Overview

In this assignment you’ll design a new multi-story building of a much larger scale – a commercial office building in the Bay Area. The focus of this assignment is on:

• learning to explore and develop a design using performance feedback (using Autodesk Forma web tool).
• using that conceptual model to quickly place the essential features of the building shell

The focus of this assignment is to quickly generate and explore design ideas keeping in mind the program requirements. Autodesk Forma paired with Revit conceptual masses are a great tool to exercise this, and this assignment will give you the chance to experiment  with how to design with them.

There are two parts to this assignment:

Part I - Autodesk Forma: Massing with Meaning

Part II - Revit: Assigning specific architecture types (roof, floors, exterior enclosure, etc.)

Getting Started

There’s no specific starting point file for this assignment. You can use Revit’s default Architectural Template.

Design Approach

For larger scale buildings, we often begin the design process by exploring very high-level design decisions (including the overall shape and orientation of the proposed building) by looking at options for how the program requirements for creating a needed amount of space can be addressed within the constraints and taking advantage of the unique opportunities available on the project site.

You can think of this approach as top-down or outside-in.  Either way, the point is to make informed choices about the big, impactful design decisions early on – saving decisions about the smaller design details for a later iteration/design phase.

(insert blurb about Forma and site context/building performance)

Background

Your client – the fast-rising social media company TwitBook – has asked you to propose a design for a new commercial office building or a campus of smaller buildings to meet the needs of their employees and of their expanding business.  To enhance the creativity of their young workforce, they’re looking for a very dynamic, fluid series of workspaces that will encourage informal meetings, spontaneous collaboration, and employee well-being.

TwitBook has asked you  to create a space that’s a bit different and more daring than the somewhat classical design of most office buildings. This project should be a landmark building that clearly reflects their forward-thinking vision and the cutting-edge work that their employees are doing.

Design Program

Your task is to come up with a proposed design for this new office building or campus.

Your design should include approximately 100,000 SF of useable floor area.  Although you won’t be designing the interior spaces in detail for this assignment, you can imagine that they would include:

• Workspaces -- a mix of walled offices, cubicles, and open workspaces.
• Lots of meetings rooms and informal collaboration / project spaces
• A welcoming lobby space for clients and guests with many conference rooms nearby for meetings and seminars
• Cafe spaces where employees can get some food or coffee right in the building.
• Informal kitchenette / lounge spaces strategically placed near work areas
• Other amenities to support employee wellness
• Gym / workout areas
• Locker room space for bikers and runners
• A day care center
• Open exterior spaces -- for example, terraces and patios -- to take advantage of the favorable natural environment and boost employee productivity

In addition to these programmed spaces, you’ll also need to provide space for the building infrastructure and utilities to support the building users.  These spaces typically add about 20-25% to the total building area (bringing your total floor area up to 120,000-125,000 SF).  As you design the overall building forms, also model these key building infrastructure features:

• Stairs (2 or more for emergency egress) and an elevator -- create the shaft walls
• Restroom walls on each floor level -- there will likely be several restrooms on each level to handle employee needs
• Utility/mechanical room space for mechanical and electrical equipment

What’s Expected

Sharing Your Project

Please follow the instructions in the Canvas assignment to upload your building model to your folder on Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360) Documents and create a new post sharing your project on this linked Notion page.

Points to Ponder / Wrap-Up Questions

Please choose 2 of the following Points to Ponder questions and share your comments on this linked Notion page.