Introduction to National Building Code and Steps in a Construction project

1) Why are building codes or standards essential for the modeling/ efficiency of drawings in Revit ?

Building codes essential for the modeling/efficiency of drawings in Revit

• Building codes address many of a society's most important concerns, including public health and safety, and environmental protection
• Building codes are used, when we are constructing a building, it gives the standard codes, that prevents from the earthquakes. By using the building codes, we can construct the building with the high quality design of the buildings.
• Because they are developed by a democratic and deliberative process that applies improvements incrementally, the building codes also address cost efficiency and investment value.
• In large part, building codes establish a building's quality, safety and energy performance for years to come, because initial design and construction decisions determine operational and maintenance costs for the life of the building
• Building equipment and other components may be replaceable and upgradeable, but many aspects of building performance are designed in at the beginning, and are too expensive and difficult to change.
• Foundations and other parts of the building envelope are typically in place for 50 years or more.
• Building codes and design and construction decisions affect us every day.
• Some requirements such as fire safety codes and structural and seismic standards affect us in obvious ways. .
• Others, such as lighting quality, acoustics and the air we breathe also have major effects on our health and productivity
• Building codes are used, when we are constructing a building, it gives the standard codes, that prevents from the earthquakes and any other valcanos.
• It saves the human lives by using the building codes, we can construct the building with the high quality design of the buildings

2) From the National Building Code list the groups that will be essential to you when you begin modeling in Autodesk Revit.

3) List the five major steps that occur in project cycle . The steps should include from conceptualization of project to maintenance and final stage.

1. Initiation

• The project initiation phase is very important
• The initiation lays the foundation for all future steps all the way to the project's closure.
• In this stage, you and your team will identify the key issues the new project will strive to solve.
• You will determine how feasible this project is and whether it actually makes sense to go ahead with its execution.

2. Planning

• Once the initiation stage is over, your project will enter the planning stage.
• As its name implies, this phase is everything to do with the planning and preparation of the project.
• Plan everything correctly, and your project is guaranteed to be a success:

3. Executions

• In this stage, your project finally comes to life.
• During the execution, you'll implement your plan and begin to take all the steps necessary to carry out the project.
• This is the longest and most important phase of your project, in which all of the action happens.
• By the end of this stage, you will see the physical manifestation of the pre-execution brainstorming and planning. in the execution, the building blocks are actually laid down, and brick by brick, your project building is formed.

4. Monitoring and control

• Monitoring and control are sometimes combined with execution because they often occur at the same time.
• As teams execute their project plan, they must constantly monitor their own progress.

5. Final Stage

• Tears close a project when they deliver the finished project to the customer, communicating completion to stakeholders and releasing resources to other projects
• This vital step in the project lifecycle allows the team to evaluate and document the project and move on the next one, using previous project mistakes and successes to build stronger processes and more successful teams

4) Give examples of different disciplines involved in construction of a project

The different disciplines involved in construction of a project are as follows

• Architect
• Civil engineer
• Structural engineer
• Geotechnical engineer
• Electrical engineer
• Plumbing engineer
• Fire protection engineer
• Heating, Ventilation and air conditioning engineer
• Lift, Escalator and moving walk specialist
• Acoustics specialist,
• Information/communication technology engineer
• Health, safety and environment specialist
• Element sustainability specialist
• Town planner
• Urban designer
• Landscape architect
• Security system specialist
• Interior designer
• Quantity surveyor
• Project/construction manager
• Accessibility and universal design specialist. Asset/faculty manager
• Other subject specialists

5) How are buildings classified ? Place the following buildings under each category
             a. Four unit apartments
             b. School with capacity of 1000 students
             c. A single unit shop.
             d. Multi story Shopping complex
             e. Steel machine factory

The buildings are classified as

• Residential buildings
• Educational buildings
• Institutional buildings
• Assembly buildings
• Business buildings
• Mercantile buildings
• Industrial buildings
• Storage buildings
• Hazardous buildings

The buildings are placed under each category in the tabular form shown below.

6) Distinguish the roles of Design team and Management team

7) Refer to NBC, Identify the modeling requirements for the project ( from week 4).
            a. Height Limitations
            b. Area Limitations
            c. Room sizing
            d. Wall height
            e. Thickness based on fire life and safety
            f. Passageway requirements

According to NBC.

 Height limitations:

• The height of building shall not exceed 15 m.
• For buildings up to the height of 15 m, there is no need to provide lifts.
• Housing for the low-income group shall preferably be up to a maximum of two storeys.
• Buildings for housing beyond 15 m in height should be resorted to in exceptional circumstances and it should be governed by provisions laid down in this Code.

 Area limitations:

• The minimum plot size with ground coverage not exceeding 75 percent, shall not be less than 40 m2 in small and medium town and not less than 30 m2 in metropolitan cities.
• Plot sizes below 30 m2 but not less than 15 m2 may be permitted in case of cluster planning, however, in such cases the ground coverage and FAR shall be 100 percent and 2, respectively.

 Room Sizing

• The area of habitable room shall not be less than 9.5 m2, where there is only one room with a minimum width of 2.4 m. Where there are two rooms, one of these shall not be less than 9.5m2 and the other not less than 7.5 m2, with a minimum width of 21 m.

Wall height:

• The minimum height of rooms/spaces shall be asfollows

i) Habitable room: 2.6 m

ii) Kitchen 2.6 m

iii) Bath/water-closet: 2.1m

iv) Corridor: 2.1m

• In the case of sloping roofs, the average height of roof for habitable rooms shall be 2.6 m and the minimum height at eaves shall be 2.0 m

Thickness based on fire life and safety:

 Passageway requirements

• Passageways shall be of width not less than the calculated aggregate width of exit doorways leading from them in the direction of travel to the exit (see Table 4 and Table 5).
• In the case of buildings where there is a central corridor, which is part of exit access, the doors of rooms (except for rooms having assembly occupancy) shall open inwards to permit smooth flow of traffic in the corridor.

8) We have identified requirements for modeling from question 7, Use these numbers from code book and verify the numbers used in modeling the unit from week 2 to week 4. If the numbers are not reasonable, use the numbers obtained from the code book to create a revision of the mode.

This model resembles the actual modeling requirements for Project 1 of course work

• The model from week 2 to week 4 has been designed as per the NBC requirements, as shown below