Abigail Andrews Design Journal Entry

Journal Entry For

Module 12 - Sharing Your Project

Overview

I designed a transit museum that is modeled to be a reverse pyramid that has a subterranean unit. I think the design of a reverse pyramid is interesting and unique compared to many modern buildings (as this is brutalist). I am unsure at the structural success of the building.
I wanted my building to have a low EUI ✅, low carbon emissions (✅-ish, I did not compute the CO2 output but assume with a low EUI & an all electric building emissions are minimized), and way finding (not sure if this was successful -see floorpan module- I don’t think my floor plan is hard to navigate but I also don’t think it is particularly easy to. My building is largely open space. Perhaps way finding is the task of the architect.

Your Big Successes -- what worked very well and what features you're most proud to share as examples to inspire others.

I am very proud of my green roof, my HVAC design, and my enevelope. I am ecstatic that my building could reach arch 2030 without major design changes. I would like my building to have roof access and see that as the natural next step.
An all electric building! My goal was to have no gas in the building and I designed as such, however the air handling unit sizing was harder than expected due to this and was more or less a pain to design so it would not be visible. However, I did it an am very excited for the work!

Your Big Challenges -- what aspects of the project created the biggest challenges and what would you do differently (in hindsight) to avoid or overcome these challenges.

I had to change my building type in the middle of the quarter because I realized the energy demand of a transit center was near impossible to model for architecture 2030.
I wanted my building to be mass timber with redwood. However, mass timber has a much lower thermal resistance than many other types of wood and impacted my envelope design more than expected.

Lessons Learned -- what sage words of advice would you share with other students who are embarking on a similar project.

Plan well and ahead- especially with the structural elements and HVAC. I was disappointed to see my structural element changing my design plans and wish that could be removed. However, I am happy with the final design choices I made.

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