Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?
It is important because we want to have our project exactly like the land we want to build said project on. This is because we want the translation from the project to real life to be seamless and by accurately modeling the land features we are able to do that.
- What aspects of a building design are most affected by the terrain features?
I think the aspects that are most affected are the shape and the base level. This is because non flat terrains will force you to build around them and ultimately we want the project to be level so as a result it will change how we create our first floor and the shape of our project.
When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
The building definitely should adapt to the terrain to the point where you can still get what you want out of a project. I believe that we should first work to adapt the building to the terrain because we don’t want to affect the environment too drastically and it would be easier to build around. However, if we cannot get our ideas across or the terrain limits what we can do then I think we can adapt the terrain in order to fully illustrate what we want.
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
I think it is definitely better to first adapt the building to the terrain. But if the terrain limits us from expressing our ideas fully then we can and should adapt the terrain to illustrate what we want fully.
Why do stairs follow specific proportions with a set relationship between the tread length and riser height?
Stairs follow these specific proportions in order to be safe, comfortable and effective. If the stairs became too steep, then they would be difficult to climb and could become dangerous. If the stairs aren’t steep enough then they could become ineffective and inefficient. By using the set relationship the stairs are able to be comfortable and easily usable by users of the stairs.
- How can building modeling help prevent the mistakes that often occur when designing and installing stairs?
Building modeling allows us to find any mistakes that may be in our stairs before the implementation of the project. The stairs in the building modeling also follow the safety codes when they are placed. The combination of both of these allow the designers to mitigate any issues before the actual implementation of the stairs, which prevents issues.