For my term project for AE510, titled
“Revit House Model with Major Systems”, I am working independently to create a
3D Revit model of Glass House in New Canaan, CT. Designed by Phillip Johnson as
his own residence and a weekend retreat in the future, Glass House has affected
the architect in many of his further designs. Influenced by ideas of German
architects “Glasarchitektur”, the structure of Glass House features a
steel-framing system with mainly glass panels anchored in place [1]. It
inspired the modern architecture in design open floor plan and using steel and
glass in residential house design. Before his death in 2005, Johnson donated
his property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the building
is now an art museum stored David Whitney’s collection, and furniture designed
by Mies van der Rohe. These gentlemen have developed partnership in art world
through years. Figure 1 features the current Glass House in CT, and below is
the current model that I have done so far.
Figure 1. Phillip Johnson's Glass House [2]
Figure 2. Glass House architectural model
at its current state
I chose to create a Revit model including
primary systems: architectural, structural, and mechanical to expand my BIM
skills through the course and learn about how these systems integrate within
Revit and BIM. It is also a great opportunity to gain skills from modeling
structural and mechanical system of the building, which I wish to expand while
taking AE 390/391 sequence next year. The simplistic design of Glass House
provides a good individual practice for modeling structural system, as it was
not hindered inside wall system. In fact, Architectural drawings found in Glass
House’s homepage provides a nice reference to accurately create its
architectural and structural models. lively reflections created by glass panel
are also interested to figure out through shading in Revit. I aimed to finish
the architectural model within Week 5 before working on other systems.
Expectedly, several challenges have emerged since I started working on this project. Learning a new software and applying it into a certain problem is a time-consuming task, as I am still watching tutorials to solve some Revit problems while modeling the Glass House. Moreover, once I start working on structural and mechanical models of the building, it will be more challenging to discover how elements within each system connect with each other to generate a workability model. In fact, connections between structural members such as beam, column, etc. are tricky to assemble with details provided on the technical drawings. For this project, HVAC system will be newly customized into the building model for learning purposes as it was not included on the technical drawings provided by Glass House’s homepage. Moreover, multiple components that are not stocked in Revit libraries must be created to closely accomplish the accuracy in modeling the historic house. For example, the brick cylinder, served as Glass House’s bathroom, may consume a good amount of time. Therefore, the past assignment was essential to learn about creating a workable family to depict those components.
Upon project completion, I hope to
accomplish a final model of that can accurately describe the existing structure
and provide a possible plan to install HVAC system into the historic house. For
example, several mechanical elements are attached to the ceiling of many
Drexel’s historic buildings including Randell Hall. Furthermore, one of the
possible outcomes of intelligent building is using computer technology to
understand building. Therefore, depending on how quickly I can finish the
complete model, structural analysis and energy analysis will be aimed for
inspecting the functionality of the structure. Finally, I wish I could discover
about the fact that Glass House has not been used as a daily residence
throughout the project.
Reference
[1] Pierce, Lisa. (2010). "Through the Looking Glass",
pp 1, A4, The Advocate, Stamford, CT.
[2] Perez, Adelyn. (2010). "AD Classics: The Glass House /
Phillips Johnson".
<https://www.archdaily.com/60259/ad-classics-the-glass-house-philip-johnson>
(Feb. 5, 2018)
Comments:
Zac A and Mark O
I am looking for your future update, and presentation of your
project at the end of this term. Your project is even deeper than my goal as
building a project from a sratch. A design following the industry standard
would benefit largely in your Senior Design as well as your professional
practice after graduation. I have never touched to the MEP side of the building
(AE220 is the basic of the basic), so I wish you two could finish your model to
enrich my reference. Good luck!
Thomas S and Allison A
Martian settlement is a new, but ambitious topic through years,
with a boost from the movie "The Martian". Your post already emerges
a solution on using automated technology to construct structures in Mars
without human intervention, which is very interesting even though human still
have to control the robot to construct a dwelling right in Earth. You also
clearly describes your challenge in your research, as supplying power for
automated systems are a big problem in such an isolated situation (140 million
miles away from us). However, please keep up with your work, since your idea is
very innovative.
Carlos H.
I am coming from a developing country, so I can understand your
statement about difficulty in applying new technology to improve lives on these
countries. In fact, lack of investment, group of interest and law regulations
in construction are tightening any innovative idea that is trying to emerge to
the public. There is one problem that I want to share with you. It is about
operating and maintaining those technologies which you will present about in
Week 10. There is a huge probability that it would require high budget, and
high-skill engineers to maintain technological devices, and the local
government would practice corruption while operating those devices. Anyway, I
am looking forward for your presentation, which I will reserve as one of the
options to discuss while going back to home.
I like your idea for this project. I think it poses a challenging task while integrating all aspects of Revit. One thing that might make your project more interesting is to try to make the current building more energy efficient. Maybe you can look at doing an energy analysis of what you design for the original building and then trying to make it more efficient. It might be a good challenge for you if you end up having time for it at the end of the term. Other than that, I look forward to seeing what the finished product looks like.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be doing a very similar project in which Mark and I are doing and I too look forward to seeing your final presentation and how your building turns out. I have spent a good amount of time using Revit and learning how to use the Architectural Modeling tools but have not personally worked on any of the structural or MEP capabilities Revit has. I believe learning a new program for yourself is a very rewarding and intensive task, but once you learn Revit it will only benefit you in the long run. I personally am excited to learn how to link models, and create the other models. I believe that Revit will continue to be the leader in 3D modeling, and that AutoDesk will ensure that Revit can talk to other programs. I believe that Revit will be in the construction industry for 20+ years. Owners love to see models of their building, and GC are using it to solve problems.
ReplyDeleteYour project is super cool. I love that you’re taking this as an opportunity to expand your knowledge of BIM and the different systems that go into a building. I know next to nothing about creating structural systems in Revit so doing something like this would be beneficial for me too. I wonder if you could do a structural analysis of the building in Revit as well, just to learn another aspect of the software.
ReplyDeleteI really like the minimalist and futuristic look of this building. It would be interesting to see how you design and HVAC system for such building. I concern that a glass envelop like this will require a huge amount of heat in the winter. In addition, you might want to think about a security system or something that can ensure the privacy for the occupants if the building is to be built in an urban setting.
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