When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
In sensitive areas like hillsides, coasts, and mountainous regions, the building should be designed with the terrain in mind. These geographic areas are not usually developed into residential areas, so any designer that is specifically choosing these areas should build with terrain in mind. However, it is important to note that when developers are choosing a new area to build on, they often take into account the terrain and will more often than not choose the easiest terrain to build on. This decreases earthwork excavation costs, which could accumulate very rapidly if you don’t take the terrain into account in your design. Thus, it is important to design your building to the terrain
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 have specific proportions because they are designed for user comfort. When you take into how guests will use the stairs, it is important to understand how people walk up or down stairs. If the tread depth is too short, the guest cannot comfortably step onto the stair. If the tread depth is too long, it could mess with the rhythm of the guest’s walk, leaving them off-balance. If the riser height is too high, the guest could trip on the stairs. If the riser height is too low, the guest might overshoot their next step and trip. Thus, there is a specific relationship between tread length and riser height that must be adhered to. When modeling stairs in a building model, you can see visualize how the stairs will look and can easily dictate whether the stairs are properly proportioned or not. Also, the building model can give the contractors the exact idea of what the stairs should be like, so there is no confusion about how the stair layout should look in real life.
Describe a case when it would be worthwhile to create a new custom component in Revit… How do you decide when customize versus using readily available components?
A case where it would be worthwhile to create a new custom component in Revit would be when you need a component of specific dimensions. For instance, if you needed a specific unit or even a fully-customized structural system, it would be hard to use the readily-available components in the model. Also, if the design calls for a very specific element from a certain manufacturer, that element would need to be created custom in Revit. In order to have the building model reflect reality as much as possible, it is important to create custom components when the design calls for it.