Recognising basic shapes for envelope areas

[Sean Maxwell]

Pop quiz:

• Which shapes have the same ceiling/roof area as floor area?
• Which of the shapes have more ceiling/roof area than floor area?
• Which of the shapes have less ceiling/roof area than floor area

Trying to establish literacy for new trainees so that they get an intuitive sense for when their numbers don't make any sense. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Paul Carling]

I recall there was some discussion in the past about using wooden blocks of varying shapes so that they could be arranged into various building shapes. The blocks could have coloured faces to represent the floor, wall and roof areas just as the images above. They don't all have to be cubes as well so that some more unusual shapes can be created. A useful exercise for those that struggle to visualise all the surfaces of the envelope area. It would also make training on envelope areas more interesting.

 

[Sean Maxwell]

This practice amounts to an IQ test of sorts. Like being able to visualise shapes and draw conclusions about what makes sense and what doesn't. I think we may need a pre-qualification test (at least recommended) before people enroll in the course.

 

[Sean Maxwell]

I recall there was some discussion in the past about using wooden blocks of varying shapes so that they could be arranged into various building shapes. The blocks could have coloured faces to represent the floor, wall and roof areas just as the images above. They don't all have to be cubes as well so that some more unusual shapes can be created. A useful exercise for those that struggle to visualise all the surfaces of the envelope area. It would also make training on envelope areas more interesting.

I bet I could do a quick YouTube clip of these shapes with them labeled and rotating them so that people can see all different sides. But yeah getting your hands on something involves different set of neurons, eh? Good to think about.

 

[AirMacGyver]

My son went through area and volume calculation when completing Maths at Year 10 level. Being a designer, drafter and modeller myself, to my frustration he was horrible at it, but to his credit can play anything with strings on it, plus piano for good measure. So thinking about what could have helped him....its a hard one. We are all wired differently. If we had the time I think using Sketchup would have been the best method. The hang up with it, is getting it to keep calculating the volume when things get tricky. But for larger buildings we only really care about surface area anyway. Perhaps there is a sketchup basic course that suitable or perhaps the ATTMA 4 document on modeling basics be change to a pre-requisite for the course. With the advance part of the document kept/ created for ATTMA L2 training.

 

[Paul Carling]

We do run a basic SketchUp course in the UK which covers everything in the guide I created but with the benefit of it being formal training rather than in your own time when you can. We also run an advanced course that covers the following:

• Merging multiple drawings into a single floor plan.
• Breaking drawings into smaller sections.
• Independently scaling drawings within a model.
• How to handle complex roof intersections.
• How to deal with circular buildings.
• How to deal with a domed or coned roof.

The course makes extensive use of the following tools and features within SketchUp:

• Make component tool.
• Offset tool.
• Axes tool.
• Follow me tool.
• Curve and circle tools.
• Adding segments to curves and circles.
• Flip.
• Move tool set to copy move.

Maybe a course for me to deliver the next time I'm over.

 

[AirMacGyver]

Hi Paul, yes I think that would be great. Though I understand the maths in doing area and volume calculations is important, for those that are more visual than mathematical, I think sketchup, which is the easiest 3D I'm aware of, could be the way to get to no shapes without the mathematics and still get accurate results. I'd personally be interested in the advanced course. Online would be fine .