Project Draft

Today in studio my group and I presented what we had for our presentation to just Stephanie and Maruja. I found this to be very helpful because it gave us a clear understandign of what was to be expected of us. Though we did make huge improvements from what we had on Wednesday, there was still some information that needed to be added in and some polishing up to do. As of today our PowerPoint looks like this:

On Tuesday, my group and I plan to meet to make the corrections that were given.

Codes Project Progression

On Wednesday my group and I talked to both Stephanie and Maruja. I believe that this meeting was more informative and helpful because we were able to distinguish what was really important to talk about and what codes were relevant for the space provided in the competition. After the meeting, we were able to really get going on the project because we had a better idea of we really needed to do and say. We then started a PowerPoint through Google Docs  so that we all could access it and work on it at the same time. Wednesday was the day where we laid out the different slides we needed, what the topics we needed, and what kind of information was to be put on each slide. At this point we decided that ADA codes for Accessibility was a big point to talk about. Later that night and on Thursday night I put in all the information that I thought was relevant about ADA codes for our building. This consists of hallway size for wheelchairs, toilet heights and handrails, and signs labeling area of refuge locations. This is the outline that we finished Wednesday:

Safety/Security

Occupancy (classification of space, relating math)

            460 people downstairs

            73 people upstairs

            533 total occupancy in area based on each floor

            Bathrooms (enough plumbing per person)

Means of Egress

            Egress paths wide enough for occupancy

Energy efficiency & vestibule doors (w card swipes)

Stairway codes (handrails, water)

            Ceiling height considerations

Fire and Smoke Protection Features

Sprinklers, fire walls, finishes, fire ratings

            Materials used in walls, flooring, etc fire safe

            Mention connection to egress

Accessibility/ADA

            Turning radius & corridor width fits ADA standards

Finished floor height meets ADA

Area on stair landing big enough to accommodate people who cannot go downstairs in case of fire

Building Information Laid out in the Competition

Weekly Blog Post 8/25

Monday, Stephanie came around to talk to our group about the Steel Case project. The big thing that we talked about was how we were going to present our information. This forced us to think about how we wanted to set up our powerpoint. Chelsea, Alexandra and I decided that we wanted a PowerPoint that was not so text heavy. This was kind of challenging because our topic is mainly codes and having to give our summary of the codes that are relevant to our space. We also had to come up with a "storyboard" to help with the order of our presentation.  The main concepts that we though were the most important to inform the class on are occupancy and how you find that, means of egress, fire safety and finishes, and ADA accessibility codes. This was our layout on Monday:

Codes and Standards for Educational Spaces

Occupancy
use and occupancy classification
means of egress
security

Fire and Smoke Protection Features
sprinkler placement- relation to design
fire walls
suitable materials- finishes, fire ratings, safety

Means of Egress/ Accessibility
ADA accessibility
interior environment- use, space planning, space flow
enough bathrooms
ceiling height
turning radius
egress fit occupancy

Energy efficiency/ Interior Environment
furnishings
finishes
relation to safety and accessibility
relation to codes

Codes Project Advice

On Friday my group and I met with Maruja and discussed the facts that we found from the 2009 Virginia Construction Codes and found that most of the codes don't relate to the projects as much as we previously thought since we are not building the space. We did think that the means of egress codes and fire and smoke protection features are more important for our section of the project. Maruja gave us some helpful tips and said that we should also consider security for the safety section of our topic. She also suggested a book, that we found in the Interior Architecture library, that would help with codes in the educational setting. Right now my group and I are researching from the book, looking through some of the 2009 Virginia Construction Codes, and finding what the best security measures should be taken for an educational building. For example JLM Wholesale did some of the security for Spartan Village.

Building Codes and Design Standards

After getting the project information my group and I picked the topic Building Codes and Design Standards for Educational Design from a hate. Under this topic we are supposed to further research applicable codes for an educational setting, issues with safety and security, and considerations in the design process. During the beginning of our research we started focusing on fire codes, finishings that would be better for safety, and what type of classroom set ups are better for engagement.

We later thought that the classrooms set ups relate more for another groups' topic. So we regrouped and started researching from the 2009 Virginia Construction Codes.

Weekly Blog Post 7/18/14

Reading over the Next Student Design Competition the first sentence caught my eye. "Most education spaces today are decades old and as a result, inadequately support student engagement, learning retention and other key elements of a successful learning environment." It made me reflect on the classrooms from my high school and even some classrooms that I have been in on this campus. The classrooms are old, kind of smelly, and set up in such a way that just doesn't encourage students to be engaged. I think that this competition is important for us as students because it forces us to think about how design can improve the quality of something; in this case, learning.