Glenn KatzImages of Your 3 Design Proposals
I initially wanted to do multiple buildings, but I decided to select the New York location. I don’t think my initial vision works for New York because the surrounding buildings are higher rise. This site has nice views and no surrounding buildings obstructing the lighting. Instead of having the open space on the ground level, I added smaller green spaces and then made more like terrace/patio type potential by making the building stair-like. I played with how many terraces to have and also the orientation of the building. I started facing the most south but noticed the southwest side of the site also got good sun, so I tried orienting it that way as well.
Proposal 1
Proposal 2
Proposal 3
Side-By-Side Comparisons of Your Analysis Results
Solar Energy
Orienting the building with the terraces on the near-south side had the best results for solar potential, which is important because one of my goals is to make the building net zero.
Sun Hours - June
All of the proposals get a lot of sun hours during June on the south and west sides. Proposal 2 looks the best to me because it is not casting as much of a shadow onto the east side.
Sun Hours - December
Your Recommendation for the “Best” Design Option
I think that proposal 2 is my favorite design option. I like having the terraces on the southmost side not only because it gets the most sun, but it also faces towards the water. I like that it would give those views as well. I am planning to put dining areas and green roof on those spaces, so sun and views are important. My only concern is the area between the site and the sun is undeveloped for now, but in the future, buildings might be placed there that could take away both of those benefits. I think I might make the building even taller in the next steps of design. Currently, proposal 2 is not badly shading the neighboring buildings, so it could go taller. In the December comparison, the shading on the north side is pretty dark, so proposal 3 wouldn’t be great for having the trees there. The tree areas in proposal 1 and 2 are getting good sun all year round. Proposal 1 and 2 have the same orientation, but I would ultimately pick proposal 2 over 1 because it has more terraces. I think having more separate spaces would work better for my design instead of having less bigger spaces. The very top could just be the green roof, which would benefit from being separated from areas where people are spending a lot of time. I wouldn’t want any trash or anything to accidentally interfere with the roof and pollute the water I plan to collect.