During the ACE meeting, the Pasadena Team had taken a tour of the building and gotten to see our mentors workspace. After we went over to the kpff conference room there we were introduced to a short diagram.
The diagram was informal displaying a basic image of what a typical structure is made of various components. First concrete is set as a foundations and steel beams are set in place vertically and perpendicular steel columns are established to support the slab between the secondary beam.
Our mentors also explained the various viewpoints in order of importance when constructing a building. For example a structural engineers' order of importance is safety is the number one priority when designing a building then serviceability (being designed in a practical and user friendly manner, and respectable purpose,) build ability (designing a building that is easy to construct and not problematic,) appearance (aesthetics.) An architects main concern is focused on appearance the atmosphere of the building and how the design creates fluidity. For a contractor his focus is on the build ability of the design and how practical it is to build. The owner or client is concerned with the value of their design, being that they want to get the most worth out of their money.
The main topic we spoke of during our meeting was scale and the purpose of how its used to create designs in an optimal amount of space. What I learned from this meeting was that since buildings in actual size cannot be drawn onto paper we conserve space by using scale drawings. Based on what scale you chose: 1/8, 1/16, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 3/8, 3/4, 1 1/2, 3 inch. you have to calculate the total area of the square footage of a room and the width and length in order to make the design practical for the user.
