Glenn KatzOverview
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 that you explored in your project.
The picture below is the exhibition center that I have been working on this quarter.
At the beginning of this project, I planned to design a “mountainous building” that could adapt to a mountainous terrain. However, due to the limited site choices, there is little space to show this design idea. My final design is a building that imitates the shape of the mountain: irregular alignment of floors.
Your Big Successes -- what worked very well and what features you're most proud to share as examples to inspire others.
I am most proud of the plumbing system I built for this exhibition center. Due to the special shape of my building, the location of restrooms on each floor is different. So, I spent a lot of time trying to connect the plumbing systems on each floor.
By constructing the plumbing system, I improved my spatial thinking skills. Also, the difficulty during this process made me realize the importance of designing the restroom location within a building.
- 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?
Most of the challenges I have faced this quarter came from the different floor plans for every level and the disorder of floors. There is little space aligned with each floor, which made my choice of elevator and staircase locations limited.
I overcame these challenges by discussing them with my CA and made some adjustments. For example, my original design had 9 floors, and I deleted the 9th floor to reduce the workload and complexity. Also, I reduced the number of elevators from 2 to 1, this is due to the limited space allowing elevators to connect all 8 levels.
- Lessons Learned -- what sage words of advice would you share with other students who are embarking on a similar project.
I would advise other students try to review buildings that they see in daily life in detail and learn from them. Complicated design as my exhibition center will possibly cause difficulties in later designing processes like connecting plumbing systems and building the structure.
