Building Design 1

A Building is an assemblage that is firmly attached to the ground that

provides total or nearly total shelter for machines, processing
equipment, performance of human activities, storage of human
possessions, or any combination of these.
Building design is the process of providing all
information necessary for construction of a building
that will meet its owner’s requirements and also
satisfy public health, welfare, and safety
requirements.
Architecture is the art and science of building
design.
Building construction is the process of assembling
materials to form a building.
 • Persons legally permitted to practice
Architects
architecture
• Experts in specific scientific disciplines legally
Engineers permitted to design parts or the whole
buildings
Building
• Permitted to design certain types of buildings
designers
• Group of laborers and craftspeople engaged by
Contractors an individual or organization for the purpose of
building construction
A contract is signed between a contractor and the
building owner under which the contractor agrees to
construct a specific building on a specified site and
the owner agrees to pay for the materials and
services provided.
1. The building should be constructed to serve purposes specified by
the client.
2. The design should be constructible by known techniques and with
available labor and equipment, within an acceptable time.
3. The building should be capable of withstanding the elements and
normal usage for a period of time specified by the client.
4. The building should be visually pleasing.
5. No part of the building should pose a hazard to the safety or health
of its occupants under normal usage (and it should provide for safe
evacuation or refuge in emergencies).
6. The building should provide the degree of shelter from the
elements and of control of the interior environment specified by
the client and not less than the minimum required for safety and
health of the occupants.
7. The building should be constructed to minimize adverse impact on
the environment.
8. Operation of the building should consume a minimum energy
while permitting the structure to serve its purposes.
9. The sum of costs of construction, operation, maintenance, repair,
and anticipated future alterations should be kept within the limit
specified by the client.
A drawing or plan is the repository of all information
necessary for the construction of a building.
A specification states what materials and equipment needs
to be incorporated in the building.
A special type of specification, called the prescriptive
specification details how a contractor should use and install
materials to produce a specific or all parts of the contract.
Client recognizes the need for and economic
feasibility of a building

Client engages an architect, a professional

with a broad background in building design

Architect engages consulting engineers and

other consultants for their services (v.v.)
 For most buildings, structural, mechanical, and electrical
consulting engineers are required:
 Structural engineer – for the design of load-bearing walls,
floors, roofs, foundations, and skeleton framing needed for the
support of building and components.
 Mechanical engineer – for the design of plumbing, elevators,
escalators, walkways, conveyors, machineries, heating,
ventilation and air conditioning.
 Electrical engineer – for the design of electric circuits,
electric controls and safety devices, motors and generators,
lighting and others
Other consultants that may engage in the
services:
Landscape architect
Acoustic consultant
Hospital specialist
School specialist
Others
The architect:
Does the overall planning of the building
Incorporates the output of the consultants into
the contract documents
Determines what internal and external spaces
the client needs, the sizes of these spaces,
their relative locations and their
interconnections.
The floor plan shows the diagram of the internal flow, or
circulation of people and supplies.
The elevation view shows the exterior of the building in
upright view, as appearance is enhanced by the architect.
The site plan shows the location and orientation of the
building
 Schematics or
Program Rough estimate
conceptual phase

Production of
Design development Contract documents working/construction
and detailing phase drawings and
specifications
Construction cost of a building is a
dominant design concern:
If construction cost exceeds owner’s budget,
the owner may cancel the project
Costs occurring after completion of the
building often proportional or more than the
initial cost (i.e., property taxes, insurance)
Types of costs:
1. Initial cost – sum of pre-construction,
construction and occupancy costs
2. Operation and maintenance (O&M) cost
3. Life-cycle cost – sum of initial, operating
and maintenance costs
The simplest building system consists of only
two components:
Floor, a flat, horizontal surface on which
human activities can take place
Enclosure that extends over the floor and
also around it to provide shelter from weather
for human activities
 Superstructure – portion of a
building that extends above the
ground level
 Substructure – portion below the
outside ground level
 Foundations – part of the
substructure that distribute building
loads to the ground
 Foundation walls – foundations that
take the form of walls
 Continuous spread footing –
footing under a wall
 Individual spread footing – footing
when a column or other slender
structural members is seated on it
 Mat footing – for weak soils, or
combined footing
 Piles – for very weak soils; structural
members that are hammered
through a weak soil until it seat on a
rock
 Joists are closely-spaced  Stringers support stairs
beams that carry light loads
 Headers support structural  Purlins are placed horizontally
members around openings in to carry level roof decks
roofs, floors, and walls
 Rafters are placed on an  Girts are light horizontal
incline to carry sloping roof members that span between
decks columns to support walls
 Lintels are light horizontal beams  Spandrels carry exterior walls
that carry the part of walls above and support edges of floors and
openings for doors and windows roofs in multi-story buildings
 Trusses serve the same purposes
as girders but consists of slender
horizontal, vertical, and inclined
components with large open
spaces between them
 Bracings are diagonal members  Rigid frames are frames form
that work with columns and from rigid connections of beams
beams to carry lateral loads to columns to prevent a change in
downward the angle between them
 Shear walls are long, slender
walls that resist lateral
movement
 Systems for
Enclosing Buildings

Roof Walls
a. Flat
b. Shed
c. Pitched
d. Hipped
e. Gambrel
f. Mansard
g. Monitored
h. Sawtooth
 Dormers are enclosed attic  Skylights are glazed openings
spaces, where windows may be for daylighting the building
set interior
 Monitors are rows of windows  Roofing are thin, waterproof
installed vertically, or nearly covering
so, above a roof.
 Sheathing provides support to  Thermal insulation is
roofing installed on the underdeck as a
protection against heat
 Unit masonry consists of small
units such as clay brick, concrete
bloc, glass block or clay tile, held
together by a cement such as
mortar
 Panel walls consist of units much
larger than unit masonry such as
metal, glass, plastics or
preassembled bricks. A panel
may extend from foundation to
roof
 Curtain walls are thin, usually
aluminum-framed wall, containing
in-fills of glass, metal panels or
thin stone. They do not carry the
floor or roof loads of the building.
 Bearing walls are active
structural element of a building,
which carries the weight of the
elements above said wall
 Frame – framework that surrounds and supports
the entire window
 Head – main horizontal part forming the top of
the window frame
 Jambs –main vertical parts forming the sides of
the window frame
 Sill – main horizontal part forming the bottom of
the window frame
 Glazing – transparent glass or plastic
 Sash - movable part of the window made up of
vertical and horizontal frame that holds the
glazing
 Lift – handle for raising or moving the sash in a
window frame

Types of windows:
1. Hung window
2. Sliding window
3. Casement window
 Flush doors have flat, smooth
surfaces that are typically painted
or stained with wood stains
 Panel doors are made from a
framework of horizontal rails and
vertical stiles that frame flat or
raised wood panels, or
sometimes, glass panes
Other building systems HVAC
include the following: Lighting
Fire ratings Acoustics
Interior walls and Electric power and
partitions communication
Wall finishes systems
Plumbing