Drexel Main Building - Fire Systems Info from Mr. Taylor

The Main building has conventional wet sprinkler and hose riser fire protection. No suppression systems are installed in Main. Randell, Curtis,, and Alumni have standpipes. There is a small stove hood suppression system in the prep kitchen near the Museum on the third floor of Randell, and another suppression system in the data center in Curtis. The fire alarm system in Main is a relatively new addressable system with pull stations, smoke detection where required and sprinkler interface. The system coverage extends to all four buildings. To learn about the security system they should contact Drexel’s office of Public Safety. I don’t know who would be the appropriate contact but I believe they have a contact directory on their website. 

A2 - Generating Floor Plan Assumptions

Question:

I am finishing up Assignment 2 for AE 390, and haven't had any luck finding the first floor plan for xxxxxx. I know the rubric says to show the first floor plan, but would it be acceptable to show the floor plans for the other floors I found?

Response

I urge you to create a rough floor plan even if you don’t know the details.  You can start from an upper floor plan.  Particularly for office buildings you can guess that they will probably have:

• Lobby opening on at least one main street
• Loading/Service area
• Parking garage entry if there is a garage below
• Retail stores along a significant portion of the main streets
• Elevators – obtainable from upper floors
• Exit stairways – obtainable from upper floors

Building Systems – Rules of Thumb

Site

• Site - to Consider
• Zoning
• Setback
• Parking Requirements
• Height limitations
• Relationship to other buildings
• Shading issues
• More in other countries than US at the moment

Architecture

• SF/ Person - 200-400
• Circulation % of building 15%-50%
• Exiting requirements
• 2 separate exit paths (protected) with 20' of exit from room or suite
• Floor to Floor
• 9' in apartments/hotels
• 12-14+ in commercial

Structure

• Depth of Beam in 1/12 of Length
• Ie. Depth in inches = Length in Ft
• This is conservative - often 2/3 to 3/4 of this
• Studio Companion is great Resource
• Design Loads
• Live Loads
• Gravity
• 40#/SF residential
• 80-100#/SF commercial
• 250#/SF+ for storage and other special conditions
• Snow - up to 30#/SF
• Dead Loads
• Self-weight
• Lateral Loads
• Live
• Wind - 90mph ~ 28#/SF
• Seismic
• Blast

HVAC

• Duct velocity - 800FPM to 3,000FPM
• Chiller Sizing - 200-400 SF/Ton
• Ventilations - 10-40 CFM/person - depending on activity
• Equest is great resource for first approximation
• Design Temperatures
• Indoor
• 72-78 DegF depending on age, season, culture
• Outdoor
• 14 DegF Winter
• 90 DegF Summer

Electrical

• Typical feeds (in Philadelphia) 13.2KV 3-phase
• Typical in-Bldg voltages
• 480/277 - motors and lights
• 208/120 - Convenience, portable appliances, some lights
• Emergency System
• Range from corridor lights only (2fc -> battery packs)
• 100% backup
• Duplicate feeds from separate substations
• Emergency Generator
• Depends on purpose of building, client desires
• Increasingly will see tied to alternative energy &/or electrical storage (batteries mostly)

Other Systems – Non-Exhaustive list

• Geotech
• Fire Protection
• Stormwater
• Lighting
• Circulation
• Transportation
• Plumbing
• Security
• Telecom