Overview
Replace this text with your reflections on your design journey through class from a higher level and share your insights about the entire experience. What were:
- Key / Essential / Unique Design Features & your Big Successes -- what worked very well and what features you're most proud to share as examples to inspire others.
I think my big successes came pretty early on in the project. I put a lot of thought into my project site, and that influenced many design choices for the building envelope. My building is set in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona (my home state) near the Biosphere 2 museum, an earth systems learning and research center. I thought that having a sustainability focused center nearby would be a good complimentary space.
Having a building in the desert though made me think particularly about the unique landscape and climate. I incorporated the natural desert beauty though the inner courtyard and through the large curtain walls on the backsides of both buildings. These curtain walls also served as a way to let in a lot of the overabundant natural sunlight, but I added a roof overhang to try and mitigate the heating impacts of so much direct sunlight.
- 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.
- Lessons Learned -- what sage words of advice would you share with other students who are embarking on a similar project.
The HVAC module was definitely the biggest challenge for me. It took me much longer than anticipated to finish the module, and I still wasn’t entirely happy with my results in the end. I tried to put the air handlers on the roof, which was challenging firstly because my roof was sloped, and secondly because I did not incorporate a mechanical room for the HVAC. It also was incredibly difficult to try and get the ducts to fit within the ceiling space without a mechanical room. I think that if I could do this class over again, I would have left spaces for a mechanical room in my original floorplan.
I also faced some challenges with the plumbing. I wish that I had known to make a single wet wall, as opposed to having the toilets and sinks on opposite sides of the bathroom, like I have in my design. Needing plumbing on two sides made me have to rout the plumbing around the perimeter of the bathrooms, which was difficult. I would have also left more space between the bathroom walls in my original design if I had thought ahead about plumbing. Instead, I had to attempt to move the walls, make a small mechanical room for each bathroom, and shrink the overall size of the bathrooms as a result.
I would advise future students to provide extra space in their designs from the beginning in order to accommodate the mechanical features. It is easy to think about the parts of a building that we see and interact with, the doors, walls, etc. but what makes a building really function is the often invisible systems. So think about these early on in the design process, even before you have the details for them worked out.
