Vision Quest

re-post

Parti Concept

Vision Quest

Program Sheet

Here is a more completed program wit some insight to my thoughts.... I am sure that I continue to modify this program as next week unfolds and i get a bit more detailed in the 'back of house' areas (mechanical, fire riser room, storage, janitorial, etc.)

Environmental Program

There are three major environmental goals that I feel that will greatly please the client, in regards to budjet savings, consideration for the building occupant's comfort and well being, along with an appreciation for environmental stewardship.

Major goals:

reduce the amount of water required cool/used in the building

heat loss - maintain/controll thermal gain/loss

daylighting - maximise the use of natural lighting and control secondary light usaage

Minor goals:

light control - maintain a low glow, if any glow at all

eco-friendly materials - materials that have a cradel2cradel approval

air quality - floor duct air system

bubble diagrams

some diagrams showing relationships.... spreadsheet program to be posted tomorrow night.

Design Program

facility that houses the intensive part of a distance learning program the client wants:
* It should be located in the vicinity of the Boston Architectural College to allow for easy access to support functions (Library, IT, etc.)
* The facility will offer living quarters for 24 students
* Three class rooms for up to 14 students each
* A dining area
* Lounge areas
* Exhibit area
* A break room
* Computer lab
* Outdoor space (recreational/contemplative)
*The facility will be open to students 24 hours, scanning, printing and model making is possible on site. Desk work, lectures and critiques will happen in class rooms and the lounge area. The exhibit space shall be open at times to the larger community.

here is a quick post for late night thought... more later:

Dorms: 5,400 s.f. - occupying portions of two floors
4 personal rooms - 200 s.f. each with personal bathroom
4 semi-personal rooms - 300 s.f. each with a shared Jack-n-Jill bathroom
8 double occupancy rooms - 425 s.f. each with one standard restroom to be shared

Dinning Area: 600 s.f.

Lounge pods: 360 s.f. - dispersed throughout the facility

Exhibit Space: 800 s.f. - street level for high exposure to public (the students future clients)

Outdoor area: 600 s.f. - located both in courtyards as well as roof areas

Classrooms: 5,000 s.f. - varring size of space depending on if studio space or traditional classroom

Model Shop: 500 s.f. - models preparation in studio space is more productive and educational

Scanning Room: 500 s.f. - allowance for increase depending on desire for separate computer stations from the home campus???

Offices: 360 s.f. - internal room for staff

Program Building square footage between three (2 and a possible split level): 15,120 s.f.

Back of house areas: 35-40% 5,000 s.f.

Total Building Square Footage: 20,120 s.f.

Carbon Footprint

As a member of the USGBC - Nevada chapter, I find myself frequently surfing all over their site as well as the sponsors and affiliated sites. The new technologies that have provided advances for conservation across the realm is remarkable! A probable need is driving the construction and design world.

According to earthday.net, I have a Carbon Footprint that would require 6.2 planets per person if everyone in the would "lived like me" and I have a size 28 footprint.

This is very interesting... I don't have any clue as to what parameters are used to determine these results but I am told that if everyone in the world lived like me, we would need 6.2 planets... What are these 6.2 planets for?

Here are some great tips that everyone can do to reduce their carbon footprint:

1. Holidays - Don't go by air

2. Electricity - Sign up to renewable energy

3. Gas - Try using solar water heating - this can reduce your gas bill by up to 70% over a year.

4. Travelling around - Use public transport as much as possible. Find out about your local bus services and then use it.

5. Car Share - Sign up to a car share scheme to reduce your travel footprint

Many in this class, if not all, know that I question global warming... I, on the other hand, welcome most of the advances that have come along due to this phenomena, such as wind energy, tankless water heaters, waterless urinals, etc, etc, etc. I do question how buying trees to plant in some obscure part of the world (only way of getting there is by plane to plant the trees) will help offset my footprint. Based off the questions in this poll, I wounder what the answers would be to get down to one planet needed for everyone to live like me? Is this really obtainable?

I think that is would be great to have everyone living with a larger footprint than I to change their lifestyles and come to my level (no buying of offsets to help... just life style changes only). For instance say a 51-65 year-old female living in New York often eating animal based products and half of the food consumed is from far places. Owns a freestanding house with running water and is energy efficient that is larger than 2,500 s.f. with 2 persons living in it and only producing the same amount of trash as her neighbor. Her main mode of transportation is by car, usually traveling with a companion in a car that gets 15-25 miles to the gallon for up to 300-400 miles a week and seldom walks to get place to place, yet spends hundreds of hours flying here and there. Her Carbon footprint would be as follows:

That is... a footprint of 47 acres and would require 10.7 planets. In comparison to this person I look like a saint.

Climate Analysis - Boston, Ma

Boston, Ma.
Longitude: -71.o7
Latitude: 42.35
Elevation: 6.0

Sunpath & Sun Chart Diagram:

Sunpath diagrams represent the typical range/path of the sun during the year and more specifically are used to determine the length of days as measured in the amount of light. The sun path diagram here indicates that the 'dog days of summer' provide for longer days where there will potentially be more outside activities, whereas in the winter, the shorter days often provide for time inside. Not surprisingly, the Sun Chart supports the idea that there is a much larger need for sun in the winter months as well as need for sun in summer months. Shading is quite easily achievable through out the year. The overwhelming theme from these two diagrams is the lack of quality sun for heating purposes and the endless opportunities for shadow; both play a role in defining spaces both interior and exterior.

Wind Rose Wheel:

The wind 'Rose' wheel contains the most interesting and valuable information when considering location of entrances/exists, material exposure to the elements and overall sun exposure. This wheel indicates that for the best wind protection that the main entrances/exits should be located South/Southeast, this exposure also lends itself for "lighter" exterior materials such as glazing and trellis effects, which naturally lends itself to the best gain of natural day lighting. The majority of the wind not only comes from the West Northwest, the wind is also more consistent from these directions, providing the majority of coldest weather.

Range of temperature and Relative Humidity:

Consistent patterns start to emerge from these diagrams as we start to dive deeper into the relationship correlations: problems = solutions. The average temperature and relative humidly seem to have a perfectly synchronized rhythm as they dance along these charts during the winter months and as we enter into the summer months there seems to be a more aggressive/radical shift in both the humidity and temperature. Oddly enough these radical shifts in humidity and temp. are in the summer months where there are plenty of opportunities, as we have seen demonstrated in the above diagrams, to resolve with site placement of entrances/exits use of day lighting and natural cooling methods by capturing cooler winds from the Easternly exposure.

Wind Speed and Direction:

The diagram to the right indicates that although that the average wind speed is relatively slow in the summer months it can and should be harnessed for natural cooling in the afternoon to late afternoon hours during the summer. While during the winter months the wind is similarly average but with potential to double its speed creating colder harsher conditions, even more so emphasizing the need to locate entrances/exits to the South as well as consider stronger more reliable materials along the Western facades as previously mentioned. The second diagram regarding wind speed indicates that during the year, Boston experiences constant wind (except a small amount of early mornings in late summer). This should prove handy if there are opportunities (need to keep in mind the surrounding buildings, but if near the water options are available) on site to generate and possibly subsidize wind energy, the best form of clean energy as of now.

Annual % of the rays (Sunshine):

With an average of 58% cloud cover throughout the year, sunshine is literally like small rays of gold, being that there is a high demand to attract as much of it as we can. whether it be to light the space, heat the space, or to store the power of the sun for energy conservation, the goals will rely on the other principles set forth earlier. I don't believe there to be much of an upside to conservation efforts (solar power, heating, solar gain) but I do believe with proper siting and planning that there is much to gain in lighting the studio spaces and crit areas, as well as provide a sun pool for outdoor reflection.

Bio-climatic/Psychometric diagram:

Finally, we come to a point where all info is jammed into one diagram that can be used to see how all of the data is related to one another and at what points do the "problems = solutions". Here in Boston the average temperature, outside the winter, is also the common "comfort zone" temperature (70 -75 degrees). This allows for the opportunity for natural ventilation cooling to become the main source for cooling and nature to combine within a space.

The main focus for this Boston site is not its cooling methods but the proper way to heat during the winter months as well as most of the year. The winter months will likely depend on conventional heating while the spring and fall months could possibly rely on thermal massing and internal heat gain for heating, thus reducing the burden and dependence of conventional heating.

For comparative purposes:

I was very interested on the default settings used to generate these diagrams and wanted to see what would happen if i were to increase the 'Comfort Zone' level. In Las Vegas, Nevada, we have a very different climate with a much higher "Comfort Level", so for fun I raised the level to 80-85 degrees. The diagram below shows the differences in 'Design Strategies'. I was actually surprised to see that there weren't many differences. The higher comfort zone required less natural ventilation cooling but provided less internal heat gain and while the Humidification hours were similar, the hours of wind protection increased (which makes no sense to me) and an increase in conventional heating. I guess i should have set the comfort level to 70-85 degrees; I bet the results would remain as the default but there would be less need for heating.

Product Sheets - Week 1

I will and notes to this tonight.

Week-1 Less/simple is better

After taking a few steps back and re-examining the plan and space that I created, I noticed the madness and hectic order of things. Typically those character traits are not dominate in me or my designs.... wanting a more friendly and calm space I went back to the beginning. With a clearer understanding of the transitions, spaces and movement within this program here is what I produce:

Week -1 Sketch-up model

Here are the views from the sketch-up model.

I see the madness...I tend to go out there before I pull myself back in. I will update the plan and post tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

Week-1 - Solutions

After some more investigation of the first sketches, here is a better defined plan with labels. The physical model didn't go so well.... Still, I want to get those pics up before the weekend.

Let me have it....

this image does not seem to be the best, i will check the settings tomorrow and have a better image.

Week-1 - Sketch problem/solutions

This is a good first sketch problem... I would like to see/know what everyone else thought while starting these and if the idea (project type) changed. For me, without knowing the purpose for the parts but knowing what they are and what we trying to achieve while maneuvering around them started a train of thought.... A museum. Below are three quick sketches of the space and series of spaces. Tonight I will upload the sketch-up images.

Solutions:

Problem:

Adding to the model base create a composition of spaces that can be perceived as one object, where there is a clear “inside” and a clear “outside”. Create one main entrance into this object. Your “object trouvé” should mark a special place in your composition or be treated as a sculpture. Indicate the following spaces and transitions in your model(s), making sure that they are the strongest examples you created:

1: Large space with two distinct sub-spaces (zones: 1A and 1B)
2: At least one small space
3: A transitional space that is part of two others.

AT: Abrupt transition
LT: Lead transition
GT: Gradual transition

TEST-1

This a test email to the blog...
If anyone is reading this on the blog... It works.

Ken Ballard