Module 3 - Points to Ponder

Submitted For
Module 3 - Points to Ponder
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Please share your comments on 3 of the following Points to Ponder questions. (Choose 3 of the questions below.)

Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?

It is important to accurately model the land feature of the project site because this will affect how much of your building, will sit below grade or what construction adjustments are necessary to ensure the whole building is above-grade. How much of your building is below grade will affect what materials you can use in construction (wood vs concrete walls and floors) and it may affect the look and functionality of your building (where you can include doors and windows). The toposurface will also affect whether or not you have to put down a building pad, how large this building pad must be, and whether or not you will need to surround the building pad with retaining walls.

When designing a project...

  • Should the building adapt to the terrain?
  • Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?

What considerations affect a project team's decision-making when deciding the floor-to-floor height to use in a multi-story building?

  • From a real estate developer's perspective?
  • From a designer's perspective?
  • From an engineer's perspective?
  • From a builder's perspective?
  • From an owner's perspective?

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?

Why do stairs follow specific proportions with a set relationship between the tread length and riser height?

Because for a person’s gate to feel natural walking up and down stairs the riser hight must remain around 4-7.5 inches and the tread length must be at least 10 inches. This is also written into most building codes, so using specific proportions help to create comfortable and up-to-code stairs. Using a set relationship between the tread length and riser height helps prevent user-error and ensures the program can calculate the rise and run necessary for the stairs to fit exactly between floors.

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?

One case where I felt it worthwhile to create a custom component was when creating countertops for my kitchen, which is L-shaped and therefor needed a bending countertop. In general, it can be time saving to use pre-made components when they fit the parameters of your design, but when you cannot find what you need, it is best to create a new component.