Environmental Systems Integration

Sun, wind, water.  The final design should harness the sun either through a solar panel system or maximized utilization of day lighting, it should block cold winter winds from the south west and it should allow for individual accumulation of rainwater for reuse.

From our last meeting, the below sketch explored some arrangements of the houses in the site.

Moving forward with design C, the below analysis began showing sun effects on the design, how each section could be recessed to maximize sunlight, but also how the height of each unit could be stepped to prevent many units from sharing one terrace level.  However, with stepped, individual terraces, one can be watched from above for certain portions of the terraces.

 These studies began with some simple foam models:

 

Of course, the design that is symmetric and orthogonal is the easiest to control the elements, but it creates one terrace plane that all units share.  Being eye-level with your neighbor is not private enough so I began stepping/recessing the units.  For expediency, I switched to SketchUp and utilized it's shadows tool.

 

C-shape

 

 Morning, noon and evening (September)

 Random Layout

 Morning, noon and evening (September)

 

 

 Stepped Layout

 Morning, noon and evening (September)

 



 Each design has it's benefits and it's faults, but the stepped layout (last one) holds the most promise to fulfill all of the design elements set by being both off-grid and modular.

One situation to address with the stepped layout is the resulting stepped terraces and their creation and lack of privacy (as mentioned before).

In this image, each unit get's it's own (or two) terraces.  Being at a separate level than the neighbors creates regularly creates a visual boundary.  In this case, the opportunity to look down on your neighbor's activities without them knowing is not a feature I am fond of.  Therefore, a "party wall" was created:

Here, a solid wall railing creates a visual barrier from most of the lower neighbor's terrace, while a glass partition created both a wind block and prevents the ability to look over the railing and down on your neighbors.

For my next iteration, I would like to fully develop my design to include parking and designing the interior program for each unit.  I would also like to incorporate other features ( like the wind diagram below ).