NCARB now has online experience verification (e-EVR) for interns! Encourage interns around you to use it. According to NCARB this online method will reduce processing time.
This is late breaking news for some. I just saw it on NCARB’s home page and thought to mention it.
My experience with the building layout vignette was little better than my interior layout experience. I think I made errors that could lead to failure. In short I think I had too many doors leading off of a lobby and the rooms may have been too small.
If you haven’t read the previous two posts about my interior layout, then do that. It all started with a very poor performance in the Interior Layout problem. It was very difficult for me to concentrate after blowing the Interior Layout. I really wanted to get up and walk out. I tried to keep a level head. I thought if there is no hope of passing, I can still learn something from the Building Layout problem.
So I start with the building layout. Shift, nugde pull. I got all of the relationships. I got all of the windows, direct access connections, doors and swings. I placed the entry at the right street. I placed rooms to get the view as required. I even shifted two rooms between the first and second floors. The program didn’t state a specific floor location for those rooms. All of these things I did, I think were ok. Still I don’t think it was a pass.
When you draw rooms with the NCARB program, it draws from the centerline of the wall. Not from the interior wall surface. I knew this and overall chose to ignore it. I’m having a hard time remembering if I adjusted my corridors to have the minimum clearance. I just can’t remember, but if I didn’t adjust them I failed. My corridors would have been 4 inches short of the minimum code required clearance. Even if I failed, I hope I made this adjustment. I think I did make this adjustment during the exam. But I did not check my rooms, so many of them would be shy of the required square footage.
Let me restate that because the last paragraph is caught up in failure.
The program gives you the distance (and area) from the centerline of the wall, not the interior face of the wall. The program is grading the area from the interior face of the walls. So if a rectangular room is drawn the software prompt says 8′ wide (by 25′ long and 200 sq. ft.), but it is actually 7′-8″ wide (by 24′-8″ long and less than 200 sq. ft. from the interior faces). Do you get it?
Make sure you do. Practice.
I hope I adjusted my corridor. Right now I want to fail for another reason. Rooms that are too small and a lobby with too many doors will probably tank my building layout. Oh well. It is time to move on to Building Design and Construction Systems.
I treated Schematic Design like a video game I could blow off. I didn’t practice enough from the PPI Schematic Design Practice Exam Book. I didn’t practice enough from the NCARB Schematic Design practice program. If I had practiced more I would have seen where that copy room could fit earlier.
The two week period between my Site Planning & Design and Schematic Design exams was not enough. Especially since I wasn’t concentrating well on material. I thought I would catch on during the Schematic Design exam. I thought I was staying loose by not getting overly concerned with different plans and alternatives. BIG MISTAKE.
During the building layout vignette, I made the corridors and I’m thinking, “How come these corridors don’t automatically merge like the driveway does in site design?” I figured out 30 minutes later, “Hey you use the ’wall opening’ tool.” After facing a very disconcerting effort in the Interior Layout, this AH HA moment was not a good feeling. What other obvious issues could I have missed?
There is some chance, I passed. If I told you exactly how many pieces of furniture were missing, you’d say no there isn’t. I don’t know the limit on missing items and the importance of certain items. Still you name it, my plan was missing it. I felt confident of failure after the interior layout.
I was missing so much stuff, I remember most of the furniture. Somehow not being able to cram x pieces of furniture into the floor plan emblazoned them in my memory. I have made a sketch of the best solution and listed the furniture I could remember. If need be, I can refer to my sketch 6 months from now. I have more to tell about the building layout experience in the next post.
Perhaps I didn’t treat this like a video game. If I had played the practice program like Pokemon (or Brain Age), I would have done better. I would have played every other day and looked for hints online. I would have trained myself to be ready for the usual problems and more prepared for the complex problems.
PPI