Lesson 5.3.4

Exercise 4: Building Costs Introduction

PDF upload due 4/23 by 11:59pm

This exercise is designed to introduce you to some basics involved with understanding the relationship between design decisions and building costs. As presented in Lesson 5.3.1, the whole topic of building costs is a complex one involving factors both within the control of the architect / client and also factors out of control of either. Building costs are also highly dynamic responding to changing markets in real estate values, interest rates, material costs, energy costs and a host of other variables.

Building costs can rise or fall over short term periods of assessment but as a general case they have steadily risen over time. Some of this may be attributable to the factors outlined above, but also to the changing expectations we place on our buildings, particularly in terms of changes in design fashions, mechanical systems, information technology and controls and the increased speed with which that our culture expects buildings to be designed and constructed and made ready for occupation.

That all of these factors are now becoming part of a global market for project development, design services, construction services, real estate markets, energy markets, material markets, labor markets, etc. only makes the volatility and complexity of assessing building costs that much more complex. It is beyond the scope of this class to present this dynamic to you in a comprehensive manner. We can, however, provide a short, simple exercise to give you some exposure and experience as to the relationship between a few of these factors in helping you ascertain a beginning understanding related to building costs, using your studio project as a model.

This exercise has been designed (and limited) to give you some understanding of the intertwined relationship of building costs to:

01. Type of building occupancy / program

02. Construction methods

03. Quality of Construction

04. Cost modifications due to building height

05. Cost modifications due to location of construction

06. Additional cost factors such as additional plumbing.

07. Additional cost factors such as elevators.

Download the Exercise Instructions here.

Download the Exercise Worksheet Template here.

Download the National Building Cost manual here.

Arcadis International Construction Cost Comparison