Final Design

Cafe:

Indoor garden:

Conference room:

Entrance Lobby:

Restroom:

Essential Design Features

I was focusing on achieving a biophilic design, which worked well with my other two goals of reducing the carbon footprint of building materials and energy consumption of the building. While designing a building envelope, I focused on having as much natural light as possible (especially considering the location in Sao Paolo) while also trying to protect the spaces from overheating from sunlight. For the structural system, I explored timber since it's considered a sustainable building material and a great feature for biophilic design. For my mechanical and electrical systems, I tried dividing each floor into zones so I could have more control over each section of the building and have sensors to turn off zones that are not in use. Finally, I played with interior design by choosing wood floor finishes, natural print wallpapers, and wood furniture to keep it more natural.

BIG Successes

I was pretty happy with the final look of the building and its interior. I am happy that the idea of having an exposed structural system worked out. I was concerned that the HVAC system would take too much space and I would have to cover timber beams with the ceiling. I tried placing all the HVAC systems close to the exterior walls so that there are no ducts running in the middle of the rooms. I was also happy that ducts are below the beam system and there are no overlaps. I am also satisfied with how the structural system fits into the architectural layout. Almost all the columns are in the corners of the rooms or close to the interior walls, so I kept the spaces open.

Big challenges

My first challenge was during the beginning of the design process when I had to come up with the building layout. I realized that as a structural engineering student, I was only concerned about how to have a proper structural frame layout and could not come up with any creative building shape (and yeah, I ended up with a pretty basic shape). So, I would need more creativity and architectural knowledge for my next project. My next challenge was during the HVAC stage when I realized that my mechanical room was on the corner of the building ,surrounded by an elevator shaft and a staircase. It took me some time to find a way to connect the ducts to the air supplier in the mechanical room without covering the whole exposed ceiling. Next time, I would place a mechanical room closer to the middle of the building to avoid such issues. Finally, after finishing the renderings, I realized that some of the lights were pointing up. Since I don’t have a ceiling, it was confusing how to place lighting devices on the work plane. So, if I had more time, I would have figured out what’s the issue with lighting.

Lessons Learned

I think the most important part of the design process is always thinking ahead. I would research how mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems work before starting the building layout so that you can plan stacked restrooms in a proper location for a mechanical room ahead. It is also important to design the layout and structural system at the same time because otherwise, it gets very confusing and complicated. Finally, I have learned that designing your own building is a very creative and fun process, and you will probably end up happy and proud of your work, even if not everything worked out perfectly.