The ‘Standard Details’ concept is deceptively simple. “An easily accessed library of building details that describe how you like to do things.” Everybody gets that.
Have you ever tried to do it? Successfully? I found success elusive. But it is worth a try. Here is why ... There are a number of things about a truck dock that add up to truck docks needing to be more than an afterthought.
I am not thinking of a distribution center when I say that. The docks are the central focus of that kind of building and will get plenty of attention. I am thinking here of the incidental truck dock that may be a convenience or an efficiency measure. In that case safety is a paramount concern, but every truck dock that isn't part of a professional trucking operation should have a safety focus because people will sometimes use the dock who haven't been trained. The first design step is to contact a local manufacturer's rep for dock levelers. They can look at your situation and give you great advice about the best way to set up the dock. Here are a few things to consider about the dock, the building and the equipment: The first sustainable project that I had a chance to be part of was offices for a Dutch candy manufacturer in the late 1990s. Among other things accomplished, we used Photovoltaic Panels as window awnings - collecting and using the sunlight while shading the window glass. I am sure that is where this ideas comes from: using reflective glass to form an exterior light shelf that also shades the window below. That is what my crude sketch below is trying to describe. The first time I designed a building with two levels, the boss told me to make the floor-to-floor height as tight as possible because that would keep the exteior wall cost as low as possible. I did it. 10'-8"! My main recollection of the construction of that building was the constant phone calls and trips to the site to explain how to run the ducts, conduits, and place the lights so everything would fit. I came to the conclusion that the boss may have been focused on the wrong issue. Eventually I came to this Rule Of Thumb that I am going to share with you. But I always gave the floor-to-floor height more thought than on that first project.
I once wasted a day trying to lay out a building and parking on a site. It couldn't be done. The building footprint, plus parking, plus zoning setbacks equalled 92% of the area of the site. Tight, but do-able you are thinking; just get creative.
... Did I mention that the shape of the site had an offset that prevented an efficient parking layout? Some layouts came so close to working that I was sure there was a solution. Nope, the math wouldn't give. If only I had worked the math first, I would have spent most of that day looking at alternatives like partial two-story, or a full two-story building, or simply explaining that we were wasting our time on this site.
Back in the day when I was designing buildings instead of managing projects, I really enjoyed the task of getting light into the building. Most of the time this was just a form of decoration. But when i could make it more integral to the design, that was especially gratifying.
I found a number of ways to make windows more than just a 'punched' opening - although there was plenty of that, too. Here are some examples to show what I mean. Construction Administration - DOs and DON'Ts |
Roof access seems to have become more important to me as I got older (wiser?). Two realizations dawned on me. 1. Climbing a ladder to visit a roof is pretty ’thrilling’ for the unaccustomed. 2. How is anyone motivated to maintain the roof and the stuff up there if they can't easily get to ’up there’. Reason 2 is the main reason to build easy access to the roof into every project - even a remodeling. So what are the options? A. Do nothing - we’ve already covered that. However, this isn't an option for 3-story (or more) buildings because of code. B. Permanent ladder and roof hatch - this is better than nothing, but it is hard to climb a ladder with a tool box, roofing repair materials or even a clipboard. It is even more difficult if the trip is over 20’ and you are caged in. OSHA! This is about a $3000 solution costing you just 10 SF, but it’s only rudimentary. If lack of maintenance creates problems because of roof access difficulties, you will regret not spending more. |
WHEN TO KEYNOTE
For some reason I have been thinking about keynoting, although I have been retired for 2-1/2 years now. We were not cutting edge with CAD by any means since we were still using AutoCAD 2002. Maybe we were missing out. We were definitely missing out on the opportunity of paying Autodesk every year for the privilege of using the same program that we purchased in 1986.
How well does keynoting work these days?
Typical Walls and Partitions
My early design experiences were mostly masonry buildings. Masonry exterior walls and masonry interior walls. Distinguishing among wall types wasn't an issue. Exterior wall sections defined the exterior walls, and dimensions defined interior walls - just plain old concrete block of different thicknesses. The more usual case, I learned, was a bit more complicated. Exterior walls were still covered by wall sections, but interior wall differences were exploding. Fire rated construction. Sound separations. Plumbing concealment. Chase walls. Abuse-resistant walls. Shaft walls. Furred walls. My example below shows 26 interior wall types!
How do you keep all the types organized and clearly defined?
How do you keep all the types organized and clearly defined?
Rooftop Equipment Screens
One of the things that I didn’t like about my early designs was the way that the engineers screwed up the aesthetics because I didn’t know enough to anticipate the inevitable. Transformers, gas meters, condensing units, rooftop units. If it could go outside, they would find the most inopportune place and, of course, “It has to go there” was the reason.
After a while it dawns on you that there needs to be a discussion about this ‘hardware’ long before working drawings when you often find that you are backed into a corner.
Some of this stuff happens on every project - even houses. Gas meters, electric meters, and condensing units are ubiquitous. Almost no project escapes these exterior ornaments. Propose locations when you are working on the first site plan and get feedback.
What Triggers Rooftop Equipment Screens?
After a while it dawns on you that there needs to be a discussion about this ‘hardware’ long before working drawings when you often find that you are backed into a corner.
Some of this stuff happens on every project - even houses. Gas meters, electric meters, and condensing units are ubiquitous. Almost no project escapes these exterior ornaments. Propose locations when you are working on the first site plan and get feedback.
What Triggers Rooftop Equipment Screens?
C10-Special Access Handicapped Toilet Room
OVERVIEW / DESCRIPTION
I have been volunteering my time for a non-profit for 30 years. During that time I have learned a lot about accessibility. The first toilet room conversion that I did for the agency was a disaster. The clients are REALLY disabled, and a standard ADA toilet room is barely a good start.
This project converted an office into a toilet room. This became a priority when a reorganization of space created a 75' trip down the hall to get to the rest rooms. The adult clients were going 'walkabout', having 'trouble', or taking staff with them for assistance, which left the program understaffed.
The big takeaway is to look beyond what is being requested to see what the real requirements are.
I have been volunteering my time for a non-profit for 30 years. During that time I have learned a lot about accessibility. The first toilet room conversion that I did for the agency was a disaster. The clients are REALLY disabled, and a standard ADA toilet room is barely a good start.
This project converted an office into a toilet room. This became a priority when a reorganization of space created a 75' trip down the hall to get to the rest rooms. The adult clients were going 'walkabout', having 'trouble', or taking staff with them for assistance, which left the program understaffed.
The big takeaway is to look beyond what is being requested to see what the real requirements are.
I admit that my experience is limited. We designed just one green roof as a demonstration project for a storm water authority, circa 2004. The utility especially likes the decrease in rate of run off. In fact we have two spouts side by side to demonstrate the difference between the vegetated roof and an equal area of typical roof. The difference is dramatic.
Lately I've been wondering, "Is it just me or has the din about green roofs died down?" The touted benefits list is fairly long.
Benefits
- The roofing lasts longer
- Provides extra insulation
- Moderates the temperature differential between inside and outside
- Slows time of concentration of storm water runoff
- Absorbs CO2
- Eliminates the heat island effect of the building
- Provides habitat
All my posts about stairs gathered in one place for easy research, reference, and access.
1
Stairs are one of the features of a design that can take an inordinate amount of time to design. (Toilets are another.) The reason is invariably that the layout decided upon in Schematic Design doesn't work out upon closer inspection in Construction Documents. Finding out that you need an extra 2’ leads to a bad day. Finding 2' means re-design.
http://www.architekwiki.com/1/post/2014/01/commercial-stair-layouts-rule-of-thumb.html
1
Stairs are one of the features of a design that can take an inordinate amount of time to design. (Toilets are another.) The reason is invariably that the layout decided upon in Schematic Design doesn't work out upon closer inspection in Construction Documents. Finding out that you need an extra 2’ leads to a bad day. Finding 2' means re-design.
http://www.architekwiki.com/1/post/2014/01/commercial-stair-layouts-rule-of-thumb.html
It has been a while since I've added any DETAIL posts - back around Valentine's Day. Maybe I should re-consider. Every month the top page views are almost always DETAIL posts. Not just yet. But in the interest of recycling, you might find these six posts useful. I have assembled roof details for you to check out.
Every time I have used this technique for understanding cut and fill, an engineer has told me "You can't do it that way" or even "That doesn't work". And yet I always get useful information that engineering can't provide. Well, it can provide it but there are impediments. First you need an engineer on board. Second you need a proposed topo to give him to work from. And third you have to convince him to do this several times. Of course all this takes a week to get the engineer on board, a day to create and send the proposed topo, and an indeterminate amount of time to get the revisions. I can use this technique to get a 'good-enough' answer in a couple of hours.
Why do I want to know about cut and fill? Basically I want to know because I don't want everyone to get excited about my fabulous site plan only to learn later that earthwork will cost more than the building. So I want to know that my idea will be defendable. Plus I love this site planning stuff.
I recently shared some (poor) photos of the final result of our adventure with frosted glass. Check them out here.
How we got to the final result is a more interesting story. After all, you aren't interested in duplicating our design; you will have a different project to use frosted glass on - drinking and dining establishments, office or conference room glass walls, and many more. I saw a fascinating wall in a Rem Koolhaas building at the IIT campus in Chicago. Google 'Rem Koolhaas IIT campus' to see the context and other interesting features of the building. The photos below show a similar idea to frosted glass. I suspect that this was done with a printed translucent image sandwiched between two sheets of glass.
How we got to the final result is a more interesting story. After all, you aren't interested in duplicating our design; you will have a different project to use frosted glass on - drinking and dining establishments, office or conference room glass walls, and many more. I saw a fascinating wall in a Rem Koolhaas building at the IIT campus in Chicago. Google 'Rem Koolhaas IIT campus' to see the context and other interesting features of the building. The photos below show a similar idea to frosted glass. I suspect that this was done with a printed translucent image sandwiched between two sheets of glass.
I have always been partial to working with ways to bring light into a building. It is where the inside and outside meet. It is your best chance of tying the interior to its greater environment.
These photos are of the doors to a church, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. The original doors had a translucent glass that appeared white. These front doors just begged for a change that would signal the renewal that was going on.
The idea, which turned out to be surprisingly economical, was to replace the translucent glass with frosted glass. That was the easy part. What design to incorporate on the doors and the journey to get it done will be a follow-up post.
Unlike stained glass, frosted glass is difficult to capture in a photo (as you can see below). Stay tuned for the rest of the story.
These photos are of the doors to a church, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. The original doors had a translucent glass that appeared white. These front doors just begged for a change that would signal the renewal that was going on.
The idea, which turned out to be surprisingly economical, was to replace the translucent glass with frosted glass. That was the easy part. What design to incorporate on the doors and the journey to get it done will be a follow-up post.
Unlike stained glass, frosted glass is difficult to capture in a photo (as you can see below). Stay tuned for the rest of the story.
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