Space Planning Exercise: How I did!

FAIL

Funny, I passed this in the Spring 2012 Practicum. Here's how it went down:

I took the test yesterday during late afternoon 3:45-6:45 after a day of working from home. Working from home is, as you can imagine, delightful - the silence, the alone-time, productivity is amazing and my two 45-minute drives were eliminated. I didn't really take a lunch break, which - maybe I should have because I was low on fuel when I started my test. 

I started with confidence and an open mind. What the worst that could happen? I make mistakes and learn? Alas, I froze during the transition from bubble-diagram to hard-lining walls. This ate up the entire first 2 hours, leaving me just one hour to add FFE, electric, and notes. I also took a backwards approach to bubble-diagramming which I'll explain below. I finished everything in time, but my brain was whirling.

Despite, I felt really good about it. Until about 2:36 am when I woke up and started thinking of where I made mistakes. 

After making a *spoiler alert* organization device this morning (will post in detail later on), which took some anxiety off my shoulders, I intended to sit down and check my exercise. Instead, I took a(nother) 30-minute therapy session with my oh-so-patient husband. This, despite feeling like wasted time, really helped. 

This transitioned into him sitting with me to check my test together. Holy mistake-town (the test, not team-checking). Despite my  initial letdown, frustration, and embarrassment, I was able to reason the following and pep-talk myself into sharing my horrible solution with all of interested internet-land. 

• This is a practice test. This is where I'm supposed to make these mistakes so that I don't make them on test day. I now know exactly what I need to work on. In my experience, mistakes make us better, stronger. I will never forget that the infamous Daisy and Gatsby were drinking mint juleps in the garden with friends on a summer afternoon. Why such a strange detail? Because I got it wrong on a pop quiz in high school. I also now know that the 42" grab bar goes beside the toilet and the 36" goes behind. 
• How can I incorporate my lessons learned in the future to relieve anxiety rather than feed it?
• I'm not dumb. I'm not a bad designer. I don't get to do this as often as I want to. I just need to practice to be better, just as anyone must do in any field of work. 

A nice little note from Andrew ;)

{ Grading Breakdown }

• The practice test required a Janitor closet with a sink and shelf unit. I drew the sink right at the door and the incorrectly sized shelving to the right of it. Totally not accessible with the sink in the way. Sink location, wrong shelf: -2
• Re: Janitor closet, the door opens way into the corridor -1
• In two spaces I did not have the correct linear footage of upper and lower cabinetry once I accounted for my ADA clearance. For both spaces: -2
• My ADA restroom did not meet the minimum SF requirements -1
• My ADA restroom turning radius overlapped with my door swing -1
• My ADA restroom grab bars were reversed (42"L behind toilet, 36" beside toilet - should be flipped) -1
• My ADA restroom was missing the 30 X 48 designation at the sink -1
• The toilet was not directly on the plumbing trench -1
• A wall-mounted fixture (sorry, can't give specifics) protrudes more than 4" into a corridor -1
• I placed a piece of equipment within the required 18" on the pull-side of a non-accessible server room (not sure if this code applies to non-accessible spaces... anyone know?) -1
• I did not provide an outlet for the refrigerator -1
• I did provide one for the dishwasher, but I could have sworn I did! did not make it dedicated -1
• Didn't label the SF in a storage closet, but dimensioned it (and it met the minimum) -1 (I only saw the candidate get docked for omitting SF on the plan when they did it in a lot of spaces.. still, gotta label!)
• Missed a duplex in the Reception area by the guest seating, though I did provide it at the reception desk -1
• All of the adjacency requirements (as outlined in the test booklet) were met. However, I did not place two pairs of spaces close to each other. I guess I should have known better? But it didn't say to do so, so I did not. This is where general knowledge and reasoning comes in. I'm docking myself -2 for this mistake. 

Total discrepancies: 18

(The borderline pass sample had 17 errors)

{ A note on Bubble-Diagrams }

I only did one. Because for some reason, at the beginning of my 3 hours I was in some sort of crazy hurry. Then, like some sort of weirdo-brain, I went from bubble diagram to drawing in a conference table with chairs to determine my conference room layout. Uh? I had not one single wall drawn in. 

COOL. YOUR. JETS. 

Once I realized this was looney-tunes, I reverted to my bubble-diagram. Which kind of sucked since I only did one. Andrew told me to do at least 5 until I got the adjacency req's right, the plumbing limits in line, and the room sizes approximate. Which is so funny because his advice is how I always approach that first phase of space planning in "real life." So why not on my test? 

I swear I will do at least 5 on test day (I mean, unless my first one is bubbly perfection). 

{ What I'm taking away from this }

• Minimize the amount of corridors (SF) - what would a Realtor, Broker, or potential tenant think of your maximizing their usable square footage? 
• Minimize doors to enhance usable space (not all spaces require a door!) 
• TIP: Keywords like "Private" and "Secure" require a door.
• Pay more attention to the plumbing trench and how you can stretch it. 
• TIP: Not every plumbing fixture needs to be right ON the trench (with the exception of toilets and floor drains). Some fixtures can merely be located on a wall that touches the trench; a wall which overlaps or runs perpendicular to the trench while overlapping. They give you limits to which you can extend a line from the trench. Use this if needed and be sure to dimension your extension. 
• Remember you can share plumbing walls!
• Don't try to smush everything on one wall millwork-wise when you have an opportunity to wrap within a corner. 
• ADA Restroom... I actually rock the individual "ADA Washroom" exercise, but within these bigger scopes, I focus on it less. Bad call. 
• TIP: Symbols Pay attention to the symbols provided and what equipment requires what symbol. Here's a guide:
• Telephone: Telephone & data (the split triangle)
• Printer: Power*, Data (darkened triangle)
• Postage machine: Power*, Data
• Computer: Dedicated Power, Data
• Fax: Telephone & Data 
• Networked copier: Dedicated Power, Data
• Undercounter fridge, standard fridge: Dedicated power
• Dishwasher: Dedicated power
• Microwave, Coffee maker, small appliance: Power*, but provide (1) per appliance
• *Power translates to duplex in most cases, but consider the load. An office with a telephone, computer, and desktop printer requires (2) duplexes, telephone+data, and data.

Not sure why I feel the need to make this next part big, but heck - here goes!

If anything above could be interpreted differently, please feel free to comment below. Also, if you're taking this test for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time - OR THE FIRST TIME - and you're struggling or have questions, please reach out. It's very easy to feel alone in this test prep. And remember, you can if you believe you can (and if you practice!).  ;)

Plan some spaces, 

Carolyn