Yearly Archives: 2013

Week 6-10 Reflection

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Weeks 6-10 Reflection*

For the rest of the quarter the objectives stayed the same as the beginning involving research, SketchUp models and reading. But the amount of work this quarter has decreased down to only 1 design for the remaining weeks because I was supposed to know this design from top to bottom for my week 10 presentation. My research that I have relates to looking up firms to see what firms fits what my style, types of designs such as cottages or luxury homes, my museum visit that’s not really a museum but it related to my project directly, and I was given a suggestion to research Frank Lloyd Wright who is an amazing architect of the 19th century that has a very unique set of homes he designed. My museum trip that was supposed to be planned in week six was canceled and rescheduled in week 7, on May 15. The reason I chose this as my museum visit is because from what I understood what the assignment said was: go to a museum and find something historical that pertains to your project focus and explain what you learned. My museum (building) that I visited was the Center for Urban Waters a LEED Certified structure in Tacoma Washington. My priority of doing a design for the second half of the quarter turned into me trying to catch up on my work, so I’m glad I made that tweak in my project. My seminar article week 7, I enjoyed hearing input from everyone and how the flow of my article went considering the interest level from my colleagues. For my final presentation I wanted it to go according to plan and be more professional than what I did for the other 5 designs, but in the end the whole thing did not go so well because things never go according to plan. Well I guess I can’t it was a complete fail because I did improve on not freezing up in front of a group, it’s just the organization of what I’m trying to say that needs improvement now. Overall the second half of the quarter taught brought me more experience in SketchUp, Word Press and a bit more in public speaking.

Frank Lloyd Wright Week 9 Research

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Frank Lloyd Wright*

 

For this week I was suggested to look up an amazing historical architect Frank Lloyd Wright by my colleague Jeremy Orman, for this research I didn’t research much about his early life but more about his architect career. While learning about him I was some what forced to later on read more about Wright after this quarter. Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867. His original name was Frank Lincoln Wright but after his parents William Cary Wright and Anna Lloyd-Jones divorced he changed his name to Frank Lloyd Wright. As a child he spent life on his uncle’s farm in the summer in Spring Green, Wisconsin, as time passed his dream to become an architect started on the farm. While not finishing high school he went to make a proposal for the Dean of the University of Wisconsin’s Engineering department studying civil engineering. After his job shadow with the Dean he then moved to Chicago where he worked for another architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee, while working with them he drafted what is known for the Unity Chapel his first building. After a year passed he then moved and worked with Alder and Sullivan firm where he revised Sullivan’s theory of “Form Follows Function” to his own theory of “Form and Function Are One”. From Sullivan’s theory what I understand from it is the primary goal of any creative work is function and the secondary goal is the appearance of a building, and for Wright’s theory I believe he thinks that form and function correlates to each other because they rely on each other to create an idea. His business relationship with Sullivan ended when after he left to Illinois with his partner Catherine Tobin and his five children, while with her he opened up his own firm in Chicago that was up for five years. After eighteen years passed he moved to Germany with his new partner Mamah Borthwick Cheney, at the same time his uncle has passed away resulting in him receiving a portion of the land. While on the land and with Cheney he constructed a home for them named the “Taliesin” for three years because of the murder of Cheney, but this did not end his passion for architecture, he then rebuilt the Taliesin. 1932 he opened his Taliesin to the public as a fellowship and for students to come and get educated through Frank Lloyd Wright. Over the next 20 years he met his third wife Olivanna Milanoff, the two raised a child in the newly constructed Taliesin but the Wisconsin weather became too cold as they got older and moved to Phoenix Arizona along where he built Taliesin West and spent the rest of his life there, staying here for a couple of years he then reopened Taliesin to the public for education. Ending his architect career close to 70 years of experience he is looked at as a global impact on architecture, influencing design styles over seas in Europe and Asia.

ABOUT:

Wrights style of design can be seen as revolutionary start for sustainable design because of his integrated designs involving natural materials such as rock, rammed earth or adobe and were never painted. He utilized many many designs of low-pitched roof lines with deep overhangs to to ensure merging f the home and the environment. He would  include large stone fireplaces for the homes heart and made rooms open to each other possibly because he was aware of how home communications was going to turn into. His simplistic style of shapes and designs was a major influence to the Prairie school of Architects because his style was indigenous of architecture in the Midwestern.

Unity Chapel

Taliesin

Area: 490 acres

Opened: 1911

Address: Highways 23 and C, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 53588

Taliesin West

Area: 620 acres

Finished: 1932

School years: 1937-1959

Address: 12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85259

Conclusion:

After reading about Frank Lloyd Wright I realized why Jeremy suggested him for me, its because the materials he uses are organic, he utilizes the effect of sky lighting often and I can relate some of my building design shapes to his structures because they seem neutral and original. My resources are not very strong because I was running out of time for my project.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright

 

Methods of Designs Week 8 Research

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Methods of Design:

To finish of the second half of the quarter I decided to look up styles/ categories of designs that people use. The design of a build can have many influences that shape its form, some pertaining to social significance such as past life memories or nostalgic feelings about certain domestic space areas , some related to the climate, personal preferences, functionality, economic reasons, the list could go on forever. Sometimes during the design process there are times where you think analytically and find the correct solution or you think of all possible and non-possible solutions and narrowing that design down to what’s possible from it. Throughout the quarter as my experience in design progressed I noticed a pattern in what I did for each design. Step one I would identify: where I identify what needs to be solved, the location the site is at. Then I would design: start off with thinking how to bypass the climatic conditions so that the building can be comfortable throughout the year, sketch out what I know a building can be (foundation systems, walls, doors, windows, and the utilities). I would also incorporate some of the feedback from the previous critique. Finish: after I have a model that was presented I then would go back and tweak it a little bit to fit the feedback of that week. The pattern in my designing phase is that I stayed balanced in thinking if it’s possible and not possible, so the final design could have my audience question the actuality of the project. So this week I was on a search for inspiration to see if some of the designs that I have are or can be built, as I was looking I came across many types of buildings that inspired me more than I expected. I didn’t want my time spent search to be too long because I didn’t want to be too much inspiration where I was stealing the design so I limited my search to one site. Trying to limit myself I felt like I got too much inspiration, what I mean by this is that this one site gave me enough where the ideas in my head that were just a thought are almost a concrete design. Below is the link that I used and types of and architectural designs that I might enjoy trying.

Design Types:

Backyard Cottage

 

http://www.houseplans.com/collection/themed-backyard-cottages

Cottage fire place plans

Environmental cautious plans

Cabins

Lodge

Guest suite

http://www.houseplans.com/collection/themed-guest-suite-plans

University

Fields

Sloping homes

Climate orientated

Wrap around porches

Vacation homes

U/L Shapes

Duplex

Tiny house

Suite/ master suite

Modern home

Multi family home

http://www.houseplans.com/collection/themed-multi-family-plans

Luxury home

Energy efficient

Bedroom number

Garage living

Basement living

Backyard living

Dream decks

 

Resource:

http://www.houseplans.com/collection

 

 

Museum Visit Week 7 May 15 2013

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Tour Assignment:

For my museum visit I asked my professor if I could do a LEED certified building as my visit because it still provided me the same amount of information that she wanted us to get from our tours. Going to the building Center for Urban Waters and knowing that it was a LEED building my mission was to go with a focus on the sustainable elements that it provides, the amazing innovation that came with it for inspiration, and for a better understanding of how a LEED building runs. After the visit I made a proposal for attributes of the building such as the square footage, how many points it earned and in what, and I also asked for blueprints but those are out of my budget right now.

ABOUT:

The Center for Urban Waters is maintained with the collaboration of “The City of Tacoma”, “Puget Sound Partnership”, and UW Tacoma. Each contributor provides their services for water quality, storm water studies and analysis, micro-plastics, and cleanup/restoration in a complimentary manner to influence environmental restoration by using its sustainable features. The City of Tacoma provided the structure while UW Tacoma provides the research for the environment, and Puget Sound initiates urban development efforts. The center was awarded in the following categories for its certification: Sustainable Site, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Research, and Indoor Environmental Quality.

Location:

“Center for Urban Waters‎”

326 East D Street

Tacoma, WA 98421

http://www.urbanwaters.org/

VISIT:

As I went there I was greeted to Kelvin my tour guide, he is strongly educated about the build but it seemed it was too much for him at his age. Anyways I told him my intentions for this tour: to learn the sustainable features of the building to help inspire my motivation for Sustainable Design. We shot up to the roof where Kelvin talked about the geothermal wells are wells that runs through the building to heat and warm it up when it is needed. Geothermal Wells: is the process of using a heat/energy source directly from the earth by drilling to a limit where heat levels are stable for energy production. After we went inside to get a visualization of the Green Roof’s that are located on the sides of the building and the roof for maximum East-West sun protection. After the green roof the automatic Solar Shades where next: since Washington has a Bi-Polar weather forecast the solar shades react to the building temperature to activate shades activate, it’s still manual but not recommended because the buildings temperature is highly sensitive because of the elements that are related to the temperature. Natural Ventilation, one of the most important elements of the building. Water Storage Tank, water from the green roof and water rejected from the laboratory’s pure water system is collected in two 36,000 gallon tanks and is used to flush toilets and irrigate the plants. Having a rain water harvesting tank in Washington is very resourceful with the amount of rain fall it receives, with the sustainable values attached to the building its 37% more efficient than a standard building on energy. After the visit my most important thing learned was there is a lot of influence and advertising of sustainable design that is needed in order to maintain our materials.

RESOURCE:

http://www.urbanwaters.org/our-facility/saving-energy/saving-energy-efficient-design

And tour guide Kelvin.

HISTORY:

The Tacoma Municipal was the first publicly owned dock in the state that gave it links to maritime activities on the downtown waterway in the early 1900’s. It was used as a terminal for cargo ships and the “mosquito fleet”. When the 1930’s came by the transportation method of using ships became inferior to cars and left the dock no longer needed. As time passed efforts to restore the dock were attempted but stopped after the Nisqually earthquake in 2001 because it left the building to damaged for repairs. This history correlates with the Center for Urban Waters because the historic timber s were salvaged and reused for the conference room walls and the walls and ceilings in the main lobby.

 

And now enjoy this 2 minute in the eyes of a zombie (video of me walking from The Center for Urban Waters)

Firms Week 7 Research

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For this set of research I’ve decided to look up some local architect firms or future references of finding a job. Educating myself about who does what, who values what most important who sees what I see. Knowing about the different firms out there I feel will also influence me on what my style is because discovering inspirational ideas or features will help find what I like about particular areas of a building and why I like it. So far studying about architecture my style of architecture that I see as my favorite is narrowed down to the French Renaissance Period and Sustainable design, so I why not try integrate features between each era and see how it goes. The architect firms that I have chosen to do research on are BLRB and BCRA both are located in Tacoma Washington; actually they are not that far from each other. And the last sustainable design architect group is a local firm; I would call it more of a program, “Rural Studios” works with recycled materials in their designs. Without further ado the research.

 

BCRA:

Location:

  • Tacoma, Washington

2106 Pacific Avenue, Suite 300

Tacoma, WA  98402

 

About:

BCRC is an architect firm that is focused on incorporating innovative non- traditional design features in their projects. Because of their unique and spread in variety of their architect team they have the sources of having a specialized trained worker in the design field of a project. Having a 48 member crew the BCRA architects has many different perspectives and thoughts put into each design showing their clients the amount of dedication was put in a design. BCRA is divided into many different sub teams giving them a broader range of creativity to the drafting board, the teams are: Healthcare, Commercial, Education, Parks + Recreation, Community + Arts, Residential, and a Government design team. Having so many teams I can only imagine how many projects this firm has. After doing my research about this firm I like the innovative design element to the firm but its missing my favorite “Sustainable Design”, but i enjoyed learning about them! Below I included a couple pictures from the design team that I favored in the firm.

 

Goal Statements from the Teams:

Healthcare Team:

“BCRA Education blends design innovation with social engagement to create bold environments that build up communities. Our experience with Early Childhood Development centers, public and private K-12 schools, and higher education ensures our solutions will be well-rounded and build on the latest design philosophies and technologies. In the end, our goal is to design spaces where people can thrive.”

http://bcradesign.com/healthcare

Commercial Team:

“As designers in the private sector, we appreciate how our solutions affect stakeholder investment and equity. Beginning with efficient design and proactive communication, we provide clear design objectives and effective, time-sensitive results that help ensure our clients come out ahead and their properties have staying power. BCRA Commercial brings a portfolio of design experience that spans mixed-use, retail, hospitality, financial and office spaces.”

http://bcradesign.com/commercial

Education Team:

“BCRA Education blends design innovation with social engagement to create bold environments that build up communities. Our experience with Early Childhood Development centers, public and private K-12 schools, and higher education ensures our solutions will be well-rounded and build on the latest design philosophies and technologies. In the end, our goal is to design spaces where people can thrive.”

http://bcradesign.com/education

Parks + Recreation Team:

“Important to health, fitness, connection and imagination for our communities, parks and recreation facilities play a key role in our national health. We take a holistic approach to parks and recreation design and consider how signage and other visual indicators can activate and enliven spaces. Our combined disciplines work to craft the poetry of urban greening, and the delight of exciting fitness and aquatics spaces.”

http://bcradesign.com/parks-recreation

Community + Art Team:

“Whether working on a museum, worship center or theater, Community + Arts projects are intensely personal spaces. To gain client buy-in, BCRA’s team of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, engineers and environmental graphics specialists leads stakeholder committees through programming and design workshops to prioritize project goals. Our intimate process utilizes creative thinking to guide design decisions and in turn, maximize every dollar of the budget.”

http://bcradesign.com/community-arts

Residential Team:

“BCRA Residential leverages the latest market dynamics, trends and amenity packages to help your property stand out, generating maximum financial returns while designing spaces that people want to live in. Whether creating for rent or ownership properties, we craft each development to fit its location, seamlessly blending a property with the surround community and creating optimal livability for residents. We work with you to understand the needs of today, while building in flexibility for the desires of tomorrow.”

http://bcradesign.com/residential

Government Team:

“For decades, we have brought together the latest designs for mission-critical, operations, maintenance, residential and lifestyle facilities for every branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Park Service, General Services Administration and dozens of other federal agencies. As a top design/build A/E services firm, BCRA Government is proud to support the mission of our armed service members, elected officials and administrators.”

http://bcradesign.com/government

 

BLRB:

Location:

Tacoma Washington

1250 Pacific Avenue
Suite 700
Tacoma, WA 98402

ABOUT:

BLRB was founded in 1953; it’s a mid-size architecture firm with a regional reputation and offices throughout the Northwest of Washington in: Tacoma, Spokane, Portland and Bend. Their projects show great attention and care by making sure their client’s unique ideas and aspirations are exceeding past the clients expectations. Being highly trained in architecture for public use they have acquired significant experience in the planning, design and construction phases for different types of buildings including: educational facilities, athletic fields and stadiums, gymnasiums, aquatic facilities, single and multifamily housing. Since the 1990’s they have been the leading edge of environmentally conscious design also known as sustainable architecture. After reading about this firm and visiting them I realized that I would really enjoy a career there because, it suites me and I really enjoy the amount of  service they have provided for students education. One of my favorite projects that they completed in 2004 is my high school Mount Tahoma because of the horse shoe building shape and amount of space that it provides for its students, and it also reminds me of French Renaissance architecture a bit.

Project Information

http://www.blrb.com/project/7

TYPE:  Replacement

SIZE:   277,912 SF

CONSTRUCTION:      $56,500,000

COMPLETION:           2004

 

http://www.blrb.com/project/7

 

Rural Studios

 

Location:

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

104 Dudley Hall | Auburn University, AL | 36849

http://ruralstudio.businesscatalyst.com/

ABOUT:

Rural Studios before I Start to introduce Rural Studio I must inform you that this is not a firm, it’s an undergraduate program located in Alabama at Auburn University organized by D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee. The rural studio is different from other university architecture programs, instead of sitting in a classroom students gain first hands on experience by designing and constructing buildings in rural Alabama. These buildings are the result of collaborating with the clients and community directly. The mission of the rural studio is to “enable each participating student to cross the threshold of misconceived opinions by putting their educational values to work as citizens of a community.” Their belief is that architecture should be created from within, not from outside.

SmokeHouse:

http://ruralstudio.businesscatalyst.com/projects/smoke-house

Music  Mans Houses:

http://ruralstudio.businesscatalyst.com/projects/music-man-house


 

Weeks 1-5

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Weeks 1-5 Reflection*

For my project I decided to cut the quarter into two sections; weeks 1-5 and weeks 6-10. I split it up like this because for my specific project there’s a beginning and ending meaning, weeks 1-5 is when I gathered the basic information about a design such as climatic conditions, site planning, heating and cooling of a building for different regions. Using this information I incorporated most of it into the designs posts on Word Press. Other material that I studied on is the materials that used in a construction from the “Building Construction Illustrated” text book. One of my readings i slowly ended up switching in a replacement for it because I noticed that I wasn’t going to be using one of the books until later on; the first book that I had was “Architectural Graphics” and I switched it with the Heating Cooling and Lighting textbook because it taught me more of the exact information of what I wanted to know. Even though I switched in this book I still plan on using the Architectural Graphics book to work on my blue printing and model making in future plans. Later on in this portion of the quarter I was drawn to elements of sustainability from looking up weather and alternative ways of heating, cooling and lighting, the inspiration to conserve and help the environment led me to research on Tiny Homes and LEED Certified structures. My plan in the beginning of the quarter was to have a design a week but I realized that was too much work into the project so I changed the proposal to a design for each week in weeks 1-5 and 1 design total for the second half of the quarter. My designs I hoped to be influenced by my critiques but they ended up being based off other reasons; week 2 was probably the only feedback design because I was still getting things going for the program, week 3 my home landlord asked me to design a shed in the back of the house because the current one needs to be taken down because it is an old structure from the mid 1900’s, week 4 and 5 was from the inspiration for sustainable design but week 4 was also influenced by an internship that my friend had introduced me to. Around the time of week five and six I began to get behind because my LEED certified building file in SketchUp got corrupt and caused me to have to start over while in week six where I planned my museum visit. After finishing up with the LEED certified home I have come to the conclusion of Sustainable architecture as my style of design. My reason is because green building designs goal is, to produce buildings with less reliability on energy consumption to mitigate global warming, they improve indoor air quality, financial benefits with bills but also because sustainable design for areas that are in poverty deserve to have the same life as the non-poverty areas. Throughout the critique sessions of this portion of the quarter the advice that helped improve my designs was “A house isn’t just a stand-alone piece, it needs life and furniture”, I liked this feedback because it leads to better presentation appearance and can keep the audience attracted, another reason why I liked it was because including the furniture can also shape the way the domestic space is constructed. Knowing the other possible ways of what shapes a domestic space is important for the designer because then he would know what strategies to implement to bypass problems such as weather related conflicts or the subject that the plan is for. Over all this portion of the quarter has taught me more about time management and pushing myself of what needs to be done, because while doing the designs there were interruptions with long shifts at work, taking time to maintain what I learned, and SketchUp issues that prolonged the other assignment due dates which generated a mentality for me of “Gotta make this look good while finishing it”. Having that mentality forced me to work with the time schedule that I had left to finish everything else, and thus shown me more about the when, where and how of time management.

Week 5 Design

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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Home- LEED

Following up after a week about Sustainable living inside a Tiny home, I was stuck rethinking the sustainable concepts, ideas or the thought of sustainable living in general. simple understanding of sustainability is everything that we need for our existence and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.  Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.In other words sustainability means to continue in life. In order to do this we need to find alternatives to using important resources on the planet: the sun for solar lighting, heating, electricity and prevention of Global Warming, filtered reusable water cycling throughout a building from rainwater collection, or harvesting energy through Geothermal wells beneath the earth, but  wouldn’t recommend it.There are other sustainable practices that can be used to influence the community on preserving the earth, starting with the home is an important choice because “you have to know how to live long to stay long”, meaning that its going to be a gradual adaption in order to integrate sustainable concepts into the state that we are in now and starting in the daily home setting is ideal for the beginning of  these conceptual practices.

Week 5 Design (LEED Certification Domestic Space)

Focusing on this format of architecture helped me realize somewhat of “My Style” of architectural design.  My week 4 design helped me come to an intentional  focus in sustainable Architecture to show the effects of sustainable living through it’s economic measurements and conceptual design and to influence decision to to this architectural movement. This weeks design stands with 1,973.4835 sq. ft. (ground floor: 1,352.8567 sq. ft. second floor: 620.6268 sq. ft.)

ABOUT:

My first idea when designing this LEED building was to do a blueprint sketch, I done the sketch but it got lost and so I decided to just do a SketchUp model for this design. While in the program 2 days of working on it, the file became corrupt and caused me to start over again, so I’m not really satisfied with this design because its not entirely what I wanted to represent in it. After compiling a list of characteristics I wanted the structure to have I began the design process of sketching, erasing and crossing out with the limited time that I had. The elements of the home are energy efficiency, filtered recycled water, natural air ventilation, solar shading, Green roof properties, high heat capacity wall material and an idea of passive water cooling. This may seem finished but there are still additional add-ons such as a canopy for the front door on the west wall, a Rain water harvesting tank for the cycle of the water through the building, another set of stairs going down for the garage (see below notes)

North

East

South

West

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOCATION: 

-408 S Bay Blvd, Palacios, TX 77465 (Google Maps: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=408+S+Bay+Blvd,+Palacios,+TX+77465&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8641e56a171c0b1f:0x8c24059140761bee,408+S+Bay+Blvd,+Palacios,+TX+77465&gl=us&ei=-7mjUaORKeWCiAKkg4HYBQ&ved=0CDEQ8gEwAA)

https://www.google.com/search?q=palacios+texas&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=GKefUefpMKX9iQKc8ICADQ&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=1776&bih=866#facrc=_&imgrc=wqHYmL1w1jlwcM%3A%3BF0VR6E7XlbGcyM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.docarts.com%252Fassets%252Fimages%252Flarge%252FCity-by-the-Sea-4.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.docarts.com%252Fcity_by_the_sea.html%3B699%3B477https://maps.google.com/maps?q=palacios+texas&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8641e541db201b17:0xf97646e4f9d3917b,Palacios,+TX&gl=us&ei=iqafUbGfLaKAiAL3yYDYDw&ved=0CJkBELYD

CLIMATE AND REGION:

  • Climate Region 15–

This regions climate is similar to region 14, but with a more severe summer, one will experience very high temperature and humidity levels. Having high humidity levels causes the temperature at night to remain stable (temperature not dropping), however that are frequent occurrences of a coastal breeze in the summer. Winters are short and mild with ample sunshine for winter heating needs; however the designer’s main concern is overheating in the summer.

  • Climate Priorities
  1. Keep hot temperatures out during the summer (VIII)
  2. Allow natural ventilation to both cool and remove excess moisture in the summer (VI)
  3. Protect from the summer sun (IV)
  4. Avoid creating additional humidity during the summer (X)
  5. Protect from the sum cod winter winds (II)
  6. Let the winter sun in (III)
  7. Keep the heat in and the cool temperatures out during the winter (I)

ENVIRONMENT QUALITY:

Since most of the year is averaging around the 70-80 degrees I made it a priority to have natural ventilation flowing with large windows, the structure will be facing (south face:illustration above) towards the adjacent body of water. With it facing that way Tres Palacios Bay will create the shoreline breeze blowing SE at 16 mph with a lowered rate of humidity due to the sustainable factors of the building. I’m aware that there shouldn’t be large windows in for areas with a humid climate such as this one, but since there is an average of 4.5 in. of precipitation I was predicting that the temperature fluctuations through the window wont be as harsh. But during the hot temperatures the shades in the home are to react to a certain temperature of the outside weather and reverses the shades to keep the sun out.

SUSTAINABLE CONCEPTS:

  • Water Efficiency and reuse

    • Water Storage Tank-

      • Collects rainwater runoff from the roof and cycles the water through the building while filtering the water from the possible contaminants. The water then circulates through the home utilities, the ground plants and from the roof garden. Installing an underground water reservoir to contain runoff rainwater is the practical way of storing free water, reducing the utility bill cost, diminishing the flooding, erosion, and the flow to storm water effects, and pollution to the Bay from gutter contaminents. It reduces the contamination of surface water with sediments, fertilizers and pesticides from rainwater run-off helping make the Bay water cleaner of storm water. (there is no piece in this model because my  laptop could not manage the space required to run the size of the file, but enjoy this real life example)

  • Energy Efficiency

    • Solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels
      • Harvesting the energy from the sun to generate electricity resulting with a less electric bill cost, environmental friendly and a constant reliable source because the sun is present most of the year in this section of Texas. In the second photo of the roof there are supposed to be more 3 solar panels above or below the sky windows for maximum easterly sun exposure. Another thing wrong is the design of the solar panels: they are flat and should be angled towards the south for being the face that receives the most sun because of it being close to the Tropic of cancer climate zone.

  • Passive Cooling

    • At the top of the the roof at the top of the first patch of grass there are roof sprinklers to cool the building down during the day. They turn on when the roof reaches a set temperature and begin the showering water starts to absorb the suns rays resulting in an indirect gain of passive cooling. (A first idea for a passive cooling system I though of having a water fall run off instead of the sprinklers, the water fall run off will fall into a pond of water that drains to the water tank). Kind of difficult to see but its positioned at the bottom of the picture frame. Another factor of the passive cooling are the operable windows reachable by getting to the concrete slabbed floor supported by steel rod suspended to the ceiling. (First image roof sprinklers second image concrete slab floor)

  • Green Building

    • Green Roof/Garden and irrigation control
      • The roof has a green garden that reacts with the cycle of the water system by: collecting the rain water runoff and water from the roof sprinkler, after collection the water is then drained down to the water collection tank which is a key factor of the water utility functioning process. The vegetation used is a mixture of sedum and native plants to Texas: studies show that the problem with a green roof in Texas is finding plants that can sustain in a harsh environment for a long period of time. So the thought of still including one was: having the water storage tank and roof sprinklers as a reliable source of water.

INSIDE THE INSIDE:

This Unit contains 3 bedrooms: two that exist on the second floor, they sit side-by-side with identical space. The Hammocks are not permanent they are just there as a personal preference. And for the third room: is on the first floor passed the stairs in the room after laundry area. I assume this would be used as the master room.

Down Stairs:

IMAGE 1: This section of the home is not finished yet, that freezer is not going to be there that was just a random throw in. For the washer and drying machine should have a cherry finished wall to go around it that vacuums the heat (moist caused from the dryer) into the evaporating cooling system that works for this specific room because its adding extra humidity to the room; for this to work the temperature pressures between the two different rooms would have to be at different levels because wind speeds or in the case air circulation is a resulting factor of air pressure differences. (Outside air and inside air)
IMAGE 2: The other side of the laundry section is planned to have another set bathroom if the buildings function is to be a summer home/summer vacation unit and the adjacent room was separated into two bedrooms
IMAGE 3 & 4: If you walk passed the laundry utilities and look to the left and right you ill notice a spatial difference between the rooms. There was an idea to make this a summer home/ summer vacation unit and have this bottom room split into two bedrooms.
BATHROOM:
 
IMAGE 1 & 2: I made the two elements of a bathroom separate so that both utilities are accessible while someone is still in the shower (of course its missing a shower curtain but the material of the glass was undecided between regular transparent glass or a designed grained glass design where its non-transparent). A climatic change design I though for this layout of a bathroom is for the shower area in particular, and the thought was having a steam/sauna add-on.
IMAGE 3: What this is showing is the top of the bathroom, I did this because in the critique I brought up the bathroom to attention because the original height that I showed for the bathroom was scaled with the actual height of the building (25 feet) now see that is a very scary ceiling for a bathroom and generates negative moods/emotions i decided to: cut it down to the height of the shower and made the above elevation accessible for view, reading area, rest area, shrines or any other purposes.
 
FULL SCALE VIEW:
 

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification Week 5 Research

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WHAT IS LEED CERTIFICATION:

LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design,construction and operation of high performance green building construction. From individual buildings and homes to entire neighborhoods, LEED is transforming the way we think about how our buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe. LEED is a green building tool that addresses the entire building life cycle recognizing best-in-class building strategies. Applying sustainable concepts and ideas to these structures can acquire them certification plaques Silver, Gold, and Platinum. For this week of Research I researched and read many articles about LEED certification and LEED certified elements. Most of the concepts I learned about were incorporated into my week 5 design. Below are the links and files for safe keeping. The point distributions are:

Certified 40–49 points
Silver 50–59 points
Gold 60–79 points
Platinum 80 points and above

The categories for being awarded these points are being on a:

Sustainable Site: (page 9)

  • Control erosion to reduce negative impacts on water and air quality

Water Efficiency: (page 25)

  • Limit or eliminate the use of potable water for landscape irrigation. 

Energy and Atmosphere: (page 29)

  • Verify and ensure that fundamental building elements and systems are designed, installed and calibrated to operate as intended.

Materials and Resources: (page 41)

  • Facilitate the reduction of waste generated by building occupants that is hauled to and disposed of in landfills.

Indoor Environmental Quality: (page 55)

  • Establish minimum indoor air quality (IAQ) performance to prevent the development of indoor air quality problems in buildings, thus contributing to the comfort and well-being of the occupants.

Innovation and Design: (page 74)

  • To provide design teams and projects the opportunity to be awarded points for exceptional performance above the requirements set by the LEED Green Building Rating System and/or innovative performance in Green Building categories not specifically addressed by the LEED Green Building Rating System.

The point distributions and ways to get the points can be found here:

Link:

http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/LEEDdocs/LEED_RS_v2-1.pdf

Download:

LEED Rating System

Summary of Green Roof Benefits:

  1. Green roofs can help cities and improve the quality of the air and reduce storm water runoff while also improving the energy efficiency of the building beneath them.
  2. Reduction of heat island effect, the heat island effect is the difference in temperature between urban areas and more city areas caused by a lack of vegetation and a large number of reflective surfaces that absorb heat
  3.  Green roofs retain and filter storm water through vegetation. In areas where rainfall contains significant pollution loads, green roofs should be able to improve the water quality of the storm water. 
  4. The cooling and shading properties of a green roof can decrease the amount of heat flowing into a building and can significantly reduce air conditioning needs,because of vegetation absorbing the solar rays. 

Summary of Solar Energy Benefits:

  1. Solar energy comes from a consistent reliable renewable source of energy the sun. so we don’t need to worry about running out.
  2. Solar energy is environmentally friendly. Compared to fossil fuels which release greenhouses gases, carcinogens and carbon dioxide, solar cells don’t release anything into the air.
  3. Solar cells make no noise while collecting energy. There are no other renewable energy sources that are completely silent.
  4. In the long run, solar electricity is cheaper than buying it from the power company. There is a start up cost, but then it starts paying for itself. Once you break even, everything after that is profit. Compare this to paying a monthly bill and getting no return on investment.
  5. And its practically free

Summary of Using Rain Water Harvesting Tanks:

  1. Rainwater is free; the only cost is for collection and use. It lessens demand on the municipal water supply. It saves money on utility bills.and rain water does not produce corrosion or scale like hard water allowing it t0 help achieve LEED Green Building Rating Credit
  2.  It makes efficient use of a valuable resource and it diminishes flooding, erosion, and the flow to storm water drains.
  3. It reduces the contamination of surface water with sediments, fertilizers and pesticides from rainwater run-off resulting in cleaner lakes, rivers, oceans and other receivers of storm water.It is good for irrigation and plants thrive because stored rain water is free from pollutants as well as salts, minerals, and other natural and man-made contaminants.
  4. It is good for laundry use as rain water is soft and lowers the need for detergents.

Resources:

Introduction to Solar Energy

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/feneric/solar.html

Energy Efficiency

http://freshome.com/2013/04/11/how-to-make-your-home-more-energy-efficient-without-breaking-the-bank/

Green Roofs

(PDF) Article for Green Roofs (this pdf was used for my seminar article)

Sedum

http://www.ehow.com/info_8715480_use-sedum-green-roof.html

Can Green Roofs Work In Texas 

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2011/10/27/can-green-roofs-work-in-texas/

Rain Water Harvesting For Texas

(PDF) RainWater Harvesting Tank in Texas

Video on How Evaporation Cooling Works

http://www.breezair.com/eu/why-evaporative/how-evaporative-works

Geothermal Wells

http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dog/geothermal/general_info/pages/production_wells.aspx

Heating and Cooling Systems

“Building Construction Illustrated 4th edition” chapter 11.07-11.16

Week 4 Design

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Tiny House

This week’s design came to me through my friend Christopher Thomas and his Evergreen State College Club for an internship that he is involved with. A little bit about the internship: It is located in the North West National forest that has two reservations one for the Hoh Tribe in La Push Washington and the other Quileute tribe in Forks Washington. The internship was divided between the two Reservations and Thomas was distributed to the Hoh tribe Summit group. More about the Hoh tribe: the tribe lives in western Washington on the mouth of the Hoh River with 443 acres of land. The problem with the land is that: there are many possible water hazards from the River so moving the reservation uphill was the start; another concern is between the native fish because the tribe uses the different species of fish as a sustainable flow of income. The Hoh tribe is committed to building new affordable housing and to update current housing for their tribal members containing 226 registered members and an extra 100 is estimated to be off reservation because of the lack of housing. The objective of the internship is to build a mixture of twenty new homes and rentals in the two years, and my friend he requested me to design a sustainable structure with the above limitations of the water quality.

For my proposal to him I modeled a tiny house mainly because of the sustainable aspects and elements in the structure of a tiny home, they are cheap to build, sustainable on the materials used, Eco-friendly and low on utility cost. Above: South, East, North, and West

ABOUT:

Height: 13’ 7 ½” (House) 2’ 5” (platform) sits on a concrete slab foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDKEh1SEYbM

Area:

Bottom: 163.3127 sq. ft. 

Top: 85.0785 sq. ft.

Total: 248.3917 sq. ft.

Walls:

Interior: Dry Wall – Wood Framing

Exterior: Wood Framing – Solid Brick Masonry Walls

Goals:

My goals for this design were to work on my wall framing as if the exterior walls were cladding. Too add on I also did research on brick masonry walls on the thermal insulation element, which will work well in the North Western region of Washington.While working on the roofing I wanted to get the detailing precise, so I incorporated shingles (Red Cedar as the shingle material). Red cedar shingles has fine, even grain and is naturally resistant to water, rot, and sunlight.

Climate Region 6–

In the coastal region of Washington state the climate is very mild, however in the winter the temperatures are cool and rain is common. Although the skies are frequently overcast, solar heating is still possible because of the small heating load created from the mild temperature fluctuations. There is a high RH level but it does not show significant problems because the it doesn’t coincide with the high summer temperatures. The climate region has large variations in micro climates because of the change in both elevation and distance from the coast, in some areas however the winter winds start to become a problem. And the summers are quite dry and sunny.

Climate Priorities

  1. Keep the heat in and the cold temperatures out during the winter (I)
  2. Let the winter sun in (mostly diffused sun because of the clouds) (III)
  3. Protect from the cold winter winds (II)
 

Decision:

I chose this layout because as I was designing it, I kept thinking modular and had simple life in mind. While I was thinking modular the idea of limiting cabinets and drawers to add space for a closet for clothes next to the sink.  Going along with modular again the back to back idea for the toilet and shower came in mind and having a big enough window to have an adequate air circulation flow. For the top floor I was mainly thinking about view and surveillance with the 3 accessible windows, this top area is also intended to be the main resting area.

 

Sustainability & Tiny Homes Week 3-4 Research

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SUSTAINABILITY (Week 3)

  • Efficiency and Sustainability
    • Sustainability- meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own need. A sustainable society restores, adapts, preserves, and enhances nature and culture for the benefit of the present and future.
      • Population and Sustainability- the sustainable population for the capacity of the Earth might have been exceed years ago, Global warming is a common indicator of this because 90% of research is certain it caused by greenhouse gases produced by the activities of humans such as burning of fossil fuels, the removal of forest, and even today’s technology.  Thus the higher standard of living we desire, the need to stop population growth will increase.
      • Sustainable Building Priorities
  •       Save Energy-design and build energy efficient buildings
  •       Recycle Buildings-Utilize existing buildings and infrastructures instead of developing open space
  •       Create Community-design communities to reduce dependence on automobiles and to foster a sense of community
  •       Reduce Material Use-Optimize design to make use of smaller spaces and utilize materials efficiently
  •       Protect and Enhance the Site-Preserve or restore local ecosystems and biodiversity
  •       Select Low-Impact Materials-choose resources based on the efficiency of the material
  •       Maximize Longevity-design for durability and sustainability
  •       Save Water-design buildings and landscapes that are water efficient
  •       Make the Buildings Healthy-provide a safe and comfortable  indoor environment
  •       Minimize construction and Demolition waste-return, reuse, and recycle job-site waste and practice environmentalism in your business
  •       Green Up your Business-Minimize the environmental impact of your own business practices, and spread the word
  • Energy Sources (Finding the Power Produced [P≈Vᶾ x D²] (P=power output. V=air speed. D= rotor diameter)

Renewable

  1.       Solar-not contributing to global warming
  2.       Wind-windmills were primarily used tto pump water on farms and ranches. Wind turbines also produced electricity for remote areas before rural electrification. Today wind turbines are having a revival because they can produce clean and renewable energy at the cost of conventional energy and can supply 20% of the US needs.
  3.       Biomass-photosynthesis stores solar energy gathered from the sun for later uses. This stored energy can be turned into heat or electricity; because biomass is renewable and carbon neutral, its pollution free and an efficient source of energy. Two main sources of biomass are from plants grown specifically for its energy and from organic waste from agriculture, industry, or consumers (our garbage)
  4.       Geothermal-The extraction of heat deep from the earth and the use of the ground just below the surface as a source of heat in the winter and a heat sink in the summer. Geo Exchange (second way of extraction) the low grade thermal energy at normal temperatures of shallow ground can be extracted by a heat pump to heat buildings or domestic hot water (home used hot water). The use of geo-exchange can significantly reduce our consumption of energy and the corresponding emissions of pollution and greenhouse gases, reduction of 40%.

Nonrenewable

  •       Fossil Fuels-Green plants trapped solar energy by the process of photosynthesis. The accumulation and transformations of these plants into solid, liquid, and gaseous states produced oil, coal, and gas (fossil fuels). This age started around 1850 and will persist a few centuries ahead from now. Continuing to burn these fuels causes even more global warming.
  • Oil-The most used and important energy source today. This sources demand became greater than the supply when half of it was extracted. The consistent usage of this source will lean us to using tar sand, or drilling deeper into the earth.
  • Natural Gas-composed primarily of methane a very convenient source of energy that’s scares n supply because of its easy obtaining.
  • Coal-Not the most reliant source because of it problematic extraction process and because coal is not the most convenient on transporting, handling, or for usage. Coal is a primary cause of acid rain, even if cleaned before burning it will continue to produce carbon dioxide and global warming. A plentiful source and risky source of energy but not our answer to our energy problems.

Nuclear

  • Fission-When certain heavy atoms are split into two middle-size atoms, the process creates incredible amounts of energy because of the neutrons produced. Going nuclear power as our source will come with many toxic hazards to the public, the cost of a nuclear power plant is too high, the operating efficiency is too low as well, and the disposal of the waste has not been solved yet.
  • Fusion-When two light atoms fuse to create heavier atoms, energy is then produced. In fusion hydrogen is used the most resourceful material, it produces much less radioactivity waste than fission. It is also much safer to extinguish if something goes wrong

TINY HOME SOCIETY (SMALL HOME MOVEMENT)* (Week 4)

The Small House Movement is a counter cultural rebellion against the idea of bigger is better. As Americans we learned from an early age that we should get good grades in school, attend college, get the best-paying career and get a big house to live in. But the problem with this is that the downturn that this country is experiencing, many owners of large homes are struggling to pay for their homes while others have foreclosed on their homes. For the young person who is starting their new career, it will be difficult to afford a new home because if their starting salary isn’t very high, they may have to move back in with his parents or seek out a cheap apartment in the city. A small home can look just as attractive as a big house. It depends on how resourceful you are in decorating the home. The Small House Movement is fueled by people who want more affordable housing, who want to live simply or who want to be environmentally-friendly in their lifestyles. According to recent articles from the New York Times, CNN.com, and the American Institute of Architects, the economic downturn is one of the top reasons why some people are purchasing or building smaller homes.

 Jamaica Cottage Shop

 Living in a small home is Eco-friendly because you’re using fewer resources to build and maintain the home unlike the larger homes, and you won’t have the stress of worrying about how you’re going to clean and repair the home. In addition, smaller homes are more affordable and your energy bill will be lower. And living in a smaller home means you’ll be more conscious of what you’ll bring and keep in your home because you’ll want less clutter around. Some Americans put wheels on their smaller homes and place them in their backyards to be used as home offices, studios or extra bedrooms for guests. Other people who have been foreclosed upon choose to buy or build small houses and place them in the backyards of their parents or other relatives, which gives space to those who aren’t used to living together.

Traditional Living Cost v. Tiny house cost:

Pros and Cons that That I came up with for Tiny Home Living and Traditional Home Living:

Tiny Homes/ Tiny Home Trailer:

Pros:

  1. You save money on utility bills.
  2. If you don’t like where you’re living, you can hook up to your home and leave.
  3. Not as much (if any) yard to take care of.
  4. Since you don’t have a lot of utility bills you can save money for things you always wanted to do in life.
  5. You can have a new front yard anytime you like.
  6. You don’t have a lot in property tax to pay.
  7. You can clean your home in no time flat.
  8. You have a lot less house to maintain. (again, saving you lots of money)
  9. You don’t have a lot of useless stuff tying you down.
  10. You can build it yourself and pay cash, you you own it, not the bank.

Cons

  1. You don’t have a lot of room to get away from one another if you’re married.
  2. If you’re a guy who likes to putt around fixing and making stuff, you don’t really have enough room in a Tiny home.
  3. Not much storage space or closet space. (Have to think small and carry only important necessaries)
  4. It’s very hard to find a place to park your tiny home and live in it. (that’s a big one!)

 

Traditional Home Style: 

 

Pros

  1. You have plenty of room for all the useless junk you collected over the years.
  2. You never have trouble finding a place to put your regular home, it’s on its own property.
  3. You always have all your utilities right at your fingertips. (Water, Electric, sewer etc.)
  4. You have a yard and don’t have to ask permission from anyone if you want to park your camper there or other things you might own.
  5. You have equity in your home as the years go by.
  6. You have enough space to entertain your guest comfortably.
  7. You’re always close to your doctors office in case anything were to happen
  8. You can grow a big garden.
  9. Having a definitive place to go makes you feel safe and secure.

Cons

  1. Payments even on a small home like mine are high and if you loose your job, you loose your home to. (that’s a big one)
  2. Taxes are high as are water and sewer rates.
  3. Utilities bills cost a lot more in a regular home.
  4. Your always working to support your house (pay the mortgage, insurance, utilities, up keep, it never stops) and it eats up all or most of your fun money.
  5. You have a lot bigger house to upkeep and repair!
  6. If your neighbor sells his house who knows what your next neighbor will be like, but who ever it is your stuck with them.