I normally post on Wednesday afternoons, but this Wednesday I had a particularly interesting call: it was my wife calling to tell me that she was in labor. 10 hours later I became a dad. Since then, my wife and I have been sleep deprived to the point of exhaustion which is nature’s way of brain washing us into serving the baby exclusively. If you’re bored you can check out the obligatory baby pics here.

So, what do you post when you’re sleep deprived? I’ve found that when mildly drunk, which almost equates to sleep deprivation, that I can pretty much just post cool resources and add a few pretty pictures for fun. So, today it’s going to be all about my top four resources to find great architecture photos. Some on the list will be instantly familiar, but I hope that a couple will not be so familiar.

House Heuser, Mies van der Rohe 1932 

Danda.be - The first resource that I turn to to get a sense for a building is Danda. Danda has managed to pull together a comprehensive photo gallery for a great number of contemporary buildings. Their main focus is Europe, though, so don’t expect to find as many American buildings. Buildings are organized very well, so finding things by country, architect, or building name becomes quite easy.

Archinect- Archinect is becoming one of my old standbys as far as anything architecture is concerned. I’ve been meaning to check to see how popular they are because for me, they seem ubiquitous. However, I think archinect is a rather small operation, so it’s impressive what they have accomplished so far. Also, archinect has pulled together tons of photos of unbuilt projects and student work as well as built works.

Flickr- Flickr is, of course, awesome to find architecture pictures. In particular, I use the group “Details of Modern Architecture” which is a bit more specific on modern architecture and a bit more broad based on the amount of contributors which is 0ver 1,500. Although the gallery is vast at 15,000 + pics in the group, finding something you want is not simple because there is no real descriptive data structure.

www.ribapix.com- Before I go any further this resource is currently down, but I need to mention this resource anyway because of its importance. RIBAPix is the image database for the Royal Institute of British Architects. From what I’ve read, this is the most comprehensive picture gallery of architecture in the world. Here’s what RIBA says about their database:

RIBApix is the online image database of the RIBA British Architectural Library, the world’s most extensive visual archive devoted to architecture.

The database, which encompasses photographs, drawings and engravings, covers world architecture of all periods together with related subjects such as design, landscape, topography, planning, construction and the decorative arts. Many of its unique images are also of social documentary importance.

Now, back to baby stuff. It took no less than 4 attempts to make this post. I’ll have a system down soon, I hope.

Whoa! This looks boring already! Just wait…

Today, I would like write about what questions to ask when coordinating the heating and cooling system in a residential apartment. What I won’t talk about today is how big a system needs to be, how to balance a system, or any of the more technical stuff. I leave all the technical loads to the mechanical engineer. What I will talk about is which system to use, and what questions to ask when using that system.

To simplify the discussion, I have chosen to talk about the most common types of conditioning systems. There are all types of new and interesting systems such as hydronic systems, passive solar systems, and so on, but the most commons systems are still packaged wall units and more traditional central air conditioning.

Packaged Wall Units are the types of air conditioners that you might see in motels. They are a bit noisy, not incredibly efficient, but they are the least expensive of the lot. The only reason I would consider a packaged unit in an apartment it if I was on an incredibly tight budget.
Traditional Central Air Conditioners are those air conditioners that you might see in every typical suburban home. The system can be gas powered or electric powered, and generally they are more efficient and cheaper in the long run than the Packed Wall Units. Central Air Conditioners are much more expensive to install, though, and also take up quite a bit more space. Traditional Central Air Conditioners are composed of 6 basic parts:

• A Condenser which creates the cooling element by condensing freon gas and then letting it expand which creates a cooling effect.
• A Fan Coil which blows the air into the rooms as well as holds the heating coils which heat a room.
• An Outside Air Duct which draws fresh air in to the system from the outside.
• Supply ducts which supply the conditioned air into the rooms and…
• A Return Air Duct which recycles the air in a room back into the fan coil.
• A drain pan and drain.

condensing units on roof will be located here

fan coil with supply and return ducts

Also, regardless of which system you choose to use, there are several constants that will affect the design of the system. For instance, you will always have to exhaust the kitchen and the bathrooms with a fan of some sort. Some important general questions include:

• Where will the bathroom exhaust go to, and where will the kitchen exhaust go to? For both of these exhaust systems, they will need to get to the outside somehow. You can either take the exhaust out of the roof or out of the wall. If you take the exhaust out of the roof, then you will need to have some sort of shaft that take this up to the top of the building. If you take this out of the wall, then you will have to put this exhaust duct in either the joists, in a dropped ceiling, or in soffits.
• Will the system be in the joists, in a dropped ceiling, or in soffits? If you want a really clean looking ceiling, then you will most likely drop the ceiling below the joists to accommodate for all of the ducts running everywhere. If you have really deep joists, truss joists, or some other special joists then you may be able to just put all the ducts in the joist space (depending upon the what is allowed by code). The simplest and cheapest option for moving ducts through a space, though, is to simply have a dropped soffit wherever the duct is running.
• Do the intakes and exhausts conflict with the shear walls? A very important item that often gets overlooked is where the shear walls (solid structural walls that often can not be penetrated) are located. I’ve seen this many times where someone runs a duct along the edge of a wall, and come to find out, the duct can’t penetrate to the outside because there is a shear wall in the way. This means that the duct has to go somewhere which usually means having to create an unsightly soffit you had not planned. Ugly!
• Do the intakes and exhausts conflict with the window or door headers? Not only do you have to think of the shear walls, but any time you have a window or door, you will have a solid header that you will not be able to penetrate.

More questions come up with the most two common air conditioning systems, for instance:

Central Air Conditioning:

• Where will the condensing unit go? This is almost always on the roof or in a side yard away from the residence. I like t keep the compressor as far away as possible from human contact. It sucks that bad. The cooled liquid then travels from the compressor to the fan coil.
• Where will the fan coil go? This usually goes inside the ceiling or standing up in a closet. To preserve space in apartments on a tight budget, I have often put the fan in the ceiling. The only thing weird about this set up is you will need a drain somewhere to drain off condensate. I usually drain to a tub or shower.
• Will the fan coil get a ceiling or wall mounted return air grill? Let’s say the fan coil is ceiling mounted. Right next to the fan coil should be a return air plenum or duct. I suggest a side duct through the wall of a soffit because this method is quieter than if the return air was directly below a unit.
• Will the fan coil need sound dampers? The fan coil will likely need excess sound insulation below and above the unit, and the unit might be mounted on springs to stop the vibration from transmitting to other apartments or rooms. These units are very annoying if you do nothing.
• How deep is the fain coil, and will the fan coil make drop the ceiling below 7’-6”? The fan coil is about 10” deep, so when all is said, you will need about 1’-4” for the whole ceiling drop which includes air space, gypsum board, and metal studs. If this ceiling drop falls below 7’-6” then consider moving the unit to a closet. 7’-6” is sort of the code cutoff point for a livable ceiling height.
• How will the fan coil get fresh air? The fan coil is required to use some fresh air in the mix. This means, just like the exhaust air, you will need to get something in to the fan coil from the outside. Sometimes the fan coil is right in the middle of the house or apartment, so keep in mind where and how far you have to go.
• Are the kitchen exhausts far enough away from the fresh air intakes? There are codes that require that fresh air and exhaust be a certain distance apart. Check your code books for minimum distances or consult your mechanical engineer.
  How will the fan coil get air to the various rooms? Finally, the supply takes a bit more room because it’s covered in soft insulation. Where are these ducts going to fit?

fan coil after installation

Packaged Window Units:

• Why would I use this system? Because it’s cheap and easy to install.
• How many units do I need? I ask this because you may need two or three of these things depending upon the size of your apartment. Let’s just say, you would need two of these for a small two bedroom.
• Where do the units go? Let’s say a small two bedroom gets one unit in the master bedroom and one unit in the living room.
• Do I need transfer fans? Then, you would stick a transfer fan between the living room and the bedroom to cool or warm the second bedroom. This fan is unsightly, so think about its location.
• What do the units look like on the façade of the building? I would really consider what grill you use and if the grill can be integrated into the windows some how. This thing is ugly regardless.
• Will this fit with the window system and floor to floor height I’ve chosen? Finally, I’ve noticed that you really want to lay out a wall section to make sure that you can fit the windows, header, top plate, bottom plate, and wall unit all within the constrained floor to floor height. Often times, a smaller than desirable window needs to be used which might test your light and air requirements.

packaged wall units can be installed like this if you want extra room on the interior, but I don’t advise this because of how it looks on the building.

Here are some links for more information:

• http://www.firstco.com
• http://www.residential.carrier.com/
• http://www.amana-ptac.com/
• http://www.mcquay.com
• http://www.colemanac.com/

One Rincon Tower

San Francisco from 60 Floors Up

The Guardrail of Peril

My coworkers and I got an exclusive look at One Rincon Hill here in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. One Rincon is the new 60 story residential tower in the heart of SOMA and adjacent to the Bay Bridge. The Tower is tall and thin, and for residents who own a penthouse unit, they will be nearly 800 feet above the level of the bay. The views are breathtaking.

One detail in the building that is downright scary is the guardrail for the patio on each unit. As you can see in the picture above, the guardrail consists of a stainless steel frame that cups a piece of laminated glass. That’s all there is to it. From what I understand, there is no top to the guardrail and there are no corner pieces to the guardrail. I know for a fact that this is completely safe and condo owners have nothing to worry about, however, when you are up at the 60th floor, the patios begin to lose their appeal. I personally don’t see myself ever using the patios. The picture I show above in red shows a patio that is near completed on the 14th floor a mere 160 feet above the ground. Now imagine being on one of these at four times the height shown in the picture. It begins to make these details seem much more unreasonable.

And we all know why the designers have chosen to do this detail: 1. the clean glass detail allows for unbroken views of the horizon, 2. because they can, and their egos told them to. Now that I really know what it feels like to experience this detail (because lord knows I’ve been tempted to do the same detail myself) , I would possibly consider not only a visual barrier of solid material on the top rail, but also a glass guardrail that is maybe 4 feet tall rather than the required 3 feet-six.

What is wrong with this photo? Maybe there are a few things, but the thing that stands out the clearest to me is that the rain water leader is bent where it was supposed to go straight. Why? Basically, we aligned the roof to pitch to the center of the bay, we aligned the rain water leader to go down the center of the bay, and while we’re at it, we aligned the exterior light to be in the center of the bay, as well.  This is so wrong! Now, what will most likely happen is if the rain water leader gets clogged it will shoot water directly on top of the light… not to mention that the rain water leader looks stupid turning like that. It’s amazing how many things have to be coordinated for the contractor to get this detail right. I will try to name each trade that has to coordinate this detail:

• The framer has to center the scupper.
• The sheet metal guy has to install the rain water leader and flashing
• The electrician has to rough out and then finish the light
• The framer also has to install the hold downs which prevent the light from moving over
• The plumber has to hit the right place to run the water away from the building

Things just pile on top of each other, one after the other after the other. This is why it is extremely important to draw as much possible detail into your drawings as you can stand because you never know what might come back to bite you in the ass.

This is what you get when you ask the electrician to align the electrical box. First, I should start by saying that this is located in a VERY nice condo unit where we intended to keep the concrete wall exposed for that industrial look. We, of course, assumed the electrician was going to use one conduit when we recommended he align the electrical boxes. Unfortunately, he needed two sets of conduits, I assume, because the boxes were on separate circuits. Now, we have one “interesting” wall. Next time, I think we’ll consider an electrical raceway along the concrete base.