WEEK 3: SITE CONSIDERATION

This week, I learned about how important the building site is to the overall design of a building. The site is not just the piece of land where a building is placed. Designers have to think about the sun, wind, rain, views, landscaping, surrounding buildings, and how people will move around the site. The architect is mainly responsible for placing the building, but landscape architects, civil engineers, and interior designers can also be involved in the process. The location and orientation of a building can affect energy use, natural lighting, and the comfort of the people inside.

There are three main categories of site considerations: regulatory, aesthetic, and environmental. Regulatory considerations include zoning, building codes, accessibility, setbacks, and building height. Aesthetic considerations involve views and existing features that should be preserved or highlighted. Environmental considerations include natural features, plants, water, weather, and human-made conditions on the site.

A site analysis helps designers understand environmental and surrounding conditions before placing a building.

One of the biggest things I learned is that site design can directly affect the interior of a building. The direction a building faces can determine how much sunlight enters the space. In the Northern Hemisphere, southern-facing spaces generally receive more direct sunlight, especially during the winter. This can be useful for daylighting, but too much sunlight can also create heat and glare.

Daylighting is the use of natural light inside a building. Using daylight can reduce the need for electric lighting and can make interior spaces more comfortable. However, designers also have to control glare. Glare is unwanted or disruptive light, such as sunlight reflecting onto a computer screen. Solutions can include window treatments, light shelves, exterior shading, and careful space planning.

Wind and weather also affect interior comfort. A building can be positioned to take advantage of breezes for natural ventilation. Wing walls can help capture breezes, while an airlock entry can help keep cold air and wind from entering the main interior space. Views are another important consideration because the location of windows affects both what people see and how much daylight enters the space.

(I couldn't figure out how to rotate the image.) Building orientation and window placement can be used to take advantage of natural daylight and ventilation.

Another major topic this week was the building enclosure. The enclosure is the part of a building that separates the inside from the outside. It includes the foundation, exterior walls, roof, windows, doors, and other materials that protect the building from weather. The enclosure also helps control heat, cold, moisture, and air movement.

The foundation supports the weight of the building and transfers the loads safely into the ground. The two main categories are shallow foundations and deep foundations. Shallow foundations can include slab-on-grade, crawl spaces, and basements. Deep foundations are used for buildings with greater loads and include piles and caissons.

Sustainability was another major topic in this week's material. The way a building is placed on a site can have a major effect on how sustainable it is. Designers should consider existing infrastructure, transportation, natural features, water use, and landscaping. The PowerPoint explains that the most sustainable building is the one that already exists, because reusing an existing building can reduce the environmental impact of new construction.

Landscaping can also help with sustainability. Using indigenous or native plants can reduce the amount of irrigation needed. Rainwater can also be collected and reused for irrigation. Xeriscaping is another strategy that uses plants and landscaping methods that require little or no irrigation.

Case Study: Harm A. Weber Academic Center

The Harm A. Weber Academic Center at Judson University is a great example of how site planning, building enclosure, and sustainability can work together. The building was designed by British architect C. Alan Short and was designed to achieve a LEED Gold rating. It is an 88,000-square-foot facility that uses natural ventilation, natural daylighting, photovoltaic panels, and sustainable landscaping. The building was projected to use only about 47% of the energy of a conventional academic building.

The Weber Center is located on Judson University's campus in Elgin, Illinois. The building creates a “soft rectangular quad” with two dormitories, a science center, and the university chapel. The site was redesigned to create a sustainable landscape between these buildings.

One major site improvement was moving a 70-stall parking lot that had previously been located in the middle of several campus buildings. The parking was moved to the perimeter of the campus area, allowing the center of the site to become a sustainable landscape and pedestrian space. 

The Harm A. Weber Academic Center has a unique enclosure system that combines several different materials and strategies.

1. Structural/Wall System

The dominant building material is concrete. Concrete is used in the walls and floor/ceiling elements because it provides thermal mass. Thermal mass allows the building materials to absorb and release heat, which is an important part of the building's natural ventilation strategy. The exterior walls also include stick-framed extensions that are approximately four feet away from the precast concrete walls. These spaces create vertical air-flow chases and also help provide solar shading. The building is primarily constructed with precast concrete walls and floor/ceiling elements, with stick-framed exterior wall extensions that create a four-foot cavity.

2. Exterior Wall Materials and Finishes

The exterior finishes change depending on the location of the building. The lower level uses brick veneer, while the upper portions use a combination of EIFS and metal panels. The window sills, jambs, and heads are finished with a white metal panel system. These white panels also help reflect and bounce daylight into the building.

3. Windows and Daylighting

The building uses a large amount of glazing to bring natural light into the interior. One of the most interesting parts of the enclosure is the four-foot-deep wall cavity. This cavity helps reduce direct solar gain while also helping bring daylight into the building. The wall cavity also acts like a light shelf. Light can bounce off the surfaces of the cavity and reach deeper into the interior, creating both ambient and indirect lighting. This means the enclosure is doing more than just protecting the building. It is actively helping provide natural light.

4. Sustainable Features

The site surrounding the Weber Center is also an important part of its sustainability strategy. The parking lot was moved to the perimeter, and the space was replaced with sustainable landscaping. The landscape includes permeable surfaces, stormwater detention, bioswales, and native plants. The bioswales help filter pollutants from stormwater, while permeable surfaces allow water to infiltrate into the ground. The landscaping also includes a variety of native trees, shrubs, prairie plants, and plants specifically selected for stormwater areas. This helps protect biodiversity and creates an outdoor learning environment for students.

The Harm A. Weber Academic Center is a good example of how a building can be designed to work with its environment instead of simply protecting itself from it. The building uses its concrete structure, deep wall cavities, natural ventilation, daylighting, photovoltaic panels, and sustainable landscape as connected systems. What I found most interesting is that the sustainable features are not just added onto the building. Many of them are actually part of the building's design. For example, the four-foot wall cavity helps with both shading and daylighting, while the photovoltaic panels help produce electricity and also strengthen the natural ventilation system. The site also works with the building by using native landscaping and stormwater management. The Weber Center was designed as a type of living laboratory, allowing students, architects, engineers, and the public to learn from its sustainable systems. The case study shows how site planning and building enclosure decisions can have a major impact on energy use, comfort, daylight, ventilation, and the overall experience of an interior space.