Using sketch up to build a building
Urban Planning: Using sketch up to build a building
The Collier Street Parking Garage, located at 31-41 Hawley Street in Downtown Binghamton, was declared structurally unsound and has been demolished. You are hip, young urban designer looking to make a name for yourself.
Using the free version of Sketchup, prepare a 3D design for a new building to be located at the site. The pressure is on because the office of the Director of Planning for Broome County overlooks the site, and he is very demanding! Your new design must, fit on the footprint of the site and be:
- ▪ Compatible with adjacent and nearby buildings. Compatibility includes building height, exterior materials, orientation of entrances, massing, windows and other architectural details, and
- ▪ A 3D model, visible from a full 360-degree orientation, and
- ▪ A completed design with windows and doors and appropriate exterior materials/color, and
- ▪ Of your own designYou are not designing the interior of the building. There is no need to provide parking. There is a Sketchup model of the area uploaded to Blackboard that you must use for your design.Steps:
Using sketch up to build a building: Urban Planning
1. Visit the site to get inspiration for your design (we’ll go there on the walking tour)
2. Either visit www.sketchup.com and sign up for a free license. This is the browser-based version of the program with nothing to download; or visit https://www.sketchup.com/download/all and download Sketchup Make 2017. You can get use the Pro Version for free, but the trial period will run out on you.
3. Download the downtown model on Blackboard
4. The downtown model is bounded by four streets: Hawley, State, Court and Collier St.
5. Delete the ‘Build Here’s label from the model
6. Build your new building on the purple lot
7. Unlike the group project, this is about design, aesthetics, and compatibility not the use of the site
8. Prepare a brief (approximately one-page) narrative that describes your design decisions.
Forexample, “I chose a stone and brick exterior because this was the predominate building material in the area.”I encourage you to use proper planning and design principles such as New Urbanism and/or reference one of the “10 Buildings that Changed America”.
To get all 4 points, I will look for the following things in your design:▪ Is your project polished and professional looking?
▪ Is your design at the appropriate scale, for example how tall are the doors and windows?▪ Is your design of a size and massing which fits the neighborhood?
▪ How would pedestrians feel about your building?
▪ Does your design maintain the streetwall?
Using sketch up to build a building
Art and Design