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Design Charrettes and models

November 28, 2012 by Bob Borson 15 Comments

We just started a new project in Highland Village, a city in Denton County and a suburb to the North of Dallas just along Lake Lewisville. This is going to be an exciting project for many reasons but one of the initial design considerations we will get to work with will be the site’s rolling topography. To kick things off, we brought in the staff, passed out topographic surveys and projects requirements, and had a good old-fashioned design charrette.

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Design Charette with Bernbaum Magadini Architects staff

In design charrettes, the purpose is to get participation from several team members so that a myriad of concepts and issues can be discussed and reviewed. Topics discussed can range from how the site should be accessed, how to best take advantage of the land and its surrounding views , down to more ethereal topics like how to create the desired emotional response from approaching and physically entering the house. Usually that only things that are limited during these discussions are the amount of time we have to spend on them … that or until we run out of beer.

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Topographic model created using a 3d printer

As an added visual tool to aid us during our design charrette, we created a physical model using a 3D printer. These printers can do amazing things – and the more detailed the digital information that goes into the printer, the more detailed the final product. In our case, we just wanted to get a better understanding of how the elevation changed on the site. While our 3D model did that, we didn’t feel that the magnitude of the change was sufficiently conveyed in such a small model.

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So we went bigger …

topographic model using cardboard

topographic model using cardboard

This cardboard model is at 1/8″ = 1′-0″ scale and measures approximately 45″ long x 24″ wide and hopefully you can see why putting in the effort to create such a model can be so important. While we have visited the site and walked the property, tools like models and drawings can help create a bigger picture that will ultimately yield a greater understanding of the whole site. The property itself is just under 1.5 acres and covered with trees so creating models like these allow everyone to get a proper sense of what we have to work with and take advantage of – they are valuable tools in a design charrette.

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