What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
◦ What does each of them need from the model?
◦ What do they care about most, and where do those priorities conflict?
A building model should be a representation of the information that is necessary for the stakeholder using the model. Key stakeholders include structural engineers, designers, architects, zoning officials, or anyone involved in the design, construction, or renovation process. Broadly speaking, designers and architects need to understand what the building looks like and what it is like to experience. More technical engineering people need to understand the structural integrity of the building, how it is made, and its operations. Government officials concerned with building regulations may need to know how energy efficient the structure is, whether the building matches the aesthetic of the neighborhood, the size of its footprint or anything related to specific laws or zoning regulations. Often, these priorities overlap—for instance, architects are also interested in understanding the structural properties and aesthetic properties of the building, and all stakeholders are interested in the specific materials making up the building. However, the stakeholders’ main foci may be different, and so their ideal model will be different. For instance, if someone is concerned solely with making sure the building has the right height and footprint for zoning purposes, they would require a very simple model that maps out the rough massing of the building. However, someone concerned with meeting climate goals would want a more complex model that includes energy use, and an architect or civil engineer would want a model with extensive detail of the interior and overall structure. These more detailed models are more expensive and time-intensive to develop. It may be difficult to develop a model that pleases all stakeholders and meets time and budgetary constraints.
A drawing is a picture of a building. A model is a description of one.
◦ What questions can you ask a model that you cannot ask a drawing?
◦ Are there things a drawing still communicates better? Give an example.
A model provides more detailed quantitative information about a building, while a drawing more often conveys the experience of being in the space. Some functions that only a model has include seeing it from all directions (you can rotate the model in three dimensions), and under different scenarios (you can model changes in lighting, temperature, or weather), and measuring engineering properties such as structural soundness, operations, or heat retention (although, of course, the precise functionality depends on the kind of model and its level of detail). It is also easier to iteratively change a computer model than it is a drawing; you can test out different materials and see how they perform in terms of both aesthetics and function, whereas it takes a long time to make drawings of different scenarios. However, a drawing can convey more qualitative experiences and is often more emotionally evocative. A drawing can choose different colors or mediums to convey what the building feels like—something drawn in colored pencil or pastel feels more like a space someone would want to inhabit than a digital computer massing. For instance, at the Chapel of St. Ignacious in Seattle, architect Stephen Holl wanted to create a building that looked like “seven bottles of light.” His drawing of the space evokes that exact idea, and it seems like a very warm and fun space—much more inviting than a computer model of the space would be. Even if it is not precisely accurate to the space itself, it the drawing conveys the feeling of being in the space.
(Images via and ArchDaily, the Architectural Review, respectively)
This course splits the work across Forma, Revit and Forma Data Management.
◦ What is gained by using a different tool for concept, documentation and coordination?
◦ What tends to get lost in the handoffs between them?
◦ Who on a real project team is responsible for making sure nothing is lost?
Where should a building model actually live?
◦ What are the practical consequences of a model living on one person's laptop?
◦ What changes when the model lives in the cloud, for the designer and for everyone else?
If a building model solely lives on one person’s computer, then it runs the risk of getting accidentally deleted or lost. Additionally, if a model is never shared, then people cannot learn from the things it does well or give the modeler constructive feedback. If a model is on the cloud, then many stakeholders can view it and interact with it, which may be a valuable experience for them since they can learn more about the building and the designer’s modeling technique. Depending on sharing permissions, the designer may lose control of the model (other people may be able to edit or delete it), which they may not want. They also lose the privacy of having exclusive oversight of the model, and any changes they make are public. They may not want this if they are still drafting the model or trying to keep their designs more private.
You will make hundreds of modeling decisions this quarter.
◦ Which ones are worth being slow and careful about?
◦ Which are worth being fast about, accepting that you may redo them?
◦ How would you tell the difference before you have made the mistake?