ARE 5.0: PA study plan

Decompose a sample project brief into owner-stated requirements, code-driven requirements, and designer-derived requirements, tagging each item with its source.

Compute net assignable area, gross area, and efficiency ratio for three different program sets, showing the arithmetic.

Build an adjacency matrix and a corresponding bubble diagram for a 10,000-15,000 sf institutional program.

List the categories of programmatic data gathered in a pre-design interview and write one probe question for each category.

Compare three structural bay systems and quantify how each changes usable floor area within a fixed gross footprint.

Analyze a building section to locate MEP distribution zones and calculate the resulting floor-to-floor height.

Evaluate two adaptive-reuse scenarios for an existing building against the same program, scoring each on structural capacity, egress, and floor-plate fit.

Assemble a preliminary code summary table (occupancy, construction type, allowable area and height, egress) for one program scenario.

Plot sun angles for the summer and winter solstices at a stated latitude and mark resulting shadow lengths on a site plan.

Classify a site's climate zone and derive passive design implications for orientation, glazing ratio, and thermal mass.

Analyze prevailing wind and topographic data to designate desirable and undesirable outdoor zones on a hypothetical site.

Identify context factors (adjacency, scale, character, views, noise) that constrain massing and restate them as design criteria.

Determine the buildable envelope on a lot after applying setbacks, height limits, and floor-area ratio, then compute the resulting gross floor area.

Compare infiltration, detention, and permeable-surface stormwater strategies for one site and estimate required storage volumes.

Interpret a geotechnical summary to select a foundation approach and flag the risks it introduces.

Check a site plan against grading, drainage, and utility easement constraints and note conflicts.

Classify a mixed-occupancy building into occupancy groups and apply the separated versus non-separated occupancy rules.

Determine allowable building area and height for a given construction type, applying frontage increase and sprinkler allowances.

Calculate occupant load, required egress width, and number of exits for three floor plans.

Check a floor plan against accessibility requirements for routes, clearances, and toilet room layouts.

Compile a site inventory checklist covering utilities, access, topography, vegetation, and hazards, and rate the availability of each data item.

Score three candidate parcels against a weighted criteria matrix and justify the weighting.

Analyze vehicular and pedestrian circulation to locate building entry points and service access.

Estimate parking demand and lay out a parking and loading scheme that satisfies a stated zoning requirement.

Synthesize site analysis into a site development concept that fixes building placement, orientation, and landscape response.

Reconcile the program against the site's buildable envelope and report any surplus or shortfall in square footage.

Draft a 500-word site analysis narrative written for a client audience.

Cross-check the site concept against zoning, stormwater, and parking regulations and list every required variance.

Complete two timed 60-question practice sets and log every missed item by domain and error type.

Rewrite notes into one-page summary sheets for the domains showing the lowest practice accuracy.

Rehearse calculations (FAR, occupant load, egress width, area and frontage increases) under a three-minute-per-item limit.

Restate the programming-to-site-analysis workflow end to end without notes.