Math and Science Final Report
1. Introduction
The past several weeks have been dedicated to my developmental work for my final solution. I have been working on several drawings and created a basic model that will ultimately assist me in the construction of my final architectural model. These steps are necessary for the production of the final solution and will help me avoid mistakes as much as possible. Math, science, and technology strongly relate to my project. They will define my final solution and support my choice of solutions.
2. Science Concepts
a. Layout/Ergonomics/Flow
i. Overview
The final solution was chosen mainly because of the layout and usage of space. The flow between the rooms is based off of their relation to one another. Ergonomics, the science that deals with designing and arranging things that people use, played a huge role in the final solution. Since the design of the house must compensate for all residents, the house was mainly designed for the elderly to function properly if they had mobility impairments. For example, all door openings and hallways are three feet wide for convenient use by persons in wheelchairs.
The following will be an overview of the house and how the rooms interconnect for maximum efficiency. The floor plan of the final solution (Figure 1) can be viewed for guidance. The front porch allows access to both the main entrance of the house and the garage. Next to the foyer is a half-size bathroom and a closet for people to hang their coats as soon as they enter the house. The right side of the house features all of the bedrooms. The first room located next to they foyer is the grandparents living room/kitchen, which then leads to their bedroom. Their rooms are located towards the front of the house and away from the other bedrooms, to give them a sense that they are living on their own. The grandparents and children can easily access the Jack-and-Jill styled bathroom. The children’s bedrooms are symmetrical and located on the same hallway leading to the master bedroom. The master bedroom features two closets and a master bathroom.
The left side of the house starts with a two-car garage. In the back of the garage is a mechanical/storage room. Through the back of the garage is an entrance to the house with an open laundry/mud room on the right side. The kitchen features two side-entrances and a large island for serving and dining. A pantry is placed on the left side of the kitchen for easy access. Finally, the dining room and living room are divided by a half-wall with three columns to section off the rooms, and also to create a feel of open space.
Figure 1: Floor Plan
ii. Traffic Areas and Patterns
Traffic areas of a house provide passage from one room or area to another. Efficient allocation of space was important when these areas were planned.
1. Entrances
The final solution has an outside waiting area (porch), a separation (door), and an inside waiting area (foyer). The main entrance is centrally located in order to provide easy access to the major areas of the house. The porch has a sufficient outside covered portion to shelter several people entering the house. A side entrance on the porch allows access to the garage. The foyer arrangement allows for the swing of all doors in the area and has enough space to allow several people to enter the house at the same time. The foyer closet is large enough for both family and guests to use for outdoor clothing. There is also a sliding door and a side door in side the house to allow convenient admittance outside.
2. Halls
The halls provide a controlled path that connect the various areas of the house and were designed to minimize traffic through rooms. All of the halls are three feet wide for furniture movement and wheelchair access. A half-wall divides the living room and dining room to channel hall traffic without the use of solid walls and two separate rooms.
ii. Living Room
The living room is one of the most important rooms in the house because it can serve many purposes. Since this project is designed under the affordable living guidelines, the room is on the smaller side, but should still allow for the combination of many living area activities. The room is easily accessible, but not visible, from the rest of the living area. It is located adjacent to the dining room so that it can become an extension of the room for social affairs. The separation between the two rooms with a half wall increases the connection between the two rooms.
iii. Dining Room
The purpose of a dining room is to provide a place for the family and guests to eat. Its ideal location requires only a few steps to get to and from the kitchen.
iv. Kitchen
The purpose of the kitchen is food preparation. The kitchens were designed to encompass space configuration, work surfaces, storage, and several components (refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher). The kitchen has four basic functions: storage, cooking, cleanup, and preparation. All of these functions are covered by the appliances, counter-tops, island, sink, cabinets, and refrigerator. Since space is limited, I decided to choose a combination of a u-shaped and corridor kitchen arrangement for the main house and an L-shaped kitchen for the grandparents.
v. Bedrooms
Since the competition’s specifications require a design for a family of six that includes an aging set of grandparents, a total of four bedrooms were chosen for the final solution. The primary function of a bedroom is to provide facilities for sleeping. All of the bedrooms are located on the right side of the house for sleeping comfort and privacy. As I stated earlier, the grandparents’ bedroom is still somewhat separate from the rest of the rooms to give them a sense of living on their own. The other three bedrooms are located off of the main hall of the house. Closets are located in each bedroom for storage space. A Jack-and-Jill bathroom is located to allow both the children and grandparents easy access. As in most houses, the master bedroom has an adjacent bathroom.
b. Structural Design
As with most modern buildings, the final solution has a skeleton-frame structure. Figure 2 displays the sectional detail of the final solution. The framework is open, self-supporting and covered by an outer, non bearing surface. The stability of the structure is based on the strength and placement of the structural members. The foundation was designed to support the loads of the structure while also keeping in mind that the structure must withstand the forces acting on it as well. The walls are given stability by their attachment to the ground and to the roof, while the roof is supported by the wall framework and interior partitions. The exterior wall is supported by the foundation, which is supported by full length footings. The footings distribute the heavy load of the structure throughout the surrounding ground and keep the entire structure firmly on the ground. Four types of forces that exert stress on building materials and the structure are compression, tension, shear, and torsion. All material in the structure based on size and location should be sufficiently strong and the stress created by these forces will create little or no damage.
Figure 2:Sectional Detail
c. Strength of Materials
The strength of construction material is the material’s capacity to support loads by resisting compression, tension, shear, and torsion forces. The structural strength depends on the type, size, and shape of the material. The steel members and concrete slabs can support more weight than a wood member of the same size, and are placed in areas with heavy building loads. Figure 3 displays concrete slabs that make up the foundation of the structure.
d. Sills
The foundation sills for the structure are wood members that are fastened to the top of foundation walls and provide the base for attaching floor systems to foundations. Sheet-metal termite shields are placed between the wood and concrete. Figure 3 displays both the sill and the termite shield.
Figure 3: Sill
e. Insulation
Insulation is used throughout the exterior walls in order to achieve thermal comfort for the occupants. It reduces unwanted heat loss or gain and addresses the main methods of heat transfer (conduction, radiation, and convection). Figure 4 displays a representation of insulation drawn in the sectional detail drawing.
Figure 4: Insulation
3. Math Concepts
a. Scale
The final floor plan will be prepared at the traditional scale of ¼” = 1’-0”. It will most likely have to be printed out on drawing sheet cut size B-(11” x 17”).
b. Dimensioning
Dimensions on a floor plan show the width and length of the house and its rooms. Dimensions also show the location of doors, windows, closets, and other objects. They show the sizes of materials and exactly where they are located. Regardless of the scale of the drawing, the dimensions always refer to the actual size. All dimension lines are located no closer than ¼” from object lines. Room sizes are shown by stating width and length under the room’s name. Figure one displays several forms of dimensioning and room sizes.
c. Roof Pitch
All of the roofs on the final solution are gable roofs. The roofs form triangular ends, which allow them to drain and ventilate easily. Pitch is the angle between the roof’s surface and the horizontal plane. The rise is the vertical distance from the top plate to the roof’s ridge. The run is the horizontal distance from the top plate to the ridge. All of the gable roofs have a roof scale of 5:12. Since all of the spans, or the full horizontal distance between outside supports, are different for each roof; the pitch and rise are different as well. In order to obtain the rise for the separate roofs, I used the equation 5”/12” = rise/run. Since I knew the run for each of the roofs, I simply cross multiplied to solve for the rise. Figure 5 displays a gable roof cross section on the eastern side of the structure. The drawing also shows the run, rise, and roof scale.
Figure 5: Roof
d. Economics (Affordable Housing)
The need to design and construct affordable housing in America is urgent. This Technology Student Association competition is based around affordable housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the generally accepted criteria of affordability is that a household pays no more than 30% of its annual income on housing. Based on this information and the research I conducted over the summer, I decided that the most effective way to design an affordable house is through careful planning. By this I mean to effectively use space and layout. Every unnecessary square foot added to the house costs money that can be saved. For this reason, I decided to design a one story house that effectively met the needs of a family of six including an aging set of grandparents.
i. Living Space
The total area of living space in the final solution came out to 1,609.5 feet2. This area includes all rooms, hallways, walls, etc. (except the garage). The total area was then multiplied by $110 per ft.2 and a price of $177,045 was obtained. This number represents an estimate cost to build the living space of the house.
ii. Garage Space
The total area of the garage including the walls came out to 517.5 feet2. This total area was then multiplied by $50 per ft.2 and a price of $25,875 was obtained. This number represents an estimate cost to build the garage space of the house.
The total cost (estimate) of the house is $202,920.
e. Standards
Based on what I gathered through research and through my mentor, there are several standard sizes/dimensions for different architectural features. These include the garage door, exterior doors, interior doors, slab-on-grade, window placement, and ceiling line. Other standards include closets, bathroom fixtures, mechanical fixtures, and kitchen fixtures.
The garage door is 16’ wide and 7’ tall. All exterior and interior doors are 3’ wide and 6’-8” tall. The sliding door in the living room is 6’-8” tall and 6’ wide. The slab-on-grade adds on an extra 8” to the entire structure’s bottom. The top of every window should be placed 7’ from the floor line. There should be a height of 8’ between the floor line and the ceiling line.
4. Technology
Technology is more or less the application of science. As I have stated earlier in this report, there are many science concepts used throughout this project. Therefore, technology has been implemented n many aspects of this project. Layout, ergonomics, flow, traffic, structural design, and material strength encompass technology.
a. Computer Aided Design Software
CAD is one of the most useful tools of an architect. The increase in computer technology and the effectiveness of CAD software has rendered hand-drawings obsolete. It has greatly assisted me throughout this project thus far by aiding me in the design of several architectural plans.
b. Structural Design
The development of lighter and stronger materials such as steel and structural lumber allowed for the construction of skeleton-frame structures.
5. Conclusion
Overall, mathematics, science, and technology, relate to an architectural project in many ways. The concepts in each of these categories assist in the design of architectural plans, while giving a better understanding of each concept as well. Layout, ergonomics, and flow were the most important concepts concerning the overall design and effectiveness of limiting the amount of square footage of the house. Through mathematics, science, and technology, I was able to produce a sound design for my final solution. After I finish all of the architectural drawings for this project I will commence the construction of my final model on a scale of ¼” = 1’0.
Works Cited
Hepler, Dana J., Paul Ross Wallach, and Donald E. Hepler. Drafting and Design for
Architecture. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson, 2006.
