Ballast PA Practice Question 252
Hi Everyone,
I hope someone can shed some light on the answer of Ballast Practice Exam Question 252. Spoiler Alert for the ones that haven't taken this practice exam yet!!! So don't read the below:)
It asks to place the building and parking to correct spots that address community context. I understand to create an open space in front of the building since the surrounding buildings have the similar context, but I am not clear on why parking is on NE corner but not in SW corner, I was thinking it was a better entry for parking since it is a local street. Obviously there is something I miss here, any help appreciated!
Question:
Answer:
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I agree with you in a sense. I have done many retail buildings. Since the first floor is retail and the 2nd floor is office. The building should be moved north and closer to the collector street so that the retail stores are more visible from both the local and collector streets since the signage of the stores are one of the may tool to get retail customers. The building entrance should also face either west or north to collect customers from the street. Currently, the signage of the retail stores are blocked by other buildings because the building is set back too far from the main street.
The entrance of the retail stores should ALWAYS be from the street if possible and at the same elevation as the street level.
In our practice, one of the major retail tenant asked us to rotate the shop buildings so that the shops will not block their signage. Otherwise they would not even sign the lease to move into the shopping center. Major tenants always have their way, and we had to rotate several shop buildings to meet this demand to make their signs visible from the main street. As a result, we had to step the floors and foundations of the shop buildings because the site slope.
You are right, it is better to place the parking on the southwest of the site so that it is easier for people to drive in and out of the parking lot from a local street and will not block the traffic on the main collector street.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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The way the building is layout on the site will make the retail stores go out of business very soon, and the building will be very hard to lease to the next tenants, or even become un-leasable.
Gang Chen, Author, Architect, LEED AP BD+C (GreenExamEducation.com)
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Putting the parking in the SW would be directly across from the other street which is not safe! Else, I agree with everything else you said. I think the building should be places in NE with main entrance facing collector street with parking in NE, with entrance from collector street. This places parking far away from the intersection.
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