ARCHITECTURAL | Design & Site Planning | 14 Questions (MODERATE-CHALLENGING)

PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY & HARDWARE STORE

(14 Questions, Difficulty Level: MODERATE to CHALLENGING)

by Raison John J. Bassig

Hired by a well-renowned corporation, who owns a one and fifty-four hundredths-hectare (1.54-ha) property located along a newly-developed highway in a certain city in the Philippines, you are to design their new store that will supply hardware and building materials, except concrete products.

Access to the rectangular lot, with a depth of one hundred and forty meters (140m), is via two (2) parallel Road Rights-of-Way (RROWs): a twenty-six-meter (26-m) national highway at northeast; and, a twelve-meter (12-m) minor road at southwest. The city zoning ordinance requires an angular plane of forty-three degrees (43°) on the highway and sixty-three degrees (63°) on the minor road. The entire vicinity, zoned as Commercial Two (C-2), has a constant slope of two and twenty-five hundredths percent (2.25%) from the highway down to the minor road.

During your consultations with your client, you have ascertained the corporation’s preferences:

1. There should be no abutments extending to the property lines, but footprint should be maximized using the least setback per code.


2. The branch should have two (2) floors, one (1) basement, and one (1) flat roof/deck. The roof deck will only contain mechanical equipment necessary for store operations.


3. Natural light is desired in the store interior, as such, a rectangular inner court at a length of sixty meters (60m) along the longitudinal axis of the building, open from the basement and up, must be provided. The court’s centroid is positioned also at the centroid of the building.


4. In each floor and the basement, the main store occupies thirty percent (30%), while services/utilities uses five percent (5%) of the Total Gross Floor Area (TGFA) of each of those levels. However, retail stores to be leased to concessionaires should account for thirty-five percent (35%) of the ground floor (G/F) and of the second floor (2/F) levels only. The remaining floor areas are common, non-leasable spaces (toilets and circulation at G/F and 2/F; and parking at Basement).


5. The floorplate of the 2/F should project outwards from the G/F footprint below it, to create an eave/canopy all-around, in the maximum distance of projection as allowed.


6. Based on feasibility studies, the retail stores in this building must have an average floor area of sixty-nine square meters (69sqm), but no greater than seventy square meters (70sqm), per leasable unit.


7. The G/F should be one meter (1m) higher than the highway; the 2/F level at five and five tenths meters (5.5m) above the G/F; the roof deck at four and five tenths meters (4.5m) above the 2/F; and the basement floor level at one and thirty-five hundredths meters (1.35m) below the minor road.


8. A parapet wall, with a maximum constant height as allowed, should cover the roof deck around the maximum building projection line.

All answers should be based on the 2004 IRR of the National Building Code of the Philippines.


Q#1: This project would fall under which use/character of occupancy?
a. Division E-1
b. Division C-2
c. Division C-1
d. Division E-2
e. Division E-3

Detailed solution for Q#1 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#2: What is the Allowable Maximum Building Footprint (AMBF) of this project?
a. 10,840 square meters
b. 12,320 square meters
c. 13,416 square meters
d. 11,550 square meters
e. 13,312 square meters

Detailed solution for Q#2 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#3: To comply with site occupancy, what must be the resulting minimum width of the inner court?
a. 3.00 meters
b. 30.30 meters
c. 31.10 meters
d. 13.10 meters
e. 11.30 meters

Detailed solution for Q#3 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#4: If thirty percent (30%) of the inner court will be Unpaved Surface Area (USA), how much area must still be allocated at the exterior yards to achieve the minimum required true open space?
a. 566.60 square meters
b. 536.20 square meters
c. 210.20 square meters
d. 176.00 square meters
e. 224.60 square meters

Detailed solution for Q#4 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#5: What is the maximum allowable Gross Floor Area (GFA) of this project?
a. 146,200 square meters
b. 147,840 square meters
c. 166,320 square meters
d. 138,600 square meters
e. 155,440 square meters

Detailed solution for Q#5 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#6: Considering the site conditions and angular plane limits, what is the Allowable Maximum Volume of Building (AMVB) of this project?
a. 260,956.76 cubic meters
b. 207,898.79 cubic meters
c. 241,488.00 cubic meters
d. 147,840.00 cubic meters
e. 138,600.00 cubic meters

Detailed solution for Q#6 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#7: What is the distance of the Outermost Faces of Building (OFB) from the front property line located at northeast?
a. 2.40 meters
b. 6.00 meters
c. 3.60 meters
d. 5.00 meters
e. 2.00 meters

Detailed solution for Q#7 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#8: Determine the actual floorplate of the 2/F.
a. 13,338.60 square meters
b. 12,685.00 square meters
c. 14,590.56 square meters
d. 13,416.00 square meters
e. 12,724.56 square meters

Detailed solution for Q#8 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#9: Calculate the actual height from Basement floor finish line to the G/F finish line.
a. 5.85 meters
b. 5.50 meters
c. 4.20 meters
d. 5.25 meters
e. 4.15 meters

Detailed solution for Q#9 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#10: What would be the actual building height of this project measured from the established grade?
a. 12,685 millimeters
b. 14,360 millimeters
c. 12,550 millimeters
d. 18,000 millimeters
e. 14,495 millimeters

Detailed solution for Q#10 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#11: What is the actual Total Gross Floor Area (TGFA) of this project?
a. 48,549.12 square meters
b. 46,200.00 square meters
c. 50,415.12 square meters
d. 56,013.12 square meters
e. 53,664.00 square meters

Detailed solution for Q#11 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#12: What is the actual volume of the building above grade?
a. 223,167 cubic meters
b. 169,573 cubic meters
c. 235,849 cubic meters
d. 204,034 cubic meters
e. 196,758 cubic meters

Detailed solution for Q#12 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#13: Specify the minimum required number of parking slots for this project as per code.
a. 122 parking slots
b. 143 parking slots
c. 276 parking slots
d. 284 parking slots
e. 352 parking slots

Detailed solution for Q#13 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below:

Q#14: Determine the actual Floor-to-Lot Area Ratio (FLAR) of this project.
a. 1.7224
b. 1.2859
c. 1.4974
d. 1.7588
e. 1.2496

Detailed solution for Q#14 (with illustrations and in-depth explanations) is found in the video below: