KALISSA FRUETEL
Criss Studio Fall 2024
ARCH 608 – Urban Dwelling
This course is intended to meet ability level for NAAB SC.5 Design Synthesis:
How the program ensures that students understand the established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and the methods and criteria architects use to assess those technologies against the design, economics, and performance objectives of projects.
This course is intended to meet understanding level for NAAB SC.6 Building Integration except SC.6.7: How the program ensures that students develop the ability to make design decisions within architectural projects while demonstrating integration of building envelope systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems, life safety systems, and the measurable outcomes of building performance.
This course is intended to meet ability level for NAAB SC.5 Design Synthesis: How the program ensures that students understand the established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and the methods and criteria architects use to assess those technologies against the design, economics, and performance objectives of projects.
• SC.5: Design Synthesis:
• SC.5.1 Design Decisions that Synthesize Multiple Factors
• SC.5.2 User Requirements
• SC.5.3 Regulatory Requirements
• SC.5.4 Site Conditions
• SC.5.5 Ecological Concerns and Consider Measurable Environmental Impacts (Understanding Level)
• SC.5.6 Accessible Design
This course is intended to meet understanding level for NAAB SC.6 Building Integration except SC.6.7:
How the program ensures that students develop the ability to make design decisions within architectural projects while demonstrating integration of building envelope systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems, life safety systems, and the measurable outcomes of building performance.
• SC.6: Building Integration:
• SC.6.1 Integrated Decision-Making Design Process
• SC.6.2 Integrated Building Envelope Systems
• SC.6.3 Integrated Building Assemblies
• SC.6.4 Integrated Structural Systems
• SC.6.5 Integrated Environmental Control Systems
• SC.6.6 Integrated Life Safety Systems
Team Work, Collaboration, & My Contribution
This semester the inital research of site was done collaboratively. Code research was done with Gracie Heicht and Jackson Roth. Most site research was done with Jackson Roth with me taking on the roles of graphics and observational research whilst Jackson took on a role of analytical and factual research. The splitting up of the research enabled us to thrive in our strengths and fill the gaps the other partner had a lack in. Beyond the site research and design, all design choices for the building design and the specific site I worked on were done completely solo. All graphics, design, and research for my building’s specific site were done by me.
SITE & MASSING STUDIES
Site Conditions and Context, SC.5.4 pages 4-9
User Requirements, SC.5.2 pages 10-11
Design Decisions that Synthesize Multiple Factors, SC.5.1 pages 12-15
Site Proposal, SC.5.1, SC.5.3, SC.5.4, SC.5.6 pages 16-17
BUILDING PROPOSAL
Design Framework, SC.5.1, SC.5.2 page 18
Regulatory Requirements, SC.5.3 pages 19-20
Building Design Process, SC.6.1 pages 21-23, 29
Ecological Concerns and Measurable Environmental, SC.5.5 pages 24-27
Building Floor Plans, Sections and Elevations, SC.5.1 pages 30-36, 38-39
Egress and Accessibility, SC.5.6, SC.6.6 page 40
Integrated Systems, SC.6.4, SC.6.5 page 41
Exterior Envelope and Building Assemblies, SC.6.3 pages 28, 37
Building Performance, SC.6.7 pages 42
Bibliography page 43
SITE LOCATION
SOUTH PLATTE RIVER
• The river spans 439 miles long
• Has bike trails along the river
• Highly polluted
• Runs through Denver
AURARIA CAMPUS
• The campus is comprised of three schools: Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and University of Colorado Denver.
Located between the Auraria Campuss and Downtown Denver (LoDo) our site has the perfect opportunity to enable a bridging between the two regions with the Cherry Creek, which stems from the South Platte River. Having connections that goes between the sites creates a perfect opportunity to make community that stems from both the people who live and work in LoDo and the people who live and study at the Auraria campus.
DOWNTOWN DENVER
• The heart of Denver
• A concentration of Skyscrapers
• Trendy region
• Vibrant nightlife
• Good concetration of transit
• Larimer Street and 16th Street Mall are pedestrian friendly
CHERRY CREEK
• The creek runs for 40 miles
• Branches off of South Platte River
• One side is for bikes and the other is for pedestrian use
VARIOUS MORE GREEN SPACES EXIST IN THE REGION THAT COULD BE USED BY INDIVIDUALS IN THE AREA, HOWEVER A MAJORITY ARE PART OF THE NEARBY CAMPUS AND WOULD PRIMARILY BE USED BY STUDENTS
PARK
When it comes to the surrounding nature through parks and green spaces, a vast majority of the spaces are either on the Auraria Campus or down the Sout Platte River and Cherry Creek. To add to this trend and bridge the two areas of green spaces, we have decided to provide more green spaces in the three sites to continue the trend of parks on the Cherry Creek. One site fully devoted to a park and the other two deciding how they want to represent a park given the restricted area they have.
8AM AVERAGE 12PM AVERAGE 6PM AVERAGE
Some observations based off the sunlight site analysis is that there is always sun shining during the Summer Solstice and at noon no matter the time of year. This is important to recognize when determinine how sunlight sits on the site and how tree and building shading devices will help provide the appropiate amount of shading to the site. Given the fact I am on site #3 (the bottom right site), most of my site is shaded by the skyscrapers nearby throughout the year with only the north side receiving a good amount of direct light. By designing a building that protects apartment units from strong direct sunlight, i.e. a backwards L (due to the shape of the site), it is already an easy way to protect the units from that direct southern sun.
Given the fact our sites are all parking lots, that is a lot of car-oriented real-estate that will be taken up. Due to this and due to the lack of on-street parking, which is not a bad thing, it made us evaluate how important is it truly to have parking? Could the residents in our sites enjoy the local area without needing a car, is it a necessity? So to explore that, we took a step back and analyzed the surrounding half mile and noticed a realitively strong bus and bike system with a nearby interrail system just one bus ride away. With this, we concluded the need for parking was not absolutely necessary on the ground level and decided to place parking underground as Denver still is a realitively car-oriented city.
INTERRAIL BUS SYSTEM
BIKE PATHWAYS
Jin - 23
Study spaces
Education success
Convenience of basic needs so studying time is not wasted Abbey - 22
Proximity to internship
Easy access to nightlife
Spaces to bring friends over to hang out
Mark - 27
Healthy food
Access to recreational spaces
Access to bike routes
Linda - 55
Real Estate Developer
Values a community-oriented atmosphere
Often attending art galleries and weekend events in the open-air space
Olivia - 42
Often uses co-working spaces for client meetings and networking.
Enjoys downtown Denver’s vibrant food scene and cultural attractions.
Daniel - 35
Runs Local Bakery/Shop
Avid walker and biker
Has access to steady flow of customers from surrounding spaces
University of DenverOffice of Internationalization
Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado
Rocky Mountain PBS
In the demographics for the personas, the goal of the project is to place graduate and pink-collar workers into the same vacinity to create community and connections between the two groups of people. The personas I focus on are the graduate students: Jin, Abbey, and Mark. Jin is an avid studier who wants to ensure all his basic needs are at a good convience and his time is not wasted going to get things such as groceries. Abbey has a different agenda only living in the area for a semester and really wants good proximity to her internship and night life. Being near Larimer street enables both of these priorities as she focuses staying in the LoDo region. Finally, Mark enjoys using the well extensive bike routes of Cherry Creek and the surrounding region. With this, hes able to have his healthy and active lifestyle all around him.
Grow Local Colorado West Colfax Community Association . Impact 100 Metro Denver
Student Population: ~38,000 students across CU
Denver, MSU Denver, and CCD.
Campus Breakdown:
CU Denver: ~15,000 students.
MSU Denver: ~19,000 students
CCD: ~4,000 students.
Diversity:
~32% Hispanic/Latino
~45% White
~8% Black
~5% Asian
~10% other.
Gender:
~55% female
~45% male.
Housing:
~85% commute to campus.
~1,200 students live in on-campus housing at Campus Village Apartments.
Many live in nearby neighborhoods like Capitol Hill or LoDo.
Age Range:
~45% are 18–22 years old.
~55% are over 23 years old.
First-Generation Students: ~40% of total enrollment
MAIN FLOOR (PUBLIC AREAS)
UPPER FLOORS (HOUSING)
The goal of the programming in this project is to create the main floor as the public area, all public amenities will be on the main floor and so will the courtyard as well. Everything the public circulates will be on the same floor. Above, the upper floors will focus on the residents and their experience above with their own “public spaces” and the apartment housing units.
This site parti diagrams is an overall view of the site with the surrounding building heights, the accessibility of public and bike transit, and finally some key nodes of surrounding context to the site. This creates a good understanding of what is going on, the context of how the skyline is created, and finally, how the site can play with the surrounding transit.
There is a various amount of amenities in the area. The accassiblity to the services are near and high in concentration, especially in Lodo, however closer to Auraria campus, the amount of available amenities begins to deplete. This shows the amount of resources students are being provided is much lower and will have to travel quite a bit by foot to get their needs. Due to this, we decided the site must have some of the most important servies. We decided that a Post office, Grocery Store, and Laundromat were the most important. We added a Library as well since there was no local public libraries in the region.
Straussaecker II, Vaihingen, Germany Daisy Hills Common, Lawrence, KS
FLEXIBLE FIELD FOR CLOUDGAZING TO CONCERTS ENTRY COURTYARD FOR SIX APARTMENTS, FORCES TENANTS TO SEE THEIR NEIGHBORS
WITH
Mission Statement
Our mission is to design an inclusive, sustainable, and vibrant mixed-use housing community in downtown Denver that addresses the needs of graduate students and pink-collar workers. By providing affordable, high-quality living spaces paired with essential amenities such as a public library, coworking spaces, a laundromat, a post office, and healthy food options, we aim to foster a sense of belonging, support personal and professional growth, and contribute to the social and economic fabric of the city. This development prioritizes connectivity, safety, and environmental stewardship, creating a dynamic urban environment where diverse individuals and families can thrive.
PERSONAS
AMENITIES
Given the context between the promient Auraria Campus and Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo), this is a great opportunity to revitalize the parking lot sites into added contributes to the nearby green spaces. The goal of the this site design was to expand the SEMI-OASIS that runs along Cherry Creek. Our buildings represent the GATEWAYS into said SEMI-OASIS from the surrounding concrete jungle.
• Accessible Parking: At least 2% of the total parking spaces should be wheelchair-accessible. If you provide 100 spaces, that means at least 2 accessible spaces.
• Car/Bike Sharing: If using a car-share program, you’ll need space for designated spots, and for a bike-share, plan for secure storage areas.
X: Bike Storage
A: ADA Parking Space
T: Trash + Recycling
S: Service Loading Area
CONTEXT OVREVIEW:
Given the context between the promient Auraria Campus and Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo), this is a great opportunity to revitalize the parking lot sites into added contributes to the nearby green spaces. The goal of the this site design was to expand the SEMI-OASIS that runs along Cherry Creek. Our buildings represent the GATEWAYS into said SEMI-OASIS from the surrounding concrete jungle.
ARCHITECTURAL BASIS OF USE & FORM
• Form Follows Function: The form of the building protects the people who use the buliding and its site from the chaos of the concrete jungle of LoDo and provides safety inside for the courtyard and start of the site.
• Sustainability: cross ventliation, rain gardens, louvres and other shading devices. Materiality as well with CLT and Terracotta.
• Layout: Courtyards to enable informal spaces for local enjoyment to farmers markets.
ARCHITECTURAL MATERIALITY
• Brick: Brick is used as it is common in the LoDo area and makes the buliding enhance the area rather than stick out. Various colors of brick, red and tan, are used in the building to represent opening a geode, the good parts are inside (the courtyard).
• Terracotta: Terracotta louvres are chosen to contribute to material sustainability and provides chosen shading.
• Black trimmed windows: Common to Denver, to continue cohesion with neighboring bulidings.
SUMMARY OF KEY GOALS
• Creating third spaces: Creating spaces where people can congretate, either inside or outside, beyond their home and work is extremely important to create a thriving area. WIth a flexible courtyard, flexible indoor space, a cafe, and a grocery store, these all are places of third spaces where people may meet, socialize, and enjoy time together.
• Gateways to the Semi-Oasis: Contributing to the semi-oasis idea, the buliding itself is positioned in a corner to enable a “gateway” to enter the semi-oasis site from Larimer Street.
• Courtyard purposes: The purpoes of the courtyard is to be used for various activities from as small as a place to enjoy weather and the creek individually to as big as a farmers market or even small concert. This space is set up in a way to allow flexibility with guidance of what could be there. For example: there is 10’ x 10’ squares in the paving to show market stands where they can place their tents to ensure a great layout for the guests to navigate.
• Enable neighborhood feeling amongst the neighbors: Above various efforts are made to enable a neigbhorhood feeling amongst the neigbhors in the floors. Often housing can feel isolating especially when the units are microsize. When an apartment feels empty, it can feel like a ghost town. Creating spaces where neighbors can congretate both outside and inside creates environments that create safety and familiarity between the residents. This can create a happier apartment complex with thriving communiteis that take advantage of the informal spaces.
Zoning District (Assuming C-MX-8):
Max Height: 110 feet (or 8 stories).
Lot Coverage: 75% - 85% of the lot can be developed.
FAR (Floor Area Ratio): 3:1 to 5:1 (depending on bonuses or density).
Bulk Plane (Side/Rear Setbacks):
Bulk Plane Starting Height: 27 feet above the lot line.
Bulk Plane Angle: 45-degree slope inward.
Side Setbacks: Typically 0 feet unless next to residential (then, a 10-foot setback might apply).
Rear Setback: 10 feet if abutting a residential area or alley.
Building Height:
Street-Level Floor Height: Minimum 14 feet for commercial use on the ground floor.
Overall Height: 110 feet (for C-MX-8 zone).
SITE 3
Parking Requirements:
Car Parking: 1 space per residential unit (varies based on location).
Bike Parking: 1 space for every 10 residential units. Setbacks:
Front Setback: 0 - 5 feet (depending on street frontage and pedestrian zones).
Side Setbacks: Usually 0 feet, except when adjacent to residential zones.
Rear Setback: 5 - 10 feet (if adjacent to a residential zone).
Daylight & Views:
Bulk Plane: Designed to minimize shadows on neighboring buildings by stepping back after 27 feet at a 45-degree angle.
• Based on IBC requirements, timber framing is likely Type III or Type V construction. Since timber framing is allowed in mixed-use buildings up to a certain height and area, Type III-B construction might be a good choice. It allows combustible materials like wood but requires fire-retardant treatments and offers flexibility for taller structures.
• Timber Frame Justification: It’s sustainable, cost-effective, and allows for prefabrication, which speeds up construction time. Its use in mid-rise buildings with modern fireproofing also meets code requirements.
Your structural design should be based on typical spans for timber framing. Consider a beam and post system with spans between 20-30 feet. Structural elements include:
o Glulam beams for longer spans.
o Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels for floor systems.
o Posts sized according to span lengths and loads (10”x10” or larger).
The IBC dictates requirements for means of Egress. You’ll need to account for:
o Two exit staircases for residential floors.
o Maximum corridor length per floor, generally up to 250 feet without fire sprinklers and 300 feet with them.
o Minimum corridor widths of 44 inches for R-2 occupancy.
Daylight Zones and Building Section
• Daylighting: Apartments should be designed for optimal natural light. A rule of thumb is that rooms within 15-20 feet of an exterior wall get good daylight.
• Double-loaded corridors: Typically, these corridors are 6-8 feet wide. For a building height of 3-4 stories, a width of 40-60 feet could work well with this corridor scheme.
Katrinebjerg / Dept. 76 Student Housing
Aarhus, Denmark
The form of the Katrinebjerg is what inspires my building. Its backwards L shape with a courtyard and having varying material changes with brick on the exterior to match the surrounding site and concrete on the interior to create its own world.
Hunters View Housing, B5&6
San Francisco, CA
The layout of its courtyard is inspiring as it is on a sloped terrain. Similar to site 3. With the play of concrete heavy with a various amount of gardens and trees surrounding
nArchitect’s MicroApartments
New York City, New York, USA
nArchitect’s Micro
Apartments gives good inspiration for microapartment layouts. With such a small site and a limited height for the building, micro apartments is the move.
Garden House
Los Angeles, California, USA
The Garden House is a good example how to navigate a site with amentiies in the courtyard region.
PROS
• Well distributed lighting throughout units
• Unique, consistent design shrinking at a pattern
• Consistency in the regions for egress
PROS
• Sloped design allows better consistency whilst creating differences between floor plans
• Good opportunity to provide lighting
• Consistency in the egresses
Hallway transition not consistent on every floor
Simple facade design (good or
Setback needs to be fixed
PROS
• Opportunity for an exciting entry facade
• Uniform design for the housing portion
• Properly set back on property with entries to courtyard
CONS
• Not equal amount of sunlight between the different locations
• Pretty flat of a design
• Corners may be awkward to create floor plan
PROS
• Interesting silouttee to allow light in various regions
• Potential for good rooftop patio spaces
• Allows more light into the courtyard
• Entries to the courtyard
CONS
• Inconsistent design of floorplan
• Sharp designs may be awkward to do floorplans for
WHAT ARE THE BIG (GREEN BUILDING) IDEAS BEHIND THIS PROJECT? HOW DO THE SEPARATE PIECES FIT TOGETHER INTO A COHERENT WHOLE?
The goal of this project is to embrace natural daylight, protect in a beautiful manner stormwater run off, and create human centric designs. This is one of two buildings that welcome people from the surrounding “concrete jungle” into the semi-oasis.
DESCRIBE HOW SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES ARE INCORPORATED IN THE OVERALL DESIGN. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND GOALS?
- Increasing porosity throughout the site
- Natural pathways to encourage human-scaled movement
- Rain gardens to harvest the rain to be re-used
- Creating designs that encourage the usage of daylight to enhance the spaces inside
- Louvres to control the sun on the exterior
- Patios beecome sunshading devices
Patios are installed to create outdoor opportunites. 1 2 3 4 5
Floor 2, 3, and 4 turn into stairs to allow equal lighting among units with the patios.
Wave the outer facade to represent the waves of the Cherry Creek.
Create an entry point from alleyway to access courtyard.
Fall Equinox Winter Solstice Summer Solstice
Staired system allows sunlight to evenly distrbute between the different floors. An observation from the northern side is the considerable lack amount of sunlight. Due to this, the circulation hallways will reside on the northern side to ensure residents get even and a good amount of natural sunlight throughout the year.
HOW CAN THE DESIGN SUPPORT OF THE ECOLOGICAL HEALTH OF ITS PLACE OVERTIME?
The design supports the ecological health of the site overtime by creating a semi-oasis that increases the amount of green spaces, allowing more trees to be planted. The design protects parts of the region with preventative designs to lower the amount of stormwater pollution throughout the site.
HOW IS THE PROJECT SUPPORTING HABITAT RESTORATION?
This project is supporting habitat restoration by moving the importance of car parking to the underground and prioritizing people and nature above. A considerable amount of asphalt is removed and only sidewalks scale the site. This creates more breathing room for the nature to thrive as the exhaust of cars can create problems.
HOW DOES THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE RESPOND TO ITS ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT?
The development of the site protects, connects, and creates a place of thrivance for nature in a concrete jungle. The creek is a priority making it accessible helps.
HOW DOES THE DESIGN MANAGE STORM WATER?
Rather than a focus on green roofs on top of the building, focusing on rain gardens can create a beautiful way to collect and reuse the water that is collected from the rain.
HOW IS THE PROJECT INNOVATIVE IN A WAY THAT USES AND TREATS WATER?
Given the semi-arid climate of Denver, conserving water is vital to saving the not-abundant amount of rain the city recieves. Collecting the water through landscaping rain gardens will also slow down the chances of flooding into the Cherry Creek, which most will be beyond the control of the site, but preventing more run off is best.
SAMPLE STRATEGIES
Josey Pavlion, Lake Flato, TX
THORNLESS HONEYLOCUST IN 10 YEARS
The estimated total air quality removal is 84 pounds.
These trees will reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by a total amount of 24,138 pounds.
These trees will conserve a total of 5,877.2 Kilowatt-hours of electricity and reduce consumption of heating fuel by 42.6 therms.
These trees will intercept a total of 64,525 gallons of rainfall and help avoid 15,240 gallons of stormwater runoff.
The estimated total air quality removal is 70 pounds.
These trees will reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by a total amount of 23,211 pounds.
These trees will conserve a total of 9,174.3 Kilowatt-hours of electricity and reduce consumption of heating fuel by (-96.6) therms.
These trees will intercept a total of 40,310 gallons of rainfall and help avoid 9,521 gallons of stormwater runoff.
Cherry Plum Thornless Honeylocust
ASHRAE PASSIVE SYSTEMS COMFORT RANGE (67 = 82 F)
OPTION 1: Sunlight spaced
The facade design is heavily inspired by the Glazed Tiles on Facade of Buliding at Camden Lock. This design creates spacing of the louvers based off of the direction in which the facade occurs. For this design, the gradient of louvers is determined by its proximity to the sun as the buliding itself aligns on an awkward angle and is not exactly on the North - South or East- West axis. The closer to the north side, the louvers become more sparse whilst closer to the SouthWest side it becomes more dense.
Energy and Sustainability (Denver Green Code): Daylighting: At least 50% of occupied spaces must have access to natural light.
MARKET STREET
1: Lobby 2600 sqft
2: Grocery store 4600 sqft
3: Resident Lobby 648 sqft
4: Laundry room 682 sqft
5: Restroom 68 sqft 6: Indoor Public Social Space 2300 sqft
Zoning and Setbacks: Varies by zone, but typical setbacks are 5-15 ft in
LARIMERSTREET
With a circulating design, the dead-end corridors are only spanning in 45’ long, however, they have the opportunity to go outside to the outdoor corridor if needed. The maximum distance travels to the egresses is 90’. Finally, corridors vary in widths of 5-10’ wide.
= 15’ N
3 Egress Staircases, 2 Elevators
6 doors to enter outdoor spaces
11 Apartment Units, 1 ADA Unit
Other Units
1: Study Nook 90 sqft
2: Study Room 150 sqft
3: Study Nook 90 sqft
4: Social Space 2500 sqft
5: Outdoor Patio 450 sqft
6: Study Room 120 sqft
7: Study Room 250 sqft
With a circulating design, the dead-end corridors are only spanning in 38’ long, however, they have the opportunity to go outside to the outdoor corridor if needed. The maximum distance travels to the egresses is 90’. Finally, corridors vary in widths of 5-10’ wide.
With a circulating design, the dead-end corridors are only spanning in 30’ long, however, they have the opportunity to go outside to the outdoor corridor if needed. The maximum distance travels to the egresses is 90’. Finally, corridors vary in widths of 5’ wide.
3 Egress Staircases, 2 Elevators
2 doors to enter outdoor space
1: Lower Lobby 2600 sqft
2: Grocery Store 4600 sqft
Entry/exit ramp: 1:12 ratio
A: ADA Parking
30 parking spaces, 2 ADA accessible
With there being 30 parking spaces, according to the IBC Table 1106.2, 2 minimum spaces for ADA parking is required.
Deliveries and trash occur up on the ground floor.
X
X
Each unti has one ADA alternative design. This design removes the wall between the living room and the bedroom. It creates a wider opening to enable the wheelchair to navigate the rooms easier.
X 41’3”
FLOOR 4: 20’ X 25’ (ADA) FLOOR 3: 20’ X 31’8” (ADA) FLOOR 2: 20’ X 41’3” (ADA)
Between five floors various buliding systems are used. For the structrual integrety of the building, CLT/mass timber is used on floors 2, 3 and 4 whilst concrete is used on floors 0 and 1. The wall is a rainscreen wall with brick cladding throughout the whole buliding. There is also vertical louvers made of terracotta. Finally, storefront windows are used on the 1st floor whilst the upper floors have floor to floor windows spaced out throughout the buildling’s circulation hallways. Mini-splits are used in upper floors to give the ceiling a higher height between the floor-to-floor heights. Floor 0 and 1 are 15’ heights floor to floor whilst the floors 2, 3, and 4 are all 11’11” tall.
Circulation Egress:
• 3 Stairwells
• 2 Elevators
• 5’ - 10’ Wide Corridors
• No Dead-End Corridors
HALLWAY CIRCULATION
EGRESS STAIRCASE
ELEVATORS
Mechanical System:
• Upper floors use MiniSplits
• Mini splits are used in all the apartment units and goes into common spaces too
• Basement and ground floor use VAV systems
CONDENSER / COOLER
BOILER / HEATER
VAV SYSTEM
Type III or V (Wood Frame), with 3 ft Concrete Foundation on Ground Level
Fire rating: 1-2 hours for exterior walls based on occupancy and construction type.
Concrete pillars: 14” x 14”
Concrete flooring: 9” thick
Load-Bearing Wall: 7” thick Continuous
Glulam Beam: 12” x 18” (19 ft span )
Glulam pillars: 12” x 12” ( 20 ft spacing)
CLT Panel Flooring: 5- ply CLT 6” thick
Based on IBC requirements, timber framing is likely Type III or Type V construction. Since timber framing is allowed in mixed-use buildings up to a certain height and area, Type III-B construction might be a good choice. It allows combustible materials like wood but requires fire-retardant treatments and offers flexibility for taller structures: Mass timber is sustainable, cost-effective, and allows for prefabrication, which speeds up construction time. Its use in mid-rise buildings with modern fireproofing also meets code requirements.
Your structural design should be based on typical spans for timber framing. Consider a beam and post system with spans between 20-30 feet. Structural elements include:
o Glulam beams for longer spans.
o Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels for floor systems.
o Posts sized according to span lengths and loads (10”x10” or larger).
Patio spaces / shading devices to minimize the amount of sunlight directly into the units below.
Cold air flows through the unit and filters out warm air through vents above the entry door and exits out the exterior windows.
Louvres protect the outer shell windows from the exposure of constant sun, depending on the location of the wall, louvres become more or less populated.
Rain gardens are positioned next to the buildings to collect and filter the water to lower the amount of run off going into the creek.
Other approaches include:
Using the buliding to protect the courtyard from the sounds of Larimer Street.
Pervious Pavement for the courtyard to reduce runoff from the courtyard that does not reach the rain gardens.
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IBC2021P2
https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/v/9/community-planning-and-development/documents/ds/ building-codes/2022-denver-building-and-fire-code.pdf
https://earth.google.com/web/
https://www.studierendenwerk-stuttgart.de/en/accommodation/dormitories/straussaecker-ii
https://housing.ku.edu/daisy-hill-commons-gallery
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/39.747875/-105.001520&layers=C
https://www.rtd-denver.com/
https://www.archdaily.com/147437/discovery-green-hargreaves-associates
https://www.archdaily.com/883201/zaryadye-park-diller-scofidio-plus-renfro
https://www.wasbar.be/en
https://www.housingworks.org/
https://www.archdaily.com/1005121/katrinebjerg-dept-76-student-housing-adept-plus-luplau-poulsen
https://www.archdaily.com/870040/hunters-view-housing-blocks-5-and-6-paulett-taggart-architects
https://narchitects.com/work/carmel-place/
https://www.archdaily.com/946522/gardenhouse-mad-architects
https://www.lakeflato.com/eco-conservation/dixon-water-foundation-josey-pavilion
https://www.itreetools.org/
https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/denver/climate
https://www.archdaily.com/catalog/us/products/35531/composition-of-glazed-tiles-on-facade-of-building-atcamden-lock-baguette-moeding