Building Service Progress Print

My thought is that I can bring natural ventilation in between where my container modules meet.. Perhaps some type of an adjustable louver can serve to allow ventilation in when desired and keep it out the rest of the time... My thought is that air can come in under the container and be forced to the back of the core building with the use of some type of baffle located within the ceiling plenum space... it can then work its way over the baffle and into the chimney stack to make it out thru the roof..... I think this could make for some great passive cooling of each of the floor slabs and container floors..

See post below for more detailed systems narrative..

Structure Progress Print

In terms of a structural system, I intend to have a steel frame on piles for the core building, exhibit space, and classroom space. Floors will be concrete on metal decking. Roof will be membrane on rigid insulation on metal decking for the core building and green roof at classroom. Walls will be precast concrete panels attached to the steel frame for the core building, insulated metal panel for the classroom, and translucent insulated glazing panels for the exhibit space.As you can see above, the trickiest part of the structural system will be tying the prefab container units into the core building's frame. Is the core building one complete system that the container merely plugs into, or are there two separate systems, one for the core and one for the containers, that are attached together in the field?

Container attachment

For the container attachment to the core building, I would like to be able hang it off of the frame as seen in the images below.... I really need Kurt's opinion on this, but my idea is that there is a frame within each of the containers that can be attached to the core frame at 6 points per container..... I could be way off in terms of the type of attachment, but I think that it can work in theory.... I just have to get the connection down..

Building service sketches

Below are some sketches that try to illustrate my intended building services.. I think that the heating and daylighting are pretty self explanatory... The natural ventilation piece is a little more complicated though... I have a concept sketch for that below...

My thought is that I can bring natural ventilation in between where my container modules meet.. Perhaps some type of an adjustable louver can serve to allow ventilation in when desired and keep it out the rest of the time... My thought is that air can come in under the container and be forced to the back of the core building with the use of some type of baffle located within the ceiling plenum space... it can then work its way over the baffle and into the chimney stack to make it out thru the roof..... I think this could make for some great passive cooling of each of the floor slabs and container floors..

Revised Framing Sketch

Building Services progress narrative

Electrical - While the building will use predominately public electricity, there are some features which will significantly lower its usage.

1. There are presently over 1,000 square feet of Photovoltaic panels on the roof which could potentially generate 10 kilowatts of electricity per year. At the current energy costs, this could translate into around $3,000 of savings per year for electricity.
2. Because of the significant amount of southern exposure due to the "sawtooth" plan layout, and the fact that the building is so strongly oriented on the east-west axis, the design lends itself well to maximizing natural daylight. Couple this with the use of CO2 and Lighting sensors, and the building has the potential to be extremely efficient in terms of lighting needs.
3. The use of sun visors/light shelves in so many of the spaces will maximize the use of natural daylighting.

Cooling/Ventilation

1. The south facing air space that is created between the roof of one container, and the floor of the next, is an excellent opportunity to funnel natural ventilation into the building. There is a chimney space located at the core building between each of the containers which can provide an exellent way for the incoming breezes to escape.
2. The hydronic heating system could also double as a cooling system.

Heating

1. The heating system will be hydronic, located within the concrete slab of each floor.
2. A natural gas fired condensing boiler, vented thru the north wall, will be located in a mechanical space below Level One (at the parking level) and serve to heat the building.

Systems at the Containers

1. Each container will be completely finished with the necessary utility hookups and will be "docked" to the core building when installed. These are intended to become integral with the core building services once in place.

Structural System progress print

Below is my first pass at a framing plan for the upper levels(see brief narrative below the sketch). The odd shaped pieces are rigid box frames within the containers which can be attached to the core building frame. As you can tell, I am definitely NOT a structural engineer, so I will take any advice I can get....

In terms of a structural system, I intend to have a steel frame on piles for the core building, exhibit space, and classroom space. Floors will be concrete on metal decking. Roof will be membrane on rigid insulation on metal decking for the core building and green roof at classroom. Walls will be precast concrete panels attached to the steel frame for the core building, insulated metal panel for the classroom, and translucent insulated glazing panels for the exhibit space.

As you can see above, the trickiest part of the structural system will be tying the prefab container units into the core building's frame. Is the core building one complete system that the container merely plugs into, or are there two separate systems, one for the core and one for the containers, that are attached together in the field? Sketches to follow