vanessas-7b

welcome to my page. (:

Lately in CAD Architect, I've been working on a Bungalow. I've made the house the required dimensions, with a kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom, and closets. I placed the walls, windows, cabinets, and everything else you can see in this view, by following the steps that the CAD Architect book instructed me to do. I did, however, add my own touches as well. This is the view of my kitchen, which I have customized. I was as creative I could be for this stage in the book. Going by the book, I could not yet add furniture such as a table and chairs. I did, however, add a bit of flair on my own. I changed the colors of the walls to a pale baby blue. I also added light appliances, so that my kitchen would appear clean cut and fresh. I contrasted the lightness of the room with dark cabinetry, and dark flooring, which I believe I will change in my next section. One problem I faced was that I had a difficult time adjusting the corner soffit above the corner wall cabinet. At first, it wasn't angled like it is now, instead it was a corner. I honestly had no clue as how to solve this problem and make it a corner soffit, so I first looked back in the book to see if it had explained how to do this, which I did not find. I took the next step in asking my classmates, which didn't seem to know either. Finally, I asked Mr. Bailey, who instructed me to press in the very corner of the room while having the soffit button selected. This solved my problem and created a corner soffit. I have learned quite a bit from this unit. One thing is that I didn't know what a soffit was! From this course, I learned what it is and what it's used for; it adds a clean cut look instead of having empty space above the cabinets. THis can help me because when I finally build a house, I can keep it in mind to add a soffit above my cabinets!

In CAD, I've been working hard on designing the outside of my house, and making porches and decks, as well as a staircase! We had to learn the specific way to drag the stairs to make them land in the right places. Also, the book showed us how to edit the steepness of the stairs and number of steps so that it fits where the landing is perfectly. Also, we were shown which materials to use to make the porch and deck, how to create the railing, and how to put steps leading to ground level. I was creative by customizing the woods, and the shingles, to create a pleasant appearance. I matched the railings to the outside of the windows, and to the dark portions of the shingles. The deck and porch was customized to match the lighter shingles, and the flooring inside the house. The part the posed difficulty for me was the soffits under the porch and deck that supports them. I tried shifting them to not poke up through the deck, but it didn't work. I asked Mr. Bailey to explain what I was doing wrong, an he showed me that the reason it wasn't working is because the snap grid was still toggled. This solved my problem, and now the soffits (which i made out of wood) fit seamlessly in with the deck and the porch. I learned, from this unit, how to create a staircase, which will help me a great deal when it's time to create my own house!

Lately in CAD Architect, we have been working on creating shadows. This adds a realistic looking effect to the house and landscape, and gives it more depth. I followed the instructions in the CAD instruction book to make the shadows, which turned out to be relatively simple and took very little time. I had trouble with finding out how to turn on the final view. I tried and tried to find the button that would do this, but couldn't figure it out. Finally, I asked Mr. Bailey, and he cleared everything up, so I now know how to turn on the final view. I believe I was creative in taking this picture, because I chose the best angle to show my terrain, and the best time of day, so that my shadow would be most visible and prominent.



In CAD Architect, we have now finished our houses. I have taken pictures of the final product of the layout, as well as the terrain. Then I was instructed by the book to take black and white images, the ones above, and put them on layout sheets. We had to create uniform labels on page zero, so that they would show up on each sheet. I also took pictures from every angle of the house. I learned about how to switch dimensions on and off, and get a black and white view. I had trouble with the printing of these layout sheets, but once again, I asked Mr. Bailey for help and he showed me everything I needed to do. I was creative in designing my own labels to be placed on the corners of each page.



Recently in CAD, we have been working on terrain contour. We followed the instruction book to create a terrain that is hilly, and also to adjust the height of the piers based on the slope of the land. This assignment was a bit difficult for me, because in my opinion, the instructions were too vague for me to understand them. At one point, I didn't know where to put my initial point to start contouring the terrain. I asked my friend but she didn't know either, so we asked Mr. Bailey, who showed us what to do. This project helped me not only to figure out how to contour terrain, but also to adjust the piers to go all the way to the ground, even on uneven land. Each one is a different length, but they support the deck just as well as they would on flat land. This could help me in the future, not only in my future CAD projects, but also when I build my first house. In this project, due to a limited time frame, I did not have the time to be extremely creative with the design of the house. I tried though, and chose the color of my siding and location of my deck.

Lately in CAD Architect, we have been learning how to create a logo for our "company." We were told the basic instructions to put text on a layout, and were told to experiment with the different features of CAD to come up with our own design. I had almost no trouble with this, except on a few instances of trial and error that came with experimenting with the program. This project will help me a lot in the future. I plan on owning my own residential architecture firm, and so knowing how to construct a logo will be a useful tool with that. I used some creativity in this assignment by making the font different, and adding some color. I put a cloud around the writing, and underlined it, as you can see in the photo. Of course, in a real logo, it would be more professional, but for this assignment, I decided to have a bit of fun with designing it.

In CAD, we've been working on a project about green housing. We researched ways to make a normal home more energy efficient. We created our own houses with energy efficient aspects.

In the first picture, I used a building that was already there previously, leaving the terrain as it was before, and keeping the trees that were on the site. These three changes are credited under sustainable sites.

For water efficiency, as seen in the third row right picture, I use low flow toilets and recycled water. As seen in the second row right picture, I use purified, recycled rainwater for the pool water. I also installed a well to use ground water.

I made three adjustments to my house to credit towards energy and atmosphere. As you can see in several of the pictures, I have installed many double paned windows to better insulate the house, as well as energy saving window treatments, as seen in the third row left picture. Also, in the last picture, there are solar panel windows. They are a very new development. The windows are covered with clear panels that absorb and use the sun's energy.

For materials and resources, as seen in the second row left picture, i used recycled shingles. In the second row right picture, I lined the pool with rocks that were already at the site. I also added recycling bins for various materials, as seen in the fourth row right picture.

Lastly, I made three adjustments for indoor air quality. I used low fume interior paint, to minimize the harmful odors. I installed, as you can see in the last picture, an air circulator, that brings fresh air into the house. I also used a low odor adhesive to glue down the wood floors, to maximize the safety of the air.

Recently in CAD, we're deciding the most efficient form of housing, choosing from one story, cape, two story, and split level. I chose to write about my one story house. There are many advantages for a one story house.

As far as maintenance, this house is by far the easiest. It has low pitched roofs, and very short walls because it's only one story. This makes for extremely easy maintenance, where they don't require long ladders or other special equipment.

For cost, it isn't the most efficient, but it is relatively low since there aren't as many floors to build, so construction costs are relatively low. Although the cost is low, it is higher compared to houses of different designs of the same square footage.

The ranch is the optimal form for accessibility. There are no stairs to have to deal with, since it is all one level. If you want your house to be the most accessible, the ranch is definitely the one to choose.