INT 322 SMB

          What stood out first was how differently a wall can be framed depending on what it needs to do structurally . Stud walls, built from wood or light-gauge steel studs spaced 12", 16", or 24" on center, are the system I was already familiar with. Concrete and masonry bearing walls are a different story entirely, since they carry structural load, which makes something as simple as running electrical wiring or plumbing through the wall a real design problem instead of an afterthought. Structural frame walls solve this a third way, using a column-and-beam skeleton that gets infilled with stud walls or structural insulated panels. It made me realize that how a wall is framed isn't just a construction detail, it changes what a designer is even allowed to do with that wall later. The vapor barrier diagram from the slides was the piece that finally made the moisture side of things click for me. Warm, moist air from inside a building moves toward the col...

               During the reading of Tucker, Chapter 3, and the PowerPoint, I noticed how much more there is to structural systems than just making sure a building stays standing. The reading gave me a better understanding of why interior designers need to know how a building is structured even though we are not the ones designing the structural system. It made me think more about how the structure affects the spaces we design . The main purpose of the structural system is to carry the loads of the building and transfer them to the foundation and eventually to the ground. In Tuckers Chapter three, he went over the three main structural systems we most commonly see. Bearing walls, these carry the load all the way to the foundation. You cannot get rid of a bearing wall without damaging the structure, Stud walls . These are the walls that only hold themselves up and help divide spaces. Lastly, structural frames are columns or beams used to ...

     During the reading I noticed how much detail actually went into the site and enclosure decisions, way more than I expected from just seeing and walking around  the building. It gave me a much better understanding of how the concepts from the presentation actually play out in a real project instead of just being listed as bullet points.      Something I found interesting was how much the site itself shaped the design of the enclosure. The architects moved a 70 stall parking lot out of the middle of campus so the building could sit within a shared quad along with the chapel and library, which lines up directly with what the PowerPoint talked about regarding site placement and its impact on the building. The south of the building  was specifically oriented to take advantage of solar gain for both daylighting and the photovoltaic system, so the site consideration wasn't just about where the building sits, it directly influenced how the enclo...

When we talk about designing a building today, it's not enough to just make it look good. There's a whole web of ethical, moral, and legal responsibility that comes along with the job. Interior designers are part of a much bigger conversation about how buildings interact with the planet and the people who actually use them. That means understanding where our role fits in alongside architects, engineers, contractors, and specialists, and realizing that sustainable design isn't really you can accom plish yourself,   it's a coordinated, integrated process from day one. W hat does sustainability actually mean? There isn't just one theory, there's a whole landscape of them. The Natural Step challenges us to stop increasing concentrations of harmful substances and stop degrading nature's capacity to meet people's basic needs. Ecological Design, championed through Christopher Alexander's pattern language and William McDonough's Hannover Princ...