The Impact of Architects and Industrial Designers on The Building Process – Cost Planning Essay
The following objects is to identify the cost ‘strategy’ which the Architects or Industrial designers, have an opportunity and an obligation to confront these issues. Architects and industrial designers can have a huge impact, not only in the design of the building (impaction to the residents, developer and environment), but also in the design process (impaction to the cost and regulatory requirements). According to Ferry, Brandon and Ferry (1999:26), the purpose of cost planning is not only to obtain minimum standard, but to budget correctly and spent effectively.
These programs of cost strategies should comprise the cost planning, the selection of materials incorporates with the innovative technologies and the planning of the design process. A careful study of these needs which will be examine later and thereby indicate the balance between constraints and opportunity of building that can be achieved within a given cost limit. (Article 1) mentioned that affordable housing is often associated with ugly, high-rise project isolated from surrounding neighborhoods. However, despite of achieving low-cost targets, as architecture of public housing, it would also need to concern about comfortable, efficient, dignified and humane.
Despite of initial capital cost, buildings need to be maintained, repaired and so on which will continue to cost money and inevitably, from time to time it might even consume unexpected rise of expenditure. In this case study, ‘whole-life costing’ will be used to describe a form of modeling technique to cope with this mixture of capital and running costs. The advantages of the whole-life method, especially when dealing with low-cost in relation to affordable housing enable us to consider the long-term implication of a decision, and to provide a way of showing the cost consequences of short-sighted economies. Nevertheless, Ferry, Brandon and Ferry (1999:64) argues that it could bring disadvantages as the future cannot be forecast or just only a pure guess especially the cost of maintenance. Nevertheless, there are two fields where whole-life costing techniques could work very well in this task. That is;
1. In dealing with shorter-life assets, such as building materials and electrical equipment, where foreseeable energy consumption, maintenance and renewal programs generate much of the future costs.
2. Where both the present and future costs are equally real, that is the maintenance program for a major installation where the money is coming from the same organisations can be planned accordingly.
To sum up, the forecasting of running costs of a building will often be useful when dealing on a relatively short-term basis with energy-consuming systems and building maintenance program.
The initial costs and operating costs (maintenance costs) are required to determine in order to achieve cost efficiency, hence cheap and reliable materials such as green materials are needed. Spiegel and Meadows (1999:15) states that ‘Green building materials can help recapture lost profits by mitigating potential liabilities and by reducing waste’. In addition to mitigating economic losses, using green building material could responds to a growing market demand for organic, nontoxic, earth-friendly products across the board. Moreover, base on this (articles 2) Architects should pursue the use of green roofs, daylighting and recycled materials. Obviously, inefficiency of water and energy will produce waste. Waste costs money and exists at every stage of a product’s transition from a raw material through manufacturing, transportation, and use. In order to cut the waste and reclaimed lost profits, recycle materials would not only cut down the initials costs but also earn high marks for resource management such as recycle wood that could stop deforestation. Further more, Spiegel and Meadows (1999:31) state that the recycled materials performed just as well and were cheaper than processing virgin materials, so why not using green materials?
Chemicals commonly found in many building products. Those with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) would suffer headaches, asthmatic attacks or even lift-threatening. More or less, this would cause the organisations especially ARAFMI to pay extra medical bills which would reduce the operational efficiency. Therefore, using green building products especially fabricated from nontoxic and natural can improve indoor air quality (IAQ) contaminants. Innovative technologies today such as low watt florescent light, multistage dish washers, and low flow fixtures could also help mitigate economic losses due to waste. Indeed, Energy efficiency and water conservation will be improved. To conclude, operational savings can accrue not only from energy efficiency and maintenance procedures, but also from substantial increases in worker productivity.
Despite of using green materials, this project could integrate shelters with social services and high-quality design. (Article 3) mention that the best way is to create a space called “supportive housing”. That is, by creating a single-room-occupancy (SRO) which could pull all the on-site services and facilities together under one roof. This method not only could create a community-friendly environment (collocating 10 organisations together), but also providing a better operational efficiency (less building materials and easily organized). In order to create a room, (SRO) that could meet every functional requirements, some suggestion such as translucent partitions and sliding doors could maximize the space and natural light within the space. Some affordable housing architects also believe that flexibility of space is essential regardless of zoning. Organizations such as Youth Advocacy centre, Brisbane Youth Service Inc. and PRESCARE require higher social interaction and capability to adjust and changing community needs. These organizations could provide on-site services and facilities at the community services building. Such on-site services include healthcare and job counseling that could teach life skills and link residents with job and education opportunities. Other facilities should also be provided for disabled such as ramps and ergonomic products.
One of the (articles 4) state that affordable housing should incorporate new dwellings into larger mixed-used developments, that is featuring rental units and commercial space such as natural foods grocery store and child care center into one building. Developers gain benefits for their tax credits applied to the building site and thereby reducing rents and allowing more to be spent on construction. Residents not only could meet the needs of low-income issues, but also have this opportunity to interact with the whole communities and access to social and retails services. With a rise in sustainable building, green materials, many housing advocates believe that green creates better living environments that improve the long-term performance of affordable developments. To summary, the mixed-used development is not only to bring a healthier and better located housing to the disadvantage people and environment but also benefits for developers and funding organizations alike.
For instance, Spiegel and Meadows (1999:13) state that by simply locating deciduous plants on the south and west façade could shade the building during summer and allow sunshine in winter due to natural leaves fall. Spiegel and Meadows (1999:13) also state that with the selection of indigenous plant material rather than decorative hothouse species could reduce municipal water requirements because native plants are appropriate to the climate. It is easy to maintain and doesn’t need extra water and care. This could not only enhance the cost effectiveness (less labor required to create the service) and the process efficiency (as native plants could adapt with the native environment easily), but also create products and processes that are environmentally beneficial to the human environment.
According to Ferry, Brandon and Ferry (1999:139), the building shape has its major impact on the areas and sizes such as walls, window, and so on. These impacts would also directly proportional to cost-effectiveness. According to Ferry, Brandon and Ferry (1999:143), tall buildings minimize land costs in relation to floor area, but they are invariably more expensive to build than low-rise buildings. For instance, tall buildings require a high standard of fire-resistant construction and practicable escape arrangements. Furthermore, many of the above factors will also influence the running and maintenance costs such items as window cleaning, repainting and repairs to the façade will all be much more costly then similar work to a low-rise structure. Therefore, low-rise buildings would be the most cost advantage incorporate with the given constraints of the site. According to Ferry, Brandon and Ferry (1999:144), three-storey building could not only attain the low costs possible (three-storey maximum might not necessary require lift supports and minimize land costs in relation to floor area), but could also save an enormous sum of materials (one roof will be serving two or three times the floor area and the walls or frame will be capable of carrying the extra load with little or no alteration. With affordable housing design, organization such as DVCONNECT and Smith Family could provide a save emergency accommodation and better supports for children and families living in financial disadvantage.
List of References
Ferry, D., Brandon, P. and Ferry, J. (1999) Cost Planning of Buildings, Victoria: Blackwell Science.
Spiegel, R. and Meadows, D. (1999) Green Building Materials: A Guide To Product Selection and Specification, Canada: John Wiley & Sons.
(para 1)Architecture, April 2004 v93 i4 p89(1)
Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset. (Exhibition)(Brief Article) Deborah K. Dietsch.
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(para 2&3) Architecture, April 2004 v93 i4 p30(2)
Give them shelter: for pioneering affordable-housing advocate Rosanne Haggerty, good design is hardly an extravagance. In fact, it pays for itself. (Practice) Anna Holtzman.
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(para 4) Architecture, April 2005 v94 i4 p29(2)
Changing the formula: mixed-use developments with affordable housing components are becoming more popular–to the benefit of everyone involved. Katie Gerfen.
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