“ARCHI (PR)ACT_SCENE ”

“low-rise, mixed-use” VERSUS “high-rise, single-use”

ARCH 418

Workshop Report

High-Rise Team

As a team, we were responsible to offer a proposal for a highrise building to be constructed near Dumlupınar boulevard, a busy street in Ankara. Mainly, our team consists of 13 members. Each member either as a group or individual was responsible for different parts of the proposal. The division of groups and individuals are determined as follows:

Architects: Sümeyra Akın, Ece Sel

LEED Environmental Consultant: Sevin Erkenek

Interior Architect: Nesrin Nur Aydoğan

Landscape Architect: Basak Öztürk

BIM Manager: Doruk Topkaya

Facade Consultant: Ali Sönmez

Project Manager: Atakan Akpınar

Engineers: Kadir Kayalı, Recep Öğüç

Value Engineers: Nil Özkan, Bora Kaan Bayazıt

Rahim Sadigov

As a team, our aim was to work collaboratively within all design team members to prepare an accurate proposal to mention in detail the advantages and the key points of building highrises, and answer the expected questions of the client.

While presenting our proposals, considering all different professions of our consultants, we tried to explain our perspectives of environmental aspects & passive systems & construction process & budgets with the help of each team member.

Some of the advantages that are mentioned in the proposal are the view, security, privacy, more accommodation for a crowded city, Ankara, the land price vs. built area etc. However, besides all, we had two main points.

First one is with a highrise building, we were able to create users for the commercial areas which increases the project profit of the client. Second one is with a highrise building, cost of land value can be divided to each floor level, which will lower the cost of units. After our presentation the client party asked some specific questions:

What is your past experience?

How will you differentiate your highrise building from the rest of highrises in Ankara?

What are your plans to manage the sustainable issues and HVAC systems in high-rise buildings?

What are the key points of choosing high-rise buildings?

As a team, we answered all these questions considering the profession of each team member.

Kadir Kayalı | Engineer 1: I think no matter how perfect one's proposal is, to get the job, one has to tell the client, what they want to hear, not what you want them to hear. In short: Play it by ear.

Ali Sönmez | Facade Consultant : At high rise buildings another thing to consider is façade design. It is an important factor not only for the appearance of the building but also as an energy saving factor. With a proper façade design we could make the building environmentally sustainable and it could save energy with its passive cooling and heating systems, which is not that efficient at low rise buildings.

Ece Sel | Architect : As one of the partner architects of the firm, the main goal was to be a strong bridge between the whole team to prepare an accurate design proposal with strong arguments Secondly, the architects aimed to provide professional communication with the clients; introducing the whole design team, and presenting the main ideas of the proposal to clients. After, consultants were presented by architects to present their ideas together with certain advantage points of building high-rise according to their professions. Therefore at the end of the workshop, it has been observed even in the very early stages the communication between architects, consultants, partners is highly important to have an accurate and strong proposal together with key points and the design team has to be prepared for every kind of question that might come from the client. Also, the communication has to be based on mutual respect from the very starting point to the endpoint. Even though the presentation techniques and styles are a very important aspect for getting acceptance, the strong arguments, and clients needs have more power to convince the client.

Mehmet Doruk Topkaya | BIM Manager: Clients main desire was to reach the highest profit either with a low rise or a high rise building. Even though we mentioned a high-rise building would become a great landmark, and create great profits and benefits for the clients in terms of; meter cube price, attraction of customers, views and effective environmental systems with the land usage. However, they finalized their decision by selecting to construct a low-rise building, even though they find our firm's presentation better. We can understand that the essential thing is the picture in the clients mind, which they want to have in the end.

Şevin Erkenek | LEED Environmental Consultant: Even if this workshop was about creating a proposal and presenting our perspective of design and construction, deciding on the main job definitions of the team members was an educational process. While deciding on the job definitions, we got to research about the topic to defend our proposal which made it easier to find key points to talk about during the meeting. Throughout the meeting, since our communication was not as efficient as possible, our proposal and presentation lacked some of the desired features. Also, it was important to answer all the questions of the owner firm without stopping to make them realize that you and your team are ready for the project and all of the details have been researched and analyzed. However, in the end even if our group wasn’t chosen, the discussion process with the team and the exciting meeting with the owner firm made it clear that ending a meeting with a hint of future collaborations creates a more enjoyable and friendly environment rather than leaving it just the way it is.

Atakan AKPINAR | Project Manager: We investigated the advantages and disadvantages of high rise buildings within the framework of the purpose given to us in line with the customer's request, and on the other hand, we proceeded towards the goal in communication with my teammates. In the project, which we primarily defended based on the budget, we saw at what stage and how the business lines were communicating with each other.

Nil Özkan | Value Engineer: As a value engineer, our aim was to calculate “the spending minimum budget with maximum efficiency” ratio to the high rise building’s proposal stage. In the proposal, we recommended lower price per unit for each materials that would be used in the construction part. As an addition, when land cost and building cost compared to each other we as a firm is more advantageous position rather than low rise firm because each unit costs less. Even though our proposal was not chosen, it was quiet beneficial for further experience in the field in a different perspective. We got to see which perspective deals with which issue and how other disciplines form such a complex work. Most importantly, it had huge impact on experiencing how we should communicate, appeal to client with our work and past experience. It was learnt that presentation of your work, what client desires and needs and communication between disciplines are some of the key points when it comes to such important meetings both with clients and within the team.

Nesrin Nur Aydoğan | Interior Architect: Essentially it is important to present accurately, what you have prepared. The communication with client differs as you communucate with your consultants, it is significant to have similar language.

Bora Kaan Bayazıt | Value Engineer: As mentioned above, our main focus was on reducing the unit cost of the building. For material selection, decreased prices per units was recommended and we concluded that, comparing with the low level project, it is advantageous to construct a building with low level of unit cost. This workshop was a good illustration for communication of different disciplines.

Başak Öztürk | Landscape Architect: One of the main important aspects in design is the landscape design, and how it is integrated with the environmental systems, even if it was not one of the main issues which was discussed in the meeting. In this context, the main advantage of high rise building design is that the landscape design could be achieved in a more effective way than it is on a low rise building design in that area. Even if our project was not chosen by the client, it was beneficial to discuss and evaluate the advantages and the disadvantages that our project and the other company’s project offer for the client.

Sümeyra Akın | Architect: It has been clearly acquired that to be able to make an efficacious present to the clients and to be persuasive about the proposed design to be straight and cognizable is quite critical, where to demonstrate ‘how the related design is likely to become the most profitable one’ should be the vital concern of the presentation. In this regard, since the related design has been determined as the high-rise building type for the team, the workshop was quite beneficial also in the comprehensive way of learning of the aspects, the advantages, and the likely budget of high-rise design.