Practice exam Question #1 PA

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Israel Feldbrand

January 17, 2023 21:13

Can  someone explain why the answer assumes that the client wants to build 6 larger floors as opposed to 8 or 9 smaller floors .

 

Question 1   Refer to the exhibit. A developer hires an architect to design a sprinklered apartment building with occupancy R-2 for a vacant parcel of land in a high-density neighborhood. The developer wants the apartment building to have the maximum number of floors allowed by zoning. The land has the following zoning requirements: The maximum FAR is 3.5 Building height limit is 85' Which construction types should the architect consider using? Check the three that apply.   A. Type I-A B. Type II-A C. Type III-A D. Type V-A E. Type I-A podium with Type III-A above F. Type I-A podium with Type V-A above Your answer: A Correct answer: AEF   CORRECT RESPONSES Type I-A The maximum number of stories the client can build is six; Type I-A has unlimited stories.   Type I-A podium with Type III-A above One story of Type I-A podium plus five stories of Type III-A meets the six-story requirement.   Type I-A podium with Type V-A above Two stories of Type I-A podium plus four stories of Type V-A meets the six-story requirement.    CALCULATIONS 1. For the maximum gross square footage: 10,200 sf (site area) x 3.5 (FAR) = 35,700 sf 2. For the length of the building footprint: 60' (length of the site) - 10' (front setback) - 10' (rear setback) = 40' 3. For the width of the building footprint: 170' (width of the site) - 15' (side setback) - 15' (side setback) = 140' 4. For the maximum building footprint = 40' x 140' = 5,600 sf 5. For the number of floors: 35,700 sf / 5,600 sf = 6.375 floors, rounded to 6 floors

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  Dana Ritter January 17, 2023 22:28 (Edited January 17, 2023 22:29)

  Hi Israel, your answer of A.Type I-A is correct, however it says to choose 3 answers of building types that the architect could consider using that would allow them the max # of stories . Answers B,C,D are capped at 5 or 4 stories for an R-2 sprinklered building, whereas all the answers containing Type I-A within the building type allow for at least 6. You have to go through the calculation to determine what the gross square footage is, and how many stories are allowed based on the FAR.

  I see where you're coming from though, the developer could opt to not build on the entirety of the site, which would mean they could add more stories to build out the entirety of their allowed 35,700sf. The question mentions an 85' building height limit, but fails to give any further information on how we should use that information, and they don't even use it in the calculations. But my initial thinking is that with an 85' height limit, you're looking at smaller and smaller floor-to-floor heights the more stories you add, which ends up becoming unrealistic.

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  Israel Feldbrand January 17, 2023 22:42

  Your exactly right how is one supposed to know that one will opt to built out on the entire buildable area.If this is any indication how Ncarb formulates their exam question then I believe this is extremely unfair to us We should be able to voice our frustration directly to Ncarb.

   

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  Rebekka O'Melia January 20, 2023 15:21

  The scenario does say they want the maximum height and the neighborhood is high density.  Type I is going to let you build higher/taller than Type II, and so on down...  And 85' definitely makes 8 floors easily possible for R construction.  BUT in this case the FAR being 3.5 is the more limiting factor.  The 35,700sf max ÷ 5,600 sf max footprint per floor = 6 stories or less.

  That's a pretty lengthy question for the ARE.  I'm unsure where you'd find the 'podium' info.

  Rebekka O'Melia, Registered Architect, NCARB, B. Arch, M. Ed, Step UP,  Step UP ARE 5.0 Courses 

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