Site Analysis Flashcards
What are the 4 broad climatic regions in North America?
- Cool = Canada, north part of middle US, mountainous regions of Wyoming and Colorado
- Temperate = most of the middle latitudes of the US, including NW and NE
- Hot-humid = SE parts of the US
- Hot-arid = stretches from Southern California across to portions of south Texas
What are design strategies for the cool climatic region?
- building form
- building openings
- shading
- interior and exterior materials
- Use compact forms with smallest surface area possible relative to the volume
- Use large windows facing south, small windows facing east/west, and minimal or no windows facing north
- Include summer shading for glazed areas
- Use interior materials that have high thermal mass
- Use dark or medium-dark colors for the building exterior
What are design strategies for the temperate climatic region?
- building form
- building openings
- shading
- wind
- exterior materials
- Plan rectangular buildings with the long direction oriented along east-west axis and facing slightly east
- Use south-facing openings to capture winter sunlight
- Provide shade in summer, and allow sun to fall on glazing/building in winter
- Plan for the cooling effects of the wind in the summer; block the wind in the winter
- Use medium colors for building exterior
What are design strategies for the hot-humid climatic region?
- building form
- building openings
- shading/cooling
- exterior materials
- Use narrow floor plans with cross ventilation
- Large open windows, porches and breezeways
- Provide shade for all openings
- Most difficult to design for without mechanical cooling
- Use light colors for building exterior
What are design strategies for the hot-arid climatic region?
- building form
- building openings
- shading/cooling
- exterior materials
- Use compact forms with smallest surface area possible relative to the volume
- Minimize opening surfaces
- Provide shade for openings
- Wide variations between day & night temperatures = use materials with high thermal mass to store heat from day / cool from night
- Use light colors for building exterior
What are the 8 climate zones adopted by IECC, IGCC, IRC, and ANSI/ASHRAE/IENSA 90.1?
A = moist (Dakotas and east) B = dry (eastern WA/OR/CA to Montana/Wyoming/Colorado) C = marine (coast of WA/OR/CA)
- Hot-Humid
- 1A, 2A, 3A (south of warm-humid line = Texas → east) = warm, humid - Mixed-Humid
- 3A and 4A above the “warm-humid” line - Hot-Dry
- ]2B and 3B (south Arizona to California) = warm, dry - Marine
- 4C = northern Californian coast, Oregon coast, Washington coast - Mixed-Dry
- 4B (dry) = parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico - Cold
- climate zones 5 and 6 = eastern WA/OR, midwest, NE - Very-Cold
- climate zone 7 = Northern middle states, NE tip - Subartic
- climate zone 8 = Canada
What are 4 types of alternate energy systems?
- passive solar heating
- natural cooling
- active solar
- photovoltaics
What are 3 types of natural cooling?
- passive solar cooling
- radiative cooling
- ground cooling
What is passive solar cooling?
A type of natural cooling that utilizes the concepts of shading, natural ventilation, radiative cooling, evaporative cooling, and group coupling.
What is radiative cooling?
A type of natural cooling that uses thermal mass to store heat during the day and release heat to the outside at night.
What is ground cooling?
A type of natural cooling that uses the stable coolness of the earth to cool a building, typically by using a ground-source heat pump.
How many sf is 1 acre?
43,560 sf
How big is 1 hectare?
10,000 sm
or 1/4 of a section = 160 acres
How big is a section?
640 acres
When contour lines represent a ridge, they point in which direction?
in the direction of the downslope
When contour lines represent a valley, they point in which direction
in the direction of the upslope
Contour lines more closely spaced near the top of a slope represents which shape?
concave slopes (like a u)
Contour lines more closely spared near the bottom of a slope represents which shape?
convex slopes (like an n)
What is the min slope of ground areas for drainage?
2%
What is the min and max slope of grass areas for recreation?
2% min, 3% max
What is the min and max slope of landscaped slopes?
2% min, 50% max
What is the min and max slope of paved parking areas?
1.5% min, 5% max
What is the min and max slope of roads?
0.5% min, 10% max
What is the min and max slope for sanitary sewers?
0.5%-1.5% min, no max
What is the min and max of approached walks to a building?
1% min, 5% max
What is the min and max slope of ramps?
5% (1:20) min, 8.33% (1:12) max
When is a water table considered high?
When the water table is between 6’ and 8’ below grade
What is the average size of a parking space?
9’x18’ or 9’x20’
What is the runoff coefficient?
the fraction of total precipitation that is not absorbed into the ground
If runoff > the capacity of the natural or artificial drainage of a site, then …
… holding ponds must be constructed to temporarily collect site runoff and release it at a controlled rate.
What is a silt fence?
How tall is it?
Where is it located?
A temporary fence used during construction designed to allow water to pass through while filtering out sediment and allowing the sediment to settle. It allows stormwater to gather and seep through.
Typically 2’ to 3’ tall.
It is placed at the perimeter of a construction site.
What are the 5 types of soil typically found in a Geotechnical report?
- gravel = largest particles, excellent for construction loads, drainage, and sewage drain fields, but unsuitable for landscaping
- sand = the finest grains just visible to the eye, excellent for construction loads, drainage, and sewage drain fields, but unsuitable for landscaping
- silt = grains are invisible but can be felt as smooth, stable when dry or damp but unstable when wet.
- clay = smallest particles, smooth and floury when dry, plastic and sticky when wet. Expands when wet and is subject to slippage.
- peat and other organic materials = great for landscaping, unsuitable for building foundations. Usually removed from site and replaced with sands or gravels for foundations and roads.
Which type(s) of soil are best suited for construction loads?
Gravel and sand. Or bedrock.
