Week 3 Blog - Site Considerations and HAWAC Judson University

 Week 3 Blog - Site Considerations and HAWAC Judson University

 

The processes of building design and construction are changing over time. It's important to consider the elements of the site as a designer and understand the details. The architect responsible for placing the building on the site. This process might include a landscape architect or civil engineer, and an interior designer who focuses on building a relationship to sun, prevailing winds, and how site appurtenances impacts energy use and natural daylight that enters the interior.

How the Site Impacts the Interiors: Consider the Sun, wind, cold, rain, views, outdoor rooms, and glare. Glare is unwanted disruptive light coming from a source. Sunlight coming through the windows may cause glare on a computer or television screen. Solutions for glare may include: operable window treatments, interior and exterior light shelves or space planning solutions. When considering the wind, cold and rain, look at the location of the building on the site to capture breezes effectively for thermal comfort. Wing Walls may be installed to capture a breeze for ventilation. In locations that are cold and windy, an “airlock” entryway separates the wind and cold from the main lobby.

 

In Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater this idea of natural lighting and glare through the numerous windows is explored and is a great example for all of these site impacts

Overall Site Considerations: Regulatory, aesthetic, environmental, natural, manmade. Enclosure Systems include the exterior foundation. Depending on where a building is located and soil conditions, different types of foundations may be used. Shallow foundations are typically used in residential construction. They include slab-on-grade, crawl space and basements. Deep foundations are used for larger buildings that have a higher load. Deeper foundations are used to counteract the forces associated with the greater weight of these buildings. 

Interior designers do not deal with roof framing because it is a structural issue. Interior designers respond to the shape of the roof as it impacts the interior space. The ceiling finish falls underneath the realm of the designer.  The materials used for them are important to know though: Wood metal and concrete. These can affect the designer's idea of the aesthetic of the interior. For example, if the structure of the exterior is mostly wood, a warm wooden aesthetic in the interior would tie the entire house in well. 

The way in which a building is sited has direct consequences for the sustainability of the building. The most sustainable building is the one that already exists. USGBC’s LEED rating System asks designers to consider the site with respect to existing infrastructure, transportation routes and proximity to urban areas, as well as the water control and landscaping. The way in which a site has been landscaped and developed directly impacts water usage. Use of indigenous plants reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. Rainwater catchment systems that collect storm water runoff can also be used as an irrigation source. Overall, it’s important for interior designers to understand how a building is sited and the possible ramifications of siting on interior considerations such as natural light, heat gain, and views. 

When looking at The Harm A. Weber Academic Center, designed by British architect and Cambridge University Professor C. Alan Short, we can take notice of its features: a fully integrated hybrid natural ventilation design, significant natural day lighting, a photovoltaic system integrated into the southern building envelope, and an extensive landscape improvement scheme. If this is our site we need to fully understand the Program, Orientation, Construction, Materials, Hybrid Natural Ventilation Design, Day Lighting, Site Development and Ecological Landscape Improvement. 

While doing a case study for HAWAC I determined all components of its enclosure system or building envelope. The building is organized into three distinct elements in plan: a deep plan library/studios “block” element, a “bowtie” classroom element, and a studio/office “bar” element. The building is four stories in total and occupies a site that completes a “soft rectangular quad” shared with two dormitories, a science center, and the University chapel. How is it framed? The exterior walls are stick framed extensions approximately four feet from the pre-cast concrete walls. These volumes contain the chase spaces for the vertical air flow in the natural ventilation scheme. It also provides a relief for solar shading, described later in this paper. What are the materials? What are the external finishes? The exterior finish materials are brick veneer at the lower level, and a combination EIFS and metal panels at the top. Window sill, jamb and head are finished in a white metal panel system, primarily to indirectly bounce day light into the facility. 

What are other sustainable features of the building or site? The first and foremost innovation of the new facility is the use of Natural Ventilation. Built primarily of pre-cast concrete, the building will draw cool air at the lower level, circulate this air throughout the facility through various routes, and ultimately exhaust the air through roof termini. The facility is projected to use 47% of the energy of a conventional academic building by using natural ventilation during approximately half of the year. The design uses a sensible, engineered approach to harvesting daylight. Engineers conducted a series of plan, section and elevation studies on each of the facades.  Simultaneously, the cavity produces a light shelf surface that bounces light from the tapered sill to the ceiling spaces within, allowing both ambient and indirect lighting . A final significant aspect of the project is the extensive landscape improvement scheme.