accessibility, sustainability, efficiency, beauty, nature, and human connection. I think this especially shows through with my accessible green roofs, daylighting strategy, central atrium, material choices, space allocations, and building orientation. I made sure that my overhangs were able to shade the south facing windows during summer solstice and let as much light in as possible during winter solstice. I allocated more space to education because that is a huge motivator for me as the daughter of two public school educators. I tried my best to prioritize natural light and a sense of flow in my building.
Not all of my ideas came through in the end; I was unable to meet all of my stormwater management goals (only 1 green roof) and I did not get to design my integrated bus stop on-site (although Jayant warned me about this early on). However, I learned a lot about what it takes to design a systems-oriented building and what needs to be prioritized to create a minimum viable product.
- Your Big Successes -- I am very proud of my plumbing and HVAC systems! These were a huge challenge for me, but I feel like I have a strong understanding of how these pieces fit together and what considerations must be taken into account in order to implement them successfully. Although it took some trial and error of adjusting elevation heights as well as ceiling levels, I created a harmonious system that integrated sustainability principles wherever possible (i.e., decentralized HVAC system, natural ventilation from atrium).
Furthermore, I am proud of my daylighting strategy and overall efficient R-values. My ceilings, floors, and walls all have R values within 30-50+ ranges, my south facing windows are all triple-glazed, low-e coatings, and my overhangs are able to maximize wanted v. unwanted sunlight. These all contribute to the overall energy efficiency of my building.
- Your Big Challenges -- My biggest challenge was making my floorplan and egress strategy work for me as I went through the quarter. As I moved onto each stage of the process, I would run into new problems to overcome. From mismatching bathroom footprints to challenging stair connections, I struggled to make my architectural scheme work with the integrated systems I was attempting to insert. It wasn’t until my final renderings that I realized that my stairs/elevator were actually blocking a majority of light access for the building. In hindsight, I would push these to the side/back (north side) of the building, respectively, to better achieve the goals I set at the beginning of the quarter. I also really struggled to implement my structural system without creating erroneous columns in my atrium as well as functional pipes that would not intersect or hang down out of the ceiling. Although these were relatively minor struggles, in the moment they took up a lot of time and were very discouraging to me throughout the process.
- Lessons Learned -- I learned that sometimes, you can’t see the flaws in your building until they have already manifested, sometimes weeks into the project. For me, I chose to ride it out and make the most of it, even if it meant compromising some of my goals (imperfections in my model, no grey water system). I realized that sometimes perfection is not feasible (especially considering my limited/rusty modeling skills coming into the class). Instead, I would prioritize the learning process and be less afraid to be imperfect/unpolished because the fear of failure can hold you back from experimenting. If I would have let myself fail more, I think I could have had less stress working on the project and get more productive hours in rather than agonizing over Revit confusion. On a practical side, think about how you will measure your goals in Revit/the online realm before you set them so that you can actually follow through!