Journal Entry For
Module 6 - Evaluate Your Alternatives
Link to Student
- For 2 or More Units: Create Two New Evaluator Nodes
- I used a cost and a surface area to floor area ratio as my evaluation metrics. The Cost evaluation node will calculate and report total construction cost and cost/SF of floor area. I used two three variables with two combinations to evaluate: One combination was Top Height and Taper (How the length of the floor tapers up or down when the height/floors increase), the second combination is Top Height and Top Rotation. See below for screen shot of the evaluation node for cost:
- Node to calculate Mass Floor areas and total cost and cost/SF - This value can be used to indicate multiple aspects of a building such as energy efficiency, heating and cooling loads, cost effectiveness. For example a lower surface area to floor area generally means less external surface area relative to the building’s volume, which can lead to less heat loss.
- Then I rolled the two in a function node
- The results for the two combinations (Top Height and Taper and Top Height and rotation are shown below.
- Your answers to the Points to Ponder questions for each stage of the assignment that you completed. Yes, the evaluation metrics that i used capture a meaningful difference. We can see that as the height of the building goes up both the total cost and cost/SF go up which signify higher construction cost. But as the building goes taller, the Floor to Surface ration gets higher which in turn mean the surface to floor ratio goes smaller. This means operation costs like heating and cooling are smaller.
- Other factors such as view or line of sight coupled with rental income potential will paint a picture if an alternative is good or not by comparing potential income vs construction cost.
