Glenn KatzOverview
Key / Essential / Unique Design Features that you explored in your project. A few of the hey features of the building that I am proud of are the entry overhang, the 3rd floor balcony, the 2nd floor atrium space, and the wide main stair.. The overhang and balcony are intended to be shaded areas where people can comfortably spend time being outdoors. From one of the first modules, I found that lots of the sunlight hours were on the other side of the building, allowing these areas to be shaded for a large majority of the day. The central atrium space on the 2nd floor both allows for a larger exhibit piece, as well as makes the entire building feel more open. This area gets lots of natural light due to the windows from the floor above, which I think is a neat feature. Lastly, if I think back to some museums that I liked, I remember enjoying when they had really wide stairs since it felt inviting, and also a place to sit if needed. I implemented a version of this in my building by having the main stair be 12 ft wide, trying to create a nice feature where people can also relax.
- Your Big Successes -- what worked very well and what features you're most proud to share as examples to inspire others. I went for a particularly regular building shape since I did not have any Revit experience coming into this class, but I liked how I was able to lay out the spaces and also include things like restrooms and storage rooms in a configuration that kind of made sense. One of the modules that I spent the longest time brainstorming was the structural one, since that is where I have some background. It was very satisfying at the end to get a structural system that worked with the architectural layout that I originally had (after some minor modifications). It was interesting to think about how it took a lot of thinking to get the architecture and structure to work together for a building that is quite regular, so I can imagine how much harder it is for buildings with less normal shapes.
- 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. Coordination is hard. Even though the only person I had to coordinate with was myself, I still found it extremely challenging to avoid clashes between the architecture, structure, and mechanical systems. I have spent many hours trying to minimize the amount of clashes, but when one thing changes it always seems to break something else. This really made me think how difficult it is when each discipline is managed by a different group of people (although they probably know what they are doing and can avoid common pitfalls). In hindsight, when I began laying out my building I did not worry too much about exact tolerances and dimensions, and placed a lot of the elements where it just seemed like it was good enough. This definitely caused headaches later on when things were not quite fitting. There were a few times where I thought, “if this doesn’t fit I can just go back and change the wall placement.” That mindset definitely created problems, as it made me not really consider how then going back and changing something to fit the mechanical system would affect the structural system, and so on. Coordination is hard.
- Lessons Learned -- what sage words of advice would you share with other students who are embarking on a similar project. Definitely consider the future systems that have to go into the building from the outset, and do not think that changing layouts after the fact is a great idea. For example, when doing my architectural layout, while I did think about the structure, I did not really consider the duct work that would also have to go in after. Another piece of advice is to have some good Revit, or just architectural background. I was a little stunted in this class by both my lack of architectural creativity and my lack of ability in Revit, making me end up creating a fairly simple building. Although creativity may not be my strong suit, if I had at least been more comfortable with creating different types of elements and forms within Revit, I may have tried to do something a little more unique.
