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?
The first floor with its foundations. Also we understood through this assignment that when designing we usually design have in mind a “perfect” terrain in mind. Halfway through the assignment I saw that because of the uneven terrain half of my first door floor was beneath the surface, probably that would be not very comfortable for users.
When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
This is actually a great question. I was actually having a discussion about this with my dad the other day, when he was complaining about some roots that where getting beneath our housing deck. Unfortunately he decided to cut down a big part of the tree’s roots. I usually think that we are the invaders in nature, but we totally need to find our common goals and collaborate in order
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?
An advantage would be the efficiency associated with plumbing and sanitary fixtures. If you align bathrooms through several floors, you could be really effective when it comes to the infrastructure required for this service.
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?
I always say that we need to “mess up” digitally, for us to improve the execution aspect of real-life construction. For instance it is important see how the actual interaction between the next floor slab and the landing of the stair. This to create a smooth transition between the stair and the next floor.
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 that would be worthwhile a new custom component in REVIT would be for instance a countertop with an specific measure that its completely tailor-made for the project.
As we transition to a industry that is pushing hard for prefab. In my opinion, we should standardize at least 80% of the buildings while leaving 20% to tailor made solutions based on the project’s need. Many times it feels the other way around.