Q & A Rethinking the Urban Residential

 

Q1- Besides being located in an urban setting, is there any restriction on the project’s site geographical location (Lebanon or any other specific country or climatic zone)?

Since the project is an idea project, the project can be located in any geographical location as long as the weather data are used.

Q2- Should the design be compliant with the local code requirements, building regulation, cultural needs, etc (i.e. is contextualising the project part of the assessment criteria)?

Since the project is an idea project, and since the proposed site does not show the context of the surrounding, there is no requirement for cultural needs nor contextualising. This is Not part of the assessment criteria.

Similarly, the only building regulations we are taking into account are the ones within the program.

Q3-Since the project is located in Lebanon what urban setting should we consider for the project? (as if it is in Downtown Beirut or in another town, or in an underprivileged context).

You do not need to take any context into account. The surrounding building are blank.

Q4- should we keep the surrounding building blanks in the presentation? Or we need to show the setting that fits best?

You do not need to show the setting, yes keep the surrounding buildings blank.

Q5-Can we mix between the small, medium and large units between the floors?

That’s up to you. There is no requirement to have them in any specific order, yet you need to see how to distribute the services areas accordingly.

Q6- Do we need a private entrance for the rooftop cafe?

This is kept to your discretion. It is not mentioned within the requirement, yet it might be recommended to have a separate private entrance.

Q7- Do we need to locate the mechanical/electrical rooms and storage in the basement? 

No. you are not required to allocated this. Since we have already considered the project as part of a campus, we shall add these into another building.

Q8-The maximum height should not exceed 35m, with the basement or the ground floor?

You can check this on the cad file and in the setting map. The total height is from the lower part of the site.

Q9- The floor area should be 600m2, correct?

It is up to you to have your floor(s) within 600sqm. So this area is the maximum area of a floor.

Q10- Are the balconies areas included with the inside area (600sqm) or can be drawn with the side area that has a 1.5 m drop to the lot back limit? 

You can add up to 20% of your floor area (so if your particular floor is 600sqm you can have balconies of up to 120sqm on that floor. But you will not be able to have another balcony on the above or below floor)

Q11- On which scale do we need the architectural maps to be drawn (1/50,1/100…)?

That’s up to you, as long as they are clear, on the size of the presentation sheets. It would be interesting to add a ruler scale on your maps so that it will always be true.

Q12- Are Each of the different floors containing different functions: Basement, ground floor, Mezzanine: (a)gallery; (b)studio; (c) private lobby

This is kept to your own interpretation, as long as you propose a private lobby for the residents.

Q13-The road in front of the building is part of the project? we should propose a garden, with trees so that it is good to stay there?

True this is part of the project, and you need to propose a comprehensive solution to solve the comfort issue for a yearlong usage.

Q14-What should the comfort temperature be?

Since you are not required to do any energy studies, no need to go into the details of a specific comfort temperature. You need to explain how your proposal will provide this comfort.

Q15-Just to be sure, so if we don’t do energy simulation/calculation, and we don’t use software for solar radiation we will show all these in the day/night and summer winter sketched?

True. These sketches are major part on how you are explaining your proposal.

Q16- Can We put PV cells or wind turbine?

Active systems are not intrinsic part of the competition we are not expecting them to be included.

Q17- We were planning to use ladybug to show the solar radiation reaching the project, but you mention this is not required. We should dismiss it?

True, you are not required to use any software and show any simulation (energy nor solar). We are looking to see solar sketches from the sunpath diagram on the day/night summer/winter sketches.

Q18-If we are not showing energy calculation how can we show how energy efficient our building is?

This will be explained in your text, and more importantly in the day/night summer/winter sketches

Q19- Just to be sure, we are university students and are not familiar with energy software, is that ok?

Sure. We do not want to check software outputs. We want you to focus on your explanatory text, and your day/night summer/winter sketches.

Q20- you mention 3 sheets for the final presentation but there are four sheets how come?

The jury will only consider three sheets. The fourth is to be used as the cover for your project.

Q21- What do you mean by the perspective on sheet zero is not counting in the evaluation? So can we not submit it?

No, you need to submit the four sheets. The perspective is used for the cover of your submission file, and most likely these will be used to promote your (winning) entries.

Q22- can we put some reference in our explanatory text? Is this allowed

Yes this is allowed, and actually recommended if you can give references to what you are claiming.

Q23- Currently the submission documents include 4 A3s with a recommended content per page. Can we shuffle the recommend pages content to structure the project’s story? I.e. not having a defined page for environmental strategies but instead integrating the latter within the architectural drawings pages.

Yes you can, this is up to you. Yet do keep the cover page (number 0) for the perspective only.

Q24- Is there any chance you might share with us the .epw weather file you’ve extracted your weather data from? I would like to analyze more metrics than the ones provided. 

No. As long as software simulation are not required, we are not sharing any other weather data files.

Q25- Energy savings, yearly project’s energy consumption, construction/ demolition related energy consumption and embedded material energy are expected to be approached quantitatively or qualitatively as part of the judgement criteria? I.e. the yearly project’s energy consumption should be expressed as an estimate in KWh or a quantitative approach is not required.

As no energy calculation nor simulation are required, similarly you are not required to give any estimated quantitative energy values. We are looking for architectural proposals (within your project) along with your concise explanation (textual and graphical) why you think what you are proposing will work.

Q26 Even though not required, will energy simulation or any other software simulation be seen as an added value or they will be considered out of context as they are not a requirement as per the competition brief? Similarly, this question applies for active systems design.

No it will not be seen as an added value. It will be considered as an out of context.

Q27 Is there any limitations on the project’s budget? Or any other project constraints.

No, since the project is an idea project with no intentions to be built, we are not looking for any budget consideration. As far as we are concerned, there are no constraints.

Q28- Is it possible to build underground mechanical systems in the Intervention zone?

You can use the 600sqm area underground for whatever you want for your building. You can use the below street zone for whatever you might consider useful for your street intervention.