How to model buildings with mixed-use and other special requirements in Carbon Designer
Overall, different building types in Carbon Designer are accounting for differences in areas of balconies and windows, in building and roof shapes, in the number of stairs and elevators, and mainly in spacing between internal walls and columns.
Considering this, in the case of buildings that have mixed-use in different parts or floors, but this does not lead to major differences in the structural grid and other building parameters (e.g industrial vs residential buildings), then the most representative building type can be selected and individual parameters shall be adjusted if needed (e.g window area, internal wall area etc). This approach can ensure minimizing errors from double counting different building elements, as all info is in one calculation.
Below you can find some suggestions on how you could approach some common cases:
1. Different use types on different floors of the same building
As mentioned already, selecting and adjusting the most appropriate building type for the whole building could be considered the best option. Still, when this is not the case due to major differences between building parts, users can generate quantities for different floors in 2 (or more) different designs and then create a 3rd design and copy there the data from the other 2 (Project page >> “Input data” >> “Copy from another design”). In the design that represents the upper parts, remember to remove foundations and ground slab. In the design that refers to the bottom floors, remember to remove the roof slab and to add the same area in slabs. Separation of the underground garage exclusively is not possible as of today, as there shall be always 1 floor above ground in Carbon Designer calculation.
2. Floors with different sizes in the same building
As earlier, this calculation can be best performed in one design. If not desired, floors can be modelled in separate designs and then merged together in a new design. In this case, mind to adjust different building parts, as briefly explained in case 1, to avoid mistakes. For mezzanine floors that cover only a part of a floor, they can be potentially ignored from total floor count and floor height and then relevant quantities could be inserted eg as additional slab area and columns/beams lengths in “Building structures”. In this case, remember to match the corresponding share of slab area to an appropriate construction in the 2nd page of Carbon Designer.
3. Different use types in the same floor of a building
In this case, selecting and adjusting only 1 building type can make calculation significantly more efficient. If not desirable due to big differences between parts, again create the 2 parts in separate designs and merge them in a 3rd design. Remember to not count the area that separates the 2 building parts as external walls (in both designs). Also, columns and beams located in that separation side of the 2 parts, shall be counted only in 1 design. Additionally, remember to check the total number of elevators and stairs.
4. Underground parking with a different size than above floors
The best solution is to use the dimensions of the building part that is above ground, and then adjust, as a minimum, areas of underground walls and ground slab to fit dimensions of the underground floor. “Foundations area” shall be adjusted as well to consider the total actual area of the building.
5. Floor shared by multiple buildings.
Area of that floor shall be best distributed to different buildings. Be careful with the parts of this floor that are on the side that separates the different buildings, to not be accounted as external walls, while other parts on this same side shall ideally be distributed evenly to the different buildings and be accounted only once.
6. External areas (e.g open parking space), parts and equipment (e.g Heating devices) missing from Carbon Designer
Missing parts can be added inside the design for the final calculation. These parts shall be ideally “locked” so that any change in the design doesn’t overwrite them by mistake. For buildings parts that are standardized and needed for reporting, You can create standard profiles to be added, e.g “outdoor parking” construction per square meter, so that the next time you can just define the area.
7. Parking as a separate building
Since there is no such building type available, users can select another building type and customize building dimensions and areas of parts. Potentially an “industrial” building could be the best option as it assumes big open spaces and no balconies, among others. Still, mind to minimize doors and windows, adjust flooring and ceiling type, and ensure that default structural part fulfils requirements. Additionally, ramps need to be calculated and added separately inside the design, while decreasing the corresponding slab area.
8. Structure is completely underground, with no above-ground floors
In this case, you could create two designs, one with the underground floors and one above ground floor and a second with just one above ground floor. Then identify the data to remove from
the reference building and add relevant data for the roofing in the query. For example, cladding and floor slabs can be removed. Flooring, ceiling finishes, columns and beams could be halved.
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