Building Context Flashcards
will review urban development and human behavior, community, social, transport, utility, climate and sustainability influences
turbine square
civic spaces around a pinwheel arrangement of streetsv
satellite town
small town dependent on larger town nearby
new townss
totally autonomous towns (limited to now 250,000 ppl)
new urbanism
human scale urban design, place making in the city, walkable cities, mix of programs, no cars, reuse buildings
grid pattern of development
starts at two major roads and expands in grid until stopped by natural land feature (Manhattan)
star pattern of development
grows out of dense urban core, radiating spokes of transit, dense population along spokes (Chicago)
satellite pattern of develeopment
dunse urban core surrounded by other urban areas linked by highways (Houston)
Beltway: transit connecting satellite that go around the city not through the center, usually where shopping and business centers are
field pattern of development
no central focus or organization (LA)
megalopolis
two plus centers near each other grow together (LA)
imageability
quaity of a physical environment that defines the place (san fran hills)
path edge district node landmark
○ Path - circulation
○ Edge: linear element that forms boundary
○ District: 2d area with an identifying character
○ Node: focal point or cetner people can enter
Landmark: reference point, to be viewed but not entered
superblock
large piece of land with limited car intrusion, surrounded by cont. street and accessed through cul de sacs
planned unit development
large parcel of land with mix of uses, must be approved by planning agency
○ Use, floor area ratio, open space, parking, living, max height, setbacks
floor area ratio
ratio of floor space to land area
transit oriented development
construction that takes place in areas surrounding transit stops , resi and commercial
sociopetal
bringing people together
sociofugal
discouraging social interaction
personal space ranges
○ Intimate distance .5-1.5 ft
○ Personal distance 1.5 ft
○ Social distance 4-12 ft business strangers formal or impersonal
Public 12+ft lectures theaters ect
wren
Christopher Wren’s London plan: main avenues link religious / commercial venues > superimpose on a gridiron plan for other streets
haussmann
Haussmann: straight roads connecting historic buildings and squares > minimize riots, facilitate defence, clear out slum, improve transport, make beautiful
sitte
Sitte: mideveil curvy irregular streets, more interesting, t intersections reduce traffic
gridiron street system
Gridiron street system: regularly planned public space and uniform set backs
ward
Ward: 600 sq ft. With 4 resi blocks and 4 civic blocks arranged around an open central square. Grid
density
• Density is a relative ratio not a total number of people
○ Density vs crowding, crowding is relative to social norms
Excessive density can cause poor physcial and metal health
shifting centers
• Shifting centers: started with granary > temple > palace
○ Expanding facilities - ex. Greek agora (market place)
Palaces become more ornate as power increases, walls divide communities to protect
medieval city
• Medieval city: born at crossroads and grew out irregularly
○ Church and market at center
Informal ring of transport around
star shaped city
Star shaped city: walls were not enough to protect against guns, bastions on outer ring protect, roads radiate out from central plaza
renaissance effects
Renaissance = interest in aesthetics of urban design, symmetry, points of interest, secondary grids
industrial revolution
• Industrial revolution = production of goods, no longer gathering around social settings
○ Caused need for reform - provide working / green space / social coexistance
○ Howard, Garden city: in to out
§ Culture, housing, transport and park, industry, agriculture
Garnier, cite industrielle, separate zones for industry, public and resi
US response to renaissance
US colonies responded against renaissance, built homes for agrarian lifestyles (yards)
• Grid encouraged moving west > country was divided into 24 mi squares with 16 (6mi sq) townships with 36 (1mi sq) sections
• DC > Renaissance and Baroque, diagonal and radial streets over grid (L’enfant)
Diagonal avenues ended at building or monument, efficient transport
olmstead
• Olmstead: preserve natural features of an area and adding naturalistic elements
Columbian expo, chicago, inspired cities to be designed around formal parks, classical buildings and tree lined streets
FLW and corbusier
FLW and corbu respond to industrial rev with sprawling open buildings and sites, would have created worse sprawl than what already exists
suburbs
• Suburbs appear to escape crowdings > commuter rails and expanding rd networks
Pop increase after world war 2 = more people to the suburbs = smaller lots = urban sprawl
city layout`
City layout defined by geographic features and transportation layout
PUD
• PUD offer advantages
Efficient land use, efficient grouping = more green spacem variety of housing options
territoriality / oscar newman
• People need to feel territorial/have ownership and need diverse stimulating environments
○ Oscar newman architecture can define territory
§ Low walls outside apartments to provide barrier
Crime prevention through design
catchment area
geographical region with a certain population that drives development, could be divided by landscape, political or social boundaries - can be determined by census or surveys to determine site feasibility
neightborhood
small area where people live with similar needs and desires (clarence perry)
○ 1929-planned to be within walking distance to elementary school, major rds outside so children wouldn’t have to cross major roadways
○ Scale of the neighborhood allows the neighborhood people to be involved in its planning process
Similar material palette, pedestrian friendly, fitting into context, respecting views
public facilities
schools, shops, fire, churches, post offices, rec centers. Availability and location is important, consider existing relationships to these programs
community influences on design - things to consider
• Things to consider
○ Highway access relative to catchment area population
○ Traffic for drive by trade
○ Would additional traffic need new roads or expanded roads
○ Service lanes
○ Is the available undesirable / noisy
○ Is it safe, convenient or needed for pedestrians
Are public and commercial rails / transit locally available
consider heirarchy of site elements
Climate, views, parking, access, setbacks, adjacencies
proxemics
spacing, territory, organization of space and positioning of people in space as related to their culture
behavior setting
place with defined boundaries with a standing pattern of behavior occurs at a specific time, or includes object to support that behavior
Ex. Conference room
terrirorialilty
need to lay claim to the spaces we occupy and things we own to express self identity and freedom, applies to individuals and groups
personalization
reflecting presence and uniqueness, provide comfort and maybe protection
group interaction facilitated by seating arrangements
○ Round table over rectangle for cooperation
○ Personal, formal, and strangers all provoke different decisions as to where to sit at the table
§ Intimate at corner next to one another, competing across, strangers diagonally across
○ If setting and activity are at odds behavior is compromised
○ Behavior and setting should be in tandem, otherwise one has to bend to the other
Groups form in 2-4 ppl typically, plan for flexibility in space
5 psychological and social concepts to consider when designing
• Create a realistic approximation of the people who will be using the space and what their activities will be
• Differentiate between the client and the user
• Use behavioral settings to observe activities and provide appropriate programmatic spaces
• Environments should allow people to claim space and decide activities
○ Successful design allow personalization to take place without adverse effects on other people or the environment
○ Environment is not static, has the ability to be adjusted to suite the users needs and style
Consider social status of the client and hierarchy within a building
local streets collector streets arterial streets expressway tanget
○ Local streets: lowest capacity, direct connection to building available parking, pedestrian connections
○ Collector streets: connect local (stop signs) to arterial (street lights), not intended for through traffic
○ Arterial: major continuous circulation routes with large amount of traffic 2-3 lanes, no parking, avoid direct connection to building, connects to expressway
○ Expressway: limited access, large volumes of traffic through or around population centers, influence on land due to space, noise and visual impact
Tangent: straight road
easement
Easements: can hold utilities, portions of privately owned land that public utility companies are permitted to use for installation and maintenance of their lines
road design rules
• Curved road should form part of a circle, avoid changing radius
○ 100 ft between change of curve direction
○ 200 ft between curves of same direction
• Avoid slight offsets on roads that should align (like 4 way stop)
• 80 degree min angle for turning onto side street
• Max grade range from 3-10% for streets, depending on terrain, speed and function of street
Separate service, pedestrian and vehicular circulation
150 ft between intersections
utility design rules
• Utility lines follow street right of way
• Sewers and water located under road
• Electric and communication adjacent to roads underground or on poles
Gas under or next to road with in right of way
loading dock rules
• Provide loading dock and berths with space to turn (depends on local code)
Basic rule: 10-12 ft wide, 40 ft long, turning radius of 60ft unless another turning method is available
transportation and utility considerations for design
• Consider availability and location in reference to public transit, make entries accessible to it
• Consider availability of: water, sewers, storm sewers, communications, gas, electric, other
Consider municipal services such as fire, police, trash and street cleaning - service lanes / access roads
windward
leeward
inversion
• Windward: faces wind
• Leeward: side away from wind
Inversion: weather pattern when cold air near ground is held in place by warm air collecting dust and pollution
albedo
• Albedo: or solar reflectance (sr) - fraction of the radiant energy received on a surface that is reflected
○ sr is 0-1
§ Flat black absorbs all the energy and reflects none - has an albedo of 0
§ A mirror absorbs none and reflects all - 1
○ Natural materials like grass have low albedos, snow and pavement are high
Closely related to reflectiviy - LEED ratings used to measure solar heat rejection of non roof materials such as veg, shading, and other components scale of 0-1
emissivity
• Emissivity: ability of a surface to emit stored energy 0-1
Opaque surface - emissivity and albedo add up to 1???
thermal emittance
Thermal emittance: measure of thermal radiation
solar reflectance index (sri)
• Solar reflectance index (sri): measure of a roofs ability to reject solar heat
○ Defined so that standard black roof with reflectivity of .05 and emittance of .90 has and sri of zero
§ Solid white with reflectivity of .8 and emittance of .9 has an sri of 100
Perfectly reflective surface has sri of 122
heat island effect
Heat island effect: unnatural build up of heat around a building esp urban areas
microclimate
• Microclimate is a site specific modification of macroclimate by land sloe trees water and surrounding buildings
○ See chapter nine for macroclimate types
○ Undesirable aspects can be minimized by site planning
Enhance benefits through design
windspeed facts
Wind speed is 20% higher on top of a hill than on flat ground
wind temp facts
• Near large bodies of water warm air rises over warm land during the day and causes a breeze
At night the pattern reverses, cold air flows down hill settling in low regions and staying there until it gets heated back up (see inversion)
tree and building effects on wind
• Trees and buildings modify wind
○ Trees planted in groups of 50 ft to 150 ft deep can reduce wind velocity 30-60% at a distance of 10 times the tree height
15-30% reduced at 20 times the tree height
solar radiation behavior
Solar radiation acts like a flashlight hitting a wall perpendicularly compared to at an angle
climate considerations for design
• Take advantage of breeze and avoid cold wind
• LEED rating systems combine sri and sr to set min requirements for achieving points for reducing heat island effect
○ Highest sri and sr are the coolest and most appropriate choice
• Ways to keep building sites cool
○ Plant trees for shade and considering paving plans
○ Use vegetation for ground cover where possible
§ Retains less heat
§ More comfortable under foot
Minimizes stormwater run off
sustainable design
ecology
• Sustainable design: considers full life cycle of building from extraction of materials to fabrication to installation to operation to maintenance to demo
Ecology: study of the relation of living organisms to their environment
EIS
• EIS: used to analyze and predict how development will affect environment (land, air, water, animals)
○ Instituted by national environmental policy act of 1969
Enforced by environmental protection agency - epa
• Federal agencies file environmental impact statements (eis)
Private projects do not need an eis but should be considerate of the concept
Wetlands
• Wetlands: area whose soil is saturated by surface water or ground water
○ Jurisdictional wetlands when administered by army corps of engineers
○ Protected through federal government by clean water act of 1972
State and local regulations to be considered
investigations for rural or semi rural environments
○ Impact on natural landforms, runoff, wildlife and existing vegetation
○ Keep natural contours if possible
○ Keep existing drainage patterns
Additional runoff from roof and pavings should not exceed existing capacity
investigations for urban sites
○ Minimize noise pollution and other emissions
○ Avoid building masses that create undesirable wind conditions
Sun studies - avoid too much shade or glare
wetlands runoff rules
• Wetland regulations protect wetlands from destruction and runoff
○ Discharge into wetlands allowed with permit from sec 404 of cwa through us army corps of engineers
Except for some farming and forrestry
design considerations for sustainability
○ Suitable for development - nothing in: wetlands and 100’ setback, lower than 5’ above 100 year floodplain, endangered species habitats, farmland, historic sites
○ Consider historic and cultural surroundings - reflect what’s existing as respect
○ Consider future / master plan : location, size, connection, infrastructure, micro climates, vies facilities, parking, solar access
○ Existing air quality and how it would be affected
Contaminated soil
bioswale
shallow grass lined ditch design for phytoremediation
phytoremediation
rass lined ditch design for phytoremediation
Phytoremediation: detain storm runoff an remove contaminants while allowing water to seep into the ground
infiltration basin
closed depression in the earth from which water can escape only into soil
catch basin
area that temporarily contains extra runoff until it can flow into storm sewer system at a controlled rate
building location considerations
○ Use existing infrastructure and proximity to existing transportation
○ Mixed use development
○ Minimize tree clearing and wind and maximize solar
○ Minimize shadow on adjacent buildings
Use gravity sewer systems
building shape considerations
○ Minimize foot print by building up
○ Optimize material use and reduce waste through form
○ Roof gardens or reflective roof coverings
Bicycle storage
site disturbance considerations
○ Buildings and parking and utility corridors on previously disturbed lands
○ Place elements along landscape and shallow slopes to minimize earthwork
○ limit site disturbance to 40ft beyond building
§ 5ft beyond roadway curbs
25ft beyond constructed areas with permeable surfaces
site development considerations
○ Minimize site development by putting parking under building
○ Minimize rd way and parking, consolidate pedestrian and vehicular paths when possible
○ Double load parking lots to share access lanes and minimize paving
○ Do not developme more than min parking by local code
○ Provide shade or use high albedo materials with min reflectance of .3
○ Permeable paving to reduce runoff
§ Aggregate, permeable concrete, wood decks, paving stones
○ Mechanical or natural treatment systems for stormwaters
§ Wetlands, filter strips, infiltration basins, bioswales
○ Vegetative buffer around parking to mitigate runoff of pollutants
○ Minimize site lighting
○ Collected rainwater for supplemental irrigation
§ Local and state approved
§ Annual rainfall is sufficient
§ Air quality yields suitable water
§ See chapter 13
§ Use infiltration basin as alternative if irrigation is not suitable
○ Use native plant materials to minimize high maintenance lawns
§ Reduce runoff
§ Minimize erosion and need for irrigation
Provide habitats for animals and insects
