Skyscraper project help!

addy17 · #1 Posted **Mar 29, 2009, 7:06 PM**

I'm new here, i don't know if i post this in the right section.
My name is Adi, i'm from Romania, i signed up for a physics contest in my country. I decided that my project theme will be skyscrapers and i think it would be very interesting if i would actually design a skyscraper. I want to make a very very good project and that is why i ask for your help, i would like to know what are the main things i have to consider and the steps i have to follow to achieve a realistic and correct design. I would also like some suggestions on how to make my skyscraper as "green" as i can (things like unconventional energy systems). Please give me a hand and help me with my project!

PS: I would also like to know what is the best 3d design program that i could use!

huggkruka · #2 Posted **Mar 29, 2009, 7:58 PM**

I'm not going to do research for you

But I can really recommend Sketchup. Easy to learn and use, and excellent for architecture. Get Kerkythea for rendering.

addy17 · #3 Posted **Mar 29, 2009, 8:09 PM**

You didn't understood me well. I don't want anyone to do research for me, i want just a few tips on what to start with!

Nowhereman1280 · #4 Posted **Mar 29, 2009, 8:25 PM**

^^^ Architecture is part art, part engineering, and part sociology (knowing how humans think and what they want). I suggest you start by researching a basic history of Modern architecture and the ideas behind it to give you some direction with art part. You obviously already have some interest in physics if you are entering a physics competition so the engineering part might be easiest for you. I'm not as well educated there, but perhaps start by deciding what kind of structural system you want (Skeleton, Tube, core and outrigger, etc.) and what materials you think will be best (steel, reenforced concrete, etc.) then read up on those materials and how they are used in highrises. The sociological aspect is probably the hardest, nobody really seems to know exactly what society and individuals will like until they've tried it, but there are some urban planning techniques that will always be true. For example, no one likes a building that has blank walls at street level and repels you from entering. You should read up on some basic urban planning for that point.

Is that more of what you were looking for?

M.K. · #5 Posted **Mar 29, 2009, 9:44 PM**

Oh guy, take a ride in this thread http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...145254&page=61 and in some of fantasies diagrams here, my suggestion, but architecture is a very very long story.

Tom Servo · #6 Posted **Mar 30, 2009, 9:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by addy17

PS: I would also like to know what is the best 3d design program that i could use!

3ds max. the best software for architecture. the rendering engine is really great. modeling is fast and simple. really great organization. object editing is also really nice. in my opinion max is king, and is what's used in a whole lot of firms.

i hear rhino-ceros is nice and produces an amazing looking product. i hear it has a high learning curve also. anyway, a nurbs software is better suited for industrial design or something like that... i see rhino as more of maya type software.

fuck sketchup. it is terrible and looks like vomit. it's free, big deal.

autocad and revit also do 3d, although it's a waste of time. well, revit is great for a certain type of modeling, but not what i think you're looking for.

use max

Quote:

Originally Posted by addy17

I want to make a very very good project and that is why i ask for your help, i would like to know what are the main things i have to consider and the steps i have to follow to achieve a realistic and correct design.

well, since this project is in your head. your program is whatever you want it to be. (and to what level of reality to you want to go?) the first step is to come up with a program for you building. the design of a building begins as a diagram of data. determine how much space you want to create. what is in this building? invent some uses... office space is always pretty easy to develop because it's very flexible. 30,000 m² is a healthy amount of office space. if you want to go higher and have some variance of program, give it 40,000 m² of living space. start to think about area, organiztion, and orientation. do you want to have a vertical stacking of space? do you want to divide and separate spaces to create open areas, vistas, public realms? create a diagramatic layout first. like this:

since this is a basic, academic design, omit details such as parking requirements, zoning/building codes, circulation (stair and elevators), and so on. once you've created a diagrammatic layout (which will basically be two boxes on top of each other) develop a floor plan. take your site, let's say... 30m x 60m and decide how big each floor should be. let's say your building has a 10m setback. so your building will exist within a 30m x 50m area. and let's make each floor of office space the same. 20 floors of 30m x 50m. the floor plans will repeat for all 20 floors. so draw one 30x50 area and overlay a grid that has a line every 5m and put a bold line every 10m (use this grid also for the living space floor plans). starting at the corners, place a column at every 10m (sorry, i don't use the metric system very often, so i'm converting and rounding off the numbers) so you have a 3x5 perimeter column grid. make each column a .6m square. block out a 3m x 6m area in the center (this is where circulation and mechanic and such would go). this is your typical office space floor-plan; you have 20 floors just like this. now do the same for the living space, but make each floor 20m x 50m (don't center that 3x6 blocked out area, it doesn't move, so however the two sections stack, it is constant throughout) now the living section could be more complex, i don't know how you want to handle it, but for now, do the same thing. 40 floors at 1000m². i just realized how hard it is to talk through a design process.

this is a start to a very simple building. details will come later. for now, get the space laid out and then stack it.

if you what aspects of green... make a separation of 10m between the bottom (office space) and the top (living space). between the two place a garden level. this garden should be 30m x 60m. place a second atop the entire building.
also, the building's facade should be aluminum, anodized white.
those are two basic but effective things.

what is this physics contest about? is it about structures?

...or you always do what everyone else does on this forum, just go into sketch-up and apply some facades on cubes and really cool looking skyscraper shapes. yeah!

addy17 · #7 Posted **Mar 30, 2009, 2:40 PM**

The contest is held in the honor of a great physician of my country and the themes can be anything related to physics! I choose skyscrapers because i want to be a structure engineer some day, and this is the reason i want to find out as much as i can about skyscrapers!!

These are some photos of my work until now in google sketch-up, i figured out some basic aspects about this building, what i'm trying to do is to learn more to make my project really special.

Today i start using 3DS MAX!

Tom Servo · #8 Posted **Mar 30, 2009, 6:53 PM**

that has nothing to do with architecture. that's just some extruded circles.

photoLith · #9 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 12:15 AM**

dont bring him down like that. Hes probably new to sketchup. Shit, it took me like 5 months to get the hang of it.

Heres a good thing to do if you want to learn sketchup. We have a good section for that on here. Youtube is a great source for sketchup help too. Also, study good architecture design. Maybe post modernism. Or research old architectural styles, like art deco, italianate structures, and so on.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/forumdisplay.php?f=159