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?
Accurate representation of the topography in building modeling is significant because the exposed area of the building varies depending on the surrounding topography, which also affects the arrangement of doors and windows. In addition, since a wall in direct contact with the ground must be constructed with waterproof materials such as concrete, accurate topography expression is an essential task throughout the project, including design, construction, and management.
When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
I believe both options are available depending on the project’s situation, such as budget, owner, or soil status. For example, if you need to save money and build a simple low stories building, it would be more efficient to adapt the structure to the terrain. However, if you expect that the size of the terrain is limited, changing the terrain to the building would also be considered. For example, downtown building projects would be more economical to put more effort into grading.
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?
- How can building modeling help prevent the mistakes that often occur when designing and installing stairs?
In many countries, there is a limit on the ratio between the tread length and riser height of the stairs because the wrong ratio can cause accidents when used by people. Because the ratio is set in the building modeling program, it is possible to prevent a designer's mistake from leading to a user's accident.