You are designing a new residence for a financial guru on the southern slope, hi

Question

You are designing a new residence for a financial guru on the southern slope, high on mountain in Colorado. He thinks that he knows a lot about architecture and design (as a matter of fact he thinks he knows a lot about everything).

Below are two of his program requirements and design suggestions he has made for each requirement:

The site faces south; however, the best view is to the west. The client expects the design to take full advantage of this view from the Living Room, especially late in the afternoon and early evening while entertaining, with floor to ceiling glass walls on the Living Room’s west wall. His design suggestion for this wall is: “Cantilever (extend) the overhang on this facade as much as you need to and never mind the engineering or construction expense.

A substantial amount of the main facade does face south and the client says he is “all about” Passive Solar. The main floor of the house is to be a 4” thick slab on grade. The concrete mix is to be colored a “soft, light dove grey” so as to provide a pleasing contrast to the large antique oriental carpets that will be used as floor coverings in these rooms.

Select one of the above and identify the challenges/obstacles that this requirement places on a design and explain the limitations (if any) of the client’s design solutions, and suggest an effective alternative if necessary and possible. Remember that he is a valued client so your answer must be tactful as well as effective.

Explanation / Answer

First things first. If the client thinks he knows a lot about everything (which normally is never possible) and he is a financial guru, you allow him to think so and never go outrightly againest his ideas. The skill lies in maneouvering from his idea to your idea (which would be better ofcourse because you are the expert here) but, you don't have to let him know that you are pulling the strings here. It will occasionaly mean agreeing with him for a fact or two.

Now I would choose the second of the above mentioned ways i.e. the one talking about the facade. Sine the client is a valued client so i am giving you a breakup of the challanges and limitations.

1) Challenges:

a) Primarily the construction is to be done on a slope high up on the mountains of colarado. The first challenge faced would be getting the foundations of the house right. It is very difficult to get the foundations right with sloping grounds. Use of some piles might also be suggested which come out of the ground and help leveling the foundation.

b) Now the house is to be designed at a high alltitude. Hence, a strong wind load is to be expected acting on the walls of the house. With a strong foundation and use of shear walls the problem can be solved.

c) Since the client says he is a passive solar, he has taken a correct decision in getting the house to face south. However, the main facade needs to be strong enough to take care of the wind loads. This can be acheived by allowing the aerodynamics to be such that the winds don't necessarily cause stresses (shear or normal) on the facade.

d) The client seems too occupied with the idea of aestethics of his house, ignoring the structural stability aspect. I would suggest the main floor be 6 inches thick at least so as to be able to respond properly to the loads at such an alltitude. The color choice should completely given to the client. It will please him and do no harm to the structural stability.

e) One more impending challenge that this project will face is the transportation cost for taking all the required stuff to such an alltitude and the manpower will also be on a large scale. Since, the client has no problem with the finances, I believe that shouldn't affect the viability of the project.

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