Author: patrick villegas

Last week we started to do our first drawing for the layout of Town hall. This is my first draft drawing since transferring into this new major. I found it a little difficult at first because i didn’t understand the angles, degrees, and the relationship the site has in terms of the construction of the building. From doing my study drawings and going around with my class analyzing and studying the relationship that each part of Town Hall has and drawing a mini scale of our site, i got a better understanding of the relationship and how they interact in a very particular way. For instance the columns in the back of our site vs. the windows diagonal the columns, they are at the same position on a specific angle. Last week while doing the drawings i got a better understanding on not only how to draw a floor plan, but also how angles, degrees, and placements also an important key.

The Drawings we did are only a rough draft on what it would look like if we were architects and knew how to design the plan. This is only the first piece of our site drawing. In the next class we will get right to the cut and understand a better relationship with the door plan and use our senses to see and understand and make a replica of the floor plan for Town Hall.

In class last week, for the first time as a group we were given drawings which were split up into different parts. We looked at sections, elevations, views, floor plans, and site plans. We then were asked to take all these drawings and try and see if we can correspond them to see which pieces of drawings go together. This was not an easy task. A lot of the drawing looked the same so it was important that we paid attention to details of the building as well as the lay out. For my group the technique we used was similar design, though we had difficult. By doing this exercise we are getting a better understanding on how to read drawings for when we become future architects. Details was a very important key in this exercise because it would determine which drawings would go together. I got a better understanding on what floor plans are and how to read them, as well as reading elevations, sections, and understanding the views. We discovered in depth as a class how each drawing related to one another. Overall i’m still trying to understand what each part of a drawing is and how to read them. This exercise was a great way to practice and see what we know already.

Reading 2 talks about how stairs and exits are a crucial part of constructing a building. These are the main elements that provide safety and a way to get to the safety. Without these people would get hurt and injured. In the reading, Cheng talk about building codes which specify the fire resistance rating. These codes are either materials, systems, or special odes that tell us a the rules and regulations. This is important to know because this is part of the structure of a building. Your job is to understand and learn all this information because the architect is the designer and builder of the building, therefor he/she would be responsible for any occurrences. The discussion talked about various exit types which are crucial to understand such as corridor exits, stairway-lead exits, doors, smoke proof enclosures, and ventilated rooms. This is part of lefty rules and regulations for a building. I learned about the building codes and how they apply to the stairs being designed as well. The term egress came to attention as well because is your way of safety and your way of exit. Without the understanding of egress, then there is no understanding about the structure of stairs. i learned about tread and risers which interact with one another to understand the dimensions of the stairs. That also affects the slope, the length, the width,and the design structure. Cheng also discusses that there will always be once less tread the then number of risers in any instance. Risers, and treads are required for safety and fire rules and regulations. Overall i have gotten a more deeper understanding of the text and what Cheng is was portraying.

Reading number 1, had a numerous amount of resources and information for understanding and learning the construction process, materials, and elements into designing a successful building. From reading the material, every elements has a specific type of process and its important to understand that process because without it, then the building design can fail. I found out that various materials such as steel, concrete, masonry, stone, wood, and lumber all play an important role. Each have qualities of different components such as mass, density, volume. Without these materials there is no structure  They are the main s material that creates the house figure. After you choose a structure, you have to choose which type of surface you choose. Each surface also has its own components, process, and materials that are carefully used in order to make the base material for your building. From looking at the information i now understand the various components of each and how the mixture of raw materials play a huge role. Each material has its input and output, in other words its that life-cycle inventory that does this process. I learned how raw materials, plays a role for the process/manufacture, which plays a role for the distribution and transportation, which plays a role for the construction and maintenance, and that also plays a role in the disposal and you finally get to the output. Its important to understand this because these are the phases of combining raw material which is needed to tact the structure of the design. As seen in the diagrams and charts, measurements are a huge aspect as well as understanding the different types of materials that are being used. Overall, i have gotten a better outlook and understanding on the process of how building materials and elements are an important part when construction a building.

After overseeing and discussing the concept map for the outline of our course, I feel that the map is visually descriptive into understanding what architecture is all about and the standard structure for designing a building. You can’t do one thing without the other, then there will be no stability or structure. From the concept map, its giving me a better understanding on how to properly construct any building, before its completion. i feel that this map is very organized by category and its helpful because its showing the materials that potential clients could ask for, showing the space and what systems are used to be successful in this career