Module 3 - Points to Ponder

Submitted For
Module 3 - Points to Ponder
💡
Please share your comments on 3 of the following Points to Ponder questions. (Choose 3 of the questions below.)

Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?

  • What aspects of a building design are most affected by the terrain features?

It is important because it clearly defines the land that the house will be built on and thus the building when you put up walls can easily go with the land. Also, the land often dictates what you can and can’t do with the building. Structurally the builders must understand the engineering that goes into either digging out dirt to build the building or maybe adding extra support or structural features into the topography like a retaining wall to make the building feasible.

When designing a project...

  • Should the building adapt to the terrain?
  • Or, should you adapt the terrain to the building?
  • I think that the terrain should adapt the building. We already have so many man made structures that dominate the earth and ecosystem. I find houses that blend into their surroundings and mesh with them to be the most fun and interesting. Anyone can move a building across the globe and place it on any terrain. The opposite is not true as buildings but fit the terrain to be beautiful.

What considerations affect a project team's decision-making when deciding the floor-to-floor height to use in a multi-story building?

  • From a real estate developer's perspective?
  • From a designer's perspective?
  • From an engineer's perspective?
  • From a builder's perspective?
  • From an owner's perspective?
  • The floor to floor height from a designers perspective is based upon the look they want to have. The more modern often the higher the ceilings per floor. From an engineer perspective they do as the owner and designer decide but the higher the roof the more structural beams they are going to need. The builder just needs to source the materials to build such a building. The owner is going to be looking at cost structure and the look they are going for as the higher ceilings usually mean bigger budget. The real estate developer must look at their target audience and decide what kind of style they want to attract their targeted buyer.

What are the advantages of stacking the levels of a multi-story building vertically?

  • Can you share an interesting example of a building that doesn’t vertically stack (where the floor plates change their shaped radically between the floor levels)?
  • What were the advantages or reasons for non-vertical stacking?

Why do stairs follow specific proportions with a set relationship between the tread length and riser height?

  • How can building modeling help prevent the mistakes that often occur when designing and installing stairs?

Describe a case when it would be worthwhile to create a new custom component in Revit… How do you decide when customize versus using readily available components?