One page facade comparison showing both options with their metrics
Typical floor plan image with unit types or zones labelled, plus the unit mix schedule
One AI render of the chosen scheme
Design memo of 300 to 500 words: how the massing changed from Week 2 and why, what the facade studies showed, what you chose, and where you overrode the automation
In week 2 i choosed the L-shape because its own geometry protects the inner courtyard from the west wind and from the street and rail noise. For Week 3 the idea was to take the same building and make it something real. I developed it into 98,110 SF of GFA — 76,024 SF residential over a commercial ground floor of 22,086 SF. The typical floor is single-loaded: with only about 30 ft of depth a double-loaded corridor does not fit, so the units open to one side of a 10 ft corridor. Even like this the efficiency factor came out at 0.91. The core is two egress stairs at the opposite ends of the building, plus the elevator and the service shaft at the inner corner of the L, held in the same place on every floor with the egress always under 250 ft. The building has 8 residential floors and 94 units. Then I tested two facade options. In both I changed only the exterior faces of the L — the ones looking to the street and the west — and I left the interior courtyard facade the same. Option 1 put a full glass curtain wall at 100% WWR on those exterior faces. Option 2 brought the WWR down to 50% on the same faces. The investors asked for one main goal, spend less energy. So I decided with the EUI. Option 1 uses 40 kBtu/ft² and Option 2 only 31 — about 22% less. Less glass on the hot faces means less sun heat inside, so the HVAC works less. The total carbon was almost the same, so it did not change the decision. So I choosed Option 2. It uses less energy, it respects the 30–50% WWR the program asks (the 100% curtain wall did not), the solid exterior wall also blocks the street noise, and it is cheaper to build. The automation puts the same glass on every face, but the west sun is the one that heats the most. So I reduced the glass only on the exterior faces and left the courtyard facade as it was — there the sun is not a problem and the daylight is good.