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?
Accurately modeling site land features ensures that the designed structure will be harmonious with the landscape during construction. It is imperative to avoid unexpected conflicts with the land because that could result in major project costs in terms of time and money.
The number one issue I ran into unexpectedly when dealing with the toposurface were my first-floor windows. I did not realize that the incline of the surface would take away much of the wall space that could be used for windows.
When designing a project...
- Should the building adapt to the terrain?
- Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
Both. Obviously, the terrain will have to be destroyed to some extent in order to ensure a safe structure can be built. However, it is ignorant to bullishly demolish the natural environment when making way for a new build. There should be considerable thought and effort put into exploring how the landscape could be preserved, and how the structure could “flow” with the land
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?
There are codes in place that specify the dimensions of stairs, and they must be followed. Building modeling can prevent mistakes in stair design by already accounting for these complicated codes that may be forgotten or misinterpreted by humans.