DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
Our
term project will be to explore the capabilities of BIM by modelling an
existing building in Revit using existing floor plans and pictures. This
building is the Glass/Wood House by Kengo Kuma and Associates, a Tokyo based
firm. The house is in New Canaan, Connecticut. It was originally designed and
owned by one of the Harvard Five (a group of architects) in 1956. The house now
has different owners and has been renovated numerous times due to changes such
as growing family size and a storm in January 2006. The model that we will
provide will be of the latest version of the house.
WHY CHOSEN
Our
team has some knowledge of Revit but we wouldn’t call ourselves experts. We are
hoping this project will give us a chance to explore parts of Revit that we
have not had a chance to use and learn a lot through that. This house has been
featured in numerous architectural magazines, which is how we were exposed to
it.
CHALLENGES
One
of the challenges we will encounter, just by looking at pictures of the house,
is the intricacies of the design. The shape of the house is very simple however;
the architect’s use of different materials (glass, wood and steel) in a
non-conventional way will lead us to create families of different materials. We
will need to predetermine how detailed and specific we will be with our design.
DELIVERABLES
By
the end of the term, we plan on having a working model. We would also like to
apply what we learn from this project to our senior design project. One example
is that in this project, we will have to deal with the relation of the house to
the topography while in our senior design project, our housing apartments are
on a 30° slope. We would also like to demonstrate a walk-through of the
building in our final presentation. If this is successful, it would be
something we could incorporate in our Spring Term senior design presentation.
RELATION TO INTELLIGENT
BUILDINGS
With
IB, computer technology is used to follow the progress of the structure from
design to construction and thereafter. This project will be about using
available plans to create a Revit model. The interaction of the different
materials is something that we believe would be easier to capture in Revit
rather than Autocad. It can be predicted that changes will be continuously made
to the model and Revit will make adapting the structure to the changes easier
on us the designers.
Reaction to other entries:
Brian Benson: I really like your topic. Although it seems like an obvious question, you raised some interesting points. Considering the current standard in place to rate sustainability, it is not so easy for a building to get the label. An intelligent building might incorporate some sustainable systems but it might not be enough to qualify it as sustainable. I'm also interested to see how the the concept of Intelligent Building will impact sustainability standards. Very interesting topic.
Weiyang Wang: Your project sound very complex. In one of my previous post, I discussed the way automation and robotics in intelligent building have been used to improve energy efficiency in buildings. I think it's a very important topic, because of the great advances in technology and the need for more sustainable infrastructure. Do you actually plan on fabricating that system, or just develop a theoretical model?
Signe: This sounds like a great project! I was exposed a little to Rhino on my last coop and it seemed really interesting and a different way to design. Have you read anything about other people being able to connect the two programs or is it something you decided you would like to try? I'm assuming it will be a small 3D model so that you can concentrate on the difficulty of connecting the programs. Good luck!
Reaction to other entries:
Brian Benson: I really like your topic. Although it seems like an obvious question, you raised some interesting points. Considering the current standard in place to rate sustainability, it is not so easy for a building to get the label. An intelligent building might incorporate some sustainable systems but it might not be enough to qualify it as sustainable. I'm also interested to see how the the concept of Intelligent Building will impact sustainability standards. Very interesting topic.
Weiyang Wang: Your project sound very complex. In one of my previous post, I discussed the way automation and robotics in intelligent building have been used to improve energy efficiency in buildings. I think it's a very important topic, because of the great advances in technology and the need for more sustainable infrastructure. Do you actually plan on fabricating that system, or just develop a theoretical model?
Signe: This sounds like a great project! I was exposed a little to Rhino on my last coop and it seemed really interesting and a different way to design. Have you read anything about other people being able to connect the two programs or is it something you decided you would like to try? I'm assuming it will be a small 3D model so that you can concentrate on the difficulty of connecting the programs. Good luck!
Great project idea! I looked up this house, and noticed the openness of the floor to ceiling windows throughout the exterior. Are you going to address how the house deals with heating in the winter months due to such a situation? In my neighborhood back home in California there are houses which use a similar floor to ceiling window in living areas, named Eichlers.
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