Hi All,
I'm a new user to eQuest. Currently I'm trying to simulate a 16-story residential building that only has a few columns and open space on the first floor. The dwelling units are built from the second floor, and people use elevator on the first floor to get into the building. So basically the exterior doors are the doors for each unit, and of course it is not placed on the facade of the building. The doors are sort of placed "within" the building, but it is exposed to the ambient environment. (After getting out of the elevator, it is public area, that is exposed to the ambient environment. See the attachment.)
Now I have two questions:
I can't place any doors on mid floors and top floors. (even use the detailed interface. It seems like I can only add windows to the mid floors and top floors.)
I don't know how to place my doors on the "interior walls" (It is probably not the right term as it is exposed to the ambient environment; but the point here is that it's not the exterior walls like the facade.)
I have attached a photo for your reference. Is there any ideas on how I can set this up in eQuest? Thanks.
Regards,
Xiaojin
Hi Xiaojin,
As far as eQuest is concerned, those corridor walls are exterior walls
because they are exposed to ambient conditions. If building in the
wizards, I would define separate shells for the two "columns," separated
by the common walkway between. A 3rd shell might correctly approximate
the first level which likely has its own unique floorplate shape. Later
in detailed edits after finishing the wizards, you could ensure the
solar loads on these walls/doors are kept accurate by defining building
shades to represent the exterior floor/ceiling surfaces over the
dwelling entries.
The following attempt at an illustration may or may not make it well
into the archives - I make no promises =)!
____________________
| |__| |
| 2nd |__| 3rd |
| Shell |__| Shell |
__|_______|__|_______|__
| 1st Floor Shell_ |
The horizontal lines I've colored red would be building shades, defined
after the wizards in detailed mode.
I'm not sure exactly why you're having trouble defining doors for each
floor/level... but in eQuest, doors are specifically defined as child
components to an exterior wall, so you will not be defining them for
interior walls... be sure your shell footprints allow the correct
perimeter of exterior walls and you should be able to locate the doors
in either the wizards or detailed mode. Note in the wizards, if you are
using multi-story shells (with or without floor multipliers), you will
need to use the "custom window/door placement" approach to ensure the
middle/top floors get the doors you're targeting... the entries for # of
doors on each orientation will only apply to a shell's "ground" level.
For context and your own sanity, I'd share that this project does appear
fairly complex for one's first eQuest model, at least on the surface1...
Take your time, as this looks like quite a challenge - it may be a
worthwhile investment of your time to identify a local mentor who can
guide you in person through this project, if you haven't already!
Best of luck!
~Nick
NICK CATON, E.I.T.