Cat-5: The Process
Category-5s are produced one by one, one after another, in coordinated stages.
The first and most important step is working out standards for a project’s performance related to predictable hazards. Starting with general risks — like fire, flood, etc. — we develop detailed parameters to suit site conditions and design goals. This may resemble architectural design but its main objective is a survivable shell, not personal expression. In fact, the building site itself is often also an “author” of these specifications, dictating specific features based on conditions like topography, wind direction, flood zones, etc. We’ve often found that they can determine not just the orientations of, for example, doors and windows (for views), but the final shape of the roof, the height from the ground to the top of the main floor, and much of the interior layout — and more
Very generally, the process unfolds in these phases:
We assess the building site’s natural hazards and benefits, including general risks (please see the diagrams below) and the location’s ratings for specific conditions. A building site may be analyzed in terms of seasonal breezes, for example, and also assessed a high-moderate-low score for high-wind storm threats at certain times of year
We inventory plants and wildlife, utilities and roads, and emergency services (and access points), and consider how changes to the site may impact storm runoff, soils permeance and other characteristics
We develop documents reflecting all of these factors, and more, for sharing among owners, designers, engineers and contractors both to set design directions and as communication tools to aid revisions and the evolution of the Category-5 solution
All parties collaborate in synthesizing a building design from these documents, assuring that owner desires, engineers’ and contractors’ views and site conditions have been reflected. Completion of this step can rely on our recommendation of simple, repeatable structural features, or expand to the creation of a unique design through our custom services
Determine Category-5’s involvement, which can extend to overseeing contracts, and/or assisting with purchases of materials and products