Diego Suarez del Real
Tech V
Taylor Rives
December 16, 2013
Final Exam
1. The role of an Architect, through my knowledge gained in my technology course my way of understanding architecture has changed. It changed by the fact of how much impact we create on the street, the city, the state, even the earth simply by placing a long life standing structure on that could be placed on a used lot or virgin land. I always understood that architects create a living space with optimum interior comfort and essential aesthetics to form landmarks. But I learned in the past years that just like everything on this world is dependable, it also has a cause and effect on something else, architecture is the same. Therefore the word team is essential to build even the most minimal structure. An architect becomes a personal conductor of an orchestra; the architect is the producer of a movie. The architect is the designer of the big conceptual image and even the small eye catching details, but in order for a project to be completed in perfect harmony the Architect must work hand in hand with his chosen consultants or the developers chosen consultants. In other words without counting the architecture team, the architect must work his design with the aid and consult of the structural Engineer, to have the form, shape and spatial quality that the design calls out. At the same time the architect must be solving mechanical, electrical and plumbing fixtures so the performance of the building it’s at its peak. Correspondingly at the same instance as the structural engineer to skip errors and have a perfect grip on the initial design. In addition not to forget the landscape architect as well as interior architect those may be part of the same office team but working with them hand in hand keeps the project to flow in the direction the design asks for. Furthermore the architect while conducting the developer’s idea of project, either to be a city landmark, a commercial building to be changing owners in future dates, or a gift to the visitors he must develop the idea and keep it within its initial point. Those are the main facts that the architect most conducts in order to maintain an essential design and keep the project to develop in his foreshadowing event. Now in order to weave through errors, there are also codes, and city rules that must be accomplished. For instance there are city codes like encroachment, 100-500 year flood plain, fire rating, setbacks, ADA regulations, etc. this codes must meet their necessities to continue the construction and planning of projects. Finally we as architects have to set as goal that each building will have a positive impact on the street, the city and its area and to achieve that we must work with a team and fulfill all required codes.
2. First of all to have a sustainable design in any part of the world; the project, structure or building must to be able to sustain itself. To have a building has low impact design, low footprint impact, and most importantly be smart designed. Those were the key words that come in and depending the site, location, project size, project development, etc. the design has to be smart. In a city like Houston there are obstacles that have to be beaten to have a sustainable, energy efficient building. It’s a very unique setting, where the humidity it’s at its optimum the sun/ heat gain is very powerful, and finally water the rainfall is uncontrollable. These are the three main natural obstacles that need to be taken in consideration in order to start a project that is of high performance. Let’s start with the location, the placing of the structure needs to be smart designed in order to prevent unnecessary heat gain. In other words the most glazed portion of the building needs to face north, and its heavily designed skin system to shade ether envelope or curtain walls need to be on the elevations that face west
