Why does it matter to model the real terrain and real neighboring buildings?
◦ Which aspects of a building design are most affected by surrounding context?
◦ What kinds of mistakes only become visible once the context is present?
Should the building adapt to the site, or the site to the building?
◦ From a developer's perspective?
From a developer’s perspective, it makes more sense for the building to adapt to the site. Making large changes to sites often requires a lot of site removal and renovating to make work, which translates to a greater cost to the development. By changing the building to match the site, there is less preparation needed before building and thus less material and labor.
◦ From a designer's perspective?
From a designer’s perspective, it depends on the vision the designer has, but it is most likely the designer would prefer the site adapt to the building. Because the designer’s goal is to make the perfect match for the description and desires of the buyer, they would rather bite the bullet on expenses to ensure that the building is as optimal as possible. Thus, changing the sit to fit the building would create the desired look both on and around the property.
◦ From the perspective of the neighbors who already live there?
I think this depends on what/where the development is working on. Normally, changing the site requires much more labor and time during the pre-building phase, which results in lots of demolition noise and large machines moving through the neighborhood. This could disturb the neighbors, which would mean that the neighbors would prefer less work and thus for the building to be designed around the site. However, if the site is unaesthetic or poses some problem to the community, it is more likely that the neighborhood would prefer to be rid of the site and thus destroying the site to fit the building would help the neighborhood overall.
Sun hours and wind frequently want opposite things from the same massing.
◦ How should a team break the tie when two analyses disagree?
◦ Who should have the final say, and at what point in the process?
Forma's rapid analyses are fast because they are approximate.
◦ What is a rapid operational energy analysis leaving out?
◦ At what stage does that approximation stop being good enough?
◦ What would you need before putting a performance number in front of a client?
You generated three proposals and recommended one.
◦ Did the analysis choose it, or did you choose it and then find numbers that agreed?
◦ What would you have had to see to abandon your favorite option?
◦ If the lot next door is built out in three years, does your recommendation hold?