The Malibu House
The Malibu House was the first project that I had worked on in Civil Engineering Building Science, and was the first true introduction to REVIT as well as structural engineering and architecture as a whole. The major challenges for this project would be to learn how to engineer a simple 2 story house structurally and how to create renderings and use the REVIT suite for both architectural and floor plans.
The lot size given was 60ft x 150ft and the demand for the structure was a rectangular house totaling approximately 1500 square feet of livable space. As an inspiration for the project, students were asked to select some type of professional to design the house for, and we chose a chef particularly because a beachfront property in Malibu would be a tranquil place to advance his or her craft. The program required (2) bedrooms, (2-3) bathrooms, and (1) living area/studio with a two story high ceiling and a kitchen.
Structurally, the design of this waterfront studio required flexible roof and floor diaphragms with a lateral force resisting system consisting of plywood shear panels and steel cantilever columns. Although the structure is simple in design, multiple considerations made the design more advanced due to the sandy soil type associated with Malibu beachfront property, calling for grade beams and deep footings to support and stabilize the structure in the case of a seismic event.
Fall 2015
Architectural Plans
In this introductory project in the Civil Engineering Building Science program, architectural and structural plan creation was taught in full by our professor and the plans produced reflect a high level of consideration for all forms of design. The architectural plans produced considered both interior design in planning as well as the design of the site as a whole to develop the small site area in the best possible way according to the sites geographic location. In order to make the architectural plans read clearly and relate to the demands of the program, labels are used to point out architectural finishing details as well as necessary aspects of the house.
Structural Plans
Similar to the case of architectural plans, the structural plans for this project were created to reflect full construction specification of structural elements in order to maintain accuracy of the engineered portion of the structure. This advanced structural design consideration was deemed necessary due to the simplicity of the project, causing calculations to be more easy than a larger structure but more in depth to include hardware for seismic design and grade beams to address the weak sandy soil. The foundation was created using a reinforced concrete slab with reinforcing bars running each way for rigidity, as well as including grade beams and footings to prevent overturning and to support columns in the case of a seismic event. The structure itself is composed largely of typical wood beams and columns as well as a couple of steel HSS columns to support the large two floor glass curtain wall located at the southern wall of the structure.
Renders and Portfolio
The renders for this project were done using the REVIT rendering software offered with the program combined with photoshop in order to enhance color and add realistic backgrounds to make the renders look as real as possible. In order to satisfy project requirements, the interior was fully designed for renders as well as plans which can be seen above in order to fully design the studio for our choice of inspiration, a chef. To see the full portfolio, which includes sections, elevations, and a few structural calculations, please click on the download button below.
