Week 5 - Site Plan, Structure, Elevation, Building Services

The development of the site will require a plan that explains your proposed site design in more detail (1/8" or 1/4" scale). Uses, materials, edge treatment, lighting all need to be documented. This should happen with detailed plans and narrations. Vignettes and images can be added to help understand how you are proposing to develop the site. Important: Extend your site plan into Boylston and Ipswich Street, as well as Mass Ave. It should tell the story of how you connect your site to the larger context.

The development of the structure will require a narrative explaining the choice of structural system, the main components (foundation, walls, columns, floor slabs, roofs and bracing). Make sure the elemants can be explained in a section and one floor plan showing a typical bay.

The elevation development at this point should include blocking out of the Boylston Street side, the Turnpike side and the Facade towards Mass Ave. Indicate solids and voids and materials. First thoughts on devices to control light and heat gain should be considered.

The building services development needs to take your environmental impact goals a step further and assign building systems to the various goals. Develop also ideas how to insulate, heat, cool and light your project. Most of you are proposing to collect water. Collection, storage, treatment re-use and/or discharge need to be described in more detail at this point.

Post (concise) narratives, sketches and images on your blog before the end of the week.

Week 4 - 8: Schedule

In the next four weeks we will have to tweak the project, develop a few new items (Structure, Details, Elevations, Building Services) and produce a final presentation. In order to pace ourselves I'm proposing the above schedule. As you can see, I would like you to be able to produce FINAL documents starting week 6. In order to do this we should try to pick up the pace a bit, post often and comment a lot (Eddie is setting a very desirable but too high a standard). At least three times a week should be possible.

Week 4 - Let's pick up the pace

we are all back home and hopefully regereated. Don't loose the momentum.

Week 4 - Recap

As we took stock last Saturday it is time now to post the PowerPoint show on the blog (add to documents and post link) and deposit the notes you took of your colleagues presentations in their blogs.
Summarize your presentation, use your goals for site, program and environmental impact as a guide, write down what you think worked well, which elements of your presentation were well received, which ones you should work on, which ones were not understood. Assess what you should be concentrating the most: site plan, massing, plan, elevations, sections, environmental sections, structure, mechanical systems, code analysis, materials, details. Rank your focus areas and post a brief description or list on the blog.

Week 3 - Mid-Term Presentation

Please pick a spot on the schedule posted on the window between room 302 and 303.
Prepare for the mid-term presentation material to pin-up and a powerpoint or equal slide show stored on a memory stick. Pin your project in paperform up at noon for everybody to be able to view. Your presentation will utilize the slide show on the projection screen. Be ready to explain your project in five minutes or less.
Add relevant imagery to explain your vision and parti, your reaction to site, program and environmental impact (goals).
The slides should include site plan, floor plans, lngitudinal and cross section, elevations and perpective views.
Build a 1:20 massing model to be inserted into the base provided by Eric's studio.
End your slide presentation with an image that explains the project as complete as possible; it might be up on the screen for the ten minutes of discussion by the critics.

Week 3 - Building Code Analysis

Determine applicable Codes
Determine Use Groups, Arera Limitations, Height Limitations
Determine Construction Type
Understand Life Safety issues (exits, dead ends, et cetera)
Understand Implications of High Rise (height greater than 70')
Understand Implications of American with Disability Act (ADA)

Week 3 - Plan, Layout, Volume

We established goals for the site, the program, the environmental impact. Let's start organizing the program on the site, determine the location of the individual program elements: elevation in the building (ground, middle, top), the relationship to the immediate site elements (train/highway, Boylston Street, Mass Ave, the neighboring building), relationships of the individual program elements to the public, et cetera.
Represent your program areas scaled in relation to the site, locate these elements on the site, extrude to realize the volume. Place this volume into the (electronic) site context or build a scale model from foam 1:20 to be placed in Eric's studio' base model.
Add the required 40 parking spaces into the mix. So far we encountered three solutions: utilitarian parking garage under the building 60' x 190', automated parking structure as a support for program elements and a parking area that becomes part of the public raum.

Week 3 - Parti

If you would have to design a user guide for a surfboard, this would be the parti.

The parti organizes the program on the site, arranges the major geometries, establishes hierarchies, assigns major materials, locates main elements.Choose goals from your vision statements, weigh them in importance and put together sketches to develop a parti. By changing the goals and the assigned weight, you will be able to develop different parties. Several parties will be required. Use plans, sections, models to best represent the essence of the parti.

Week 3 - Vision

You know your program: living working, exhibiting for the intensive portion of a long distance learning program. You visited and analyzed the site.
Now it is time to develop a vision for your project.
Determine three goals each for
- the site.
- the program.
- the environmental impact of the project.

Determine your goals keeping inside/outside and different scales (local-global) in mind.
Discuss in smaller groups, determine common goals (if you can’t agree on a common goal, define your own), find images and/or descriptions to document your goals, document.
This vision will be the thesis of your project. It will be the benchmark for the rest of your semester.

Week 2 - Assignment

Please read the WEEK 2 - assignment in the Course Documents.
Make sure to mark your choice of focus topic as a comment in this post.

Ken's (DistMArch Class '09) BAC FAQ blog

Thanks Ken for sharing your insights!

http://www.bac-faqs.blogspot.com/

Week 1

Happy New Year.
The first week is rather short - let's cut right to the chase:
Please read the Course Documents and the Week 1 Assignment.
Find in your email two files for your use:- Course templete sheets (psd, jpg)
I'm still missing three links to your blogs.
Post often, check your classmate's blogs, comment on your affinity groups' blogs.