On Wednesday 23 of September

On Wednesday we went to Kings Head Pub again to continue measure the details that we missed on Monday. Measuring the HVAC system was hard and confusing. To get the measurements of furnace, ducts that are different sizes and shapes, diffusers we had to use ladder and laser level. I constantly had to look up to make sure that my drawings won’t miss any dimensions or important parts that were hiding under or behind the ducts. Plus painted black ceiling and black ducts was making it even worse for me. However, it was interesting to survey exposed HVAC system and get the understanding of how it functions. HVAC system simultaneously controls temperature, humidity, air purity, distribution, and motion of air in Kings building. On this website I found some useful explanation on how the HVAC system works in the building. http://www.hometips.com/how-it-works/forced-air-heating-systems.html
If to talk about the ceiling, the gypsum board looked uneven and damaged at some areas. The part of the ceiling that is covered with ornamented pressed tin tiles was an interesting detail that stands out from the other part of the ceiling on the main floor and reminds me of a different time in this building history. I also felt like the two different type of ceiling materials the dark, deemed area with its black gypsum board and other part of the room with green, ornamented pressed tin tiles create the atmosphere of two different rooms. The Kings Head Pub lighting has a low intensity of light to create an intimate and leisurely atmosphere but during the day Pub gets a bit of light from its front big windows. In my opinion the dark interior and low intensity lighting makes the building look even older and forgotten. For my project on creative center I would like to use more day light to bring more life to the building and show its historic beauty.
By learning to collect field records on historic building like the Kings Head Pub we as young designers can understand the history of the building and its use for the future needs.

Space Planning

Sep 24^th Field Trip

333 Main Street

MTS Tower

On this field trip we have visited the MTS and Bank of Montreal building structures. The engineer on duty explained us how the systems are working and took us for the tour around the tower. The structure has 23 floors and is divided into blocks, which is preferred by the types of businesses located within the building. The tower provides working and meeting spaces for about 600 people.

It was valuable for us, as future designers, to understand and see the real systems that are needed to maintain such a structure. It is amazing how much space and maintenance they require. It is important to plan enough space and choose the right location for all the systems from the first time or at the beginning of the design project since alterations and removal of such systems later might cost a fortune or be not possible at all. It was interesting to find out that the location and characteristics (such as heat, noise or power consumption) of such systems might be key elements influencing some of the main design decisions. Nowadays this particular building’ systems require tremendous amount of space and maintains. Such systems include heating, cooling and ventilation, fire sprinklers, and diesel and battery backup generators. Their placement is determined by the placement of the building in relation to sunshine or wind. Besides that the interiors still have to be divided into zones to help balance the building and provide optimal and equal level of comfort for all of its occupants. The images above illustrate some of the volumes systems of the MTS tower require to sustain well-being and work performance of the people working in the building. This systems do consume a big amount of energy, that is why when appropriate they might be shut down or regulated in other ways to save some energy (for example for the night when the building is not occupied the heating might be turned down and few hours before the start of the work day turned up again).

People are still needed to perform such tasks as regulating systems’ energy consumption and performance, as well as to be there to immediately solve any technical problems. Such professionals are located and also work full-time inside the building they are looking after. On this field trip it was sad for us to observe that in the building where beautiful offices and huge corridors were designed, there was no space planned for the building engineers. Storage spaces were all they had available to adapt for their work spaces. They work in a small room in one of the noisiest parts of the building, with no natural light or wheelchair access. Designers goal is to make sure their design after it is built would treat all the building’s occupants equally, which is not observed in the MTS Tower.

One of the most exiting parts of our building tour was visiting its roof. Here we could see some of the “extensions” of building systems, which also took lots of space and were quite noisy. One might think that it should be no problem since nobody uses or cares about the roof space anyway… but while we were there taking pictures of the beautiful views of Winnipeg Downtown and The Forks, the building engineer mentioned that if we came few weeks later we would see the most beautiful picture of the year from this roof with all the autumn colours... He also noted that people who work in the building in autumn often ask him to take them to the roof to take pictures! That’s when I thought WHY doesn’t anybody use the roof space? There are so many businesses in the world that make money on just providing views that people are always exited to experience. Lots of work and money might be needed to adapt the roof space to make it comfortable, safe and suitable for people to gather in or use as a space to go for a break, take time away from the office headaches… there could be a green space on this roof... Mts Tower Roof

http://www.land8lounge.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-tops-north-america-for "Chicago Tops North America for Most Green Roof Installed"

measure... and measure... and measure more.. and more

Today we went to the King's Head Pub to measure. We split into groups and spent all day measuring every possible nook and cranny of the building. We will now attempt to construct an "as-built" drawing of the structure. To be honest, we thought measuring the building would be an easy feat, but we quickly saw how wrong we were. Every door, door frame, window, base trim... EVERYTHING had to be measured! Things ran pretty smoothly, but certain aspects, such as the HVAC system, were difficult to measure accurately. Any vertical measurements required the use of a ladder, and we were lucky that Amanda supplied the one-and-only ladder.

Other tools we used were:

1) a laser level : this came in EXTREMELY handy. When measuring the HVAC system, we were able to climb the ladder and use the laser level to mark on the floor where a duct ended. We repeated this exercise on the opposite end of the duct; this allowed us to measure duct lengths on the floor rather than trying (and most likely failing) to measure the duct at ceiling height.

2) a vinyl tape measure (?) : I can't remember if this is the exact name of the device, but it is basically a soft tape measure that can be used to measure pipe circumferences etc. This became useful when trying to find the diameter of pipes throughout the pub. By measuring the circumference and using the C(circumference)= pi x d(diameter) equation, we were able to determine the diameter.

Measuring the building forced us to take a closer look at the intricacies of the interior, and we found some really cool details in the pub. For example, while measuring the basement, we discovered an antique lighting fixture. The fixture was comprised of two twin lamps, both with decorative frilly shades, connected to an ornamental painted metal plate which was attached to the wall. Even cooler was that the part that the incandescent bulb screwed into was made to look like a melting candle; it looked obviously fake but was a cool detail.

The building is extremely rich in history, and different details reference the different functions the structure has served. After measuring ALL day, I wondered : "who else DOES this?" I surfed the web a little bit and found this : http://graphics.stanford.edu/~levoy/habs-drawings/. The web page is essentially someone else's (Marc Levoy) quick documentation of what they have done in terms of recording historical buildings. Take a look at the site, you will be impressed with the detail at which the drawings are done. Team, I expect our drawings to look like this! Hopefully...

Anyone looking to take measurements from a structure can also visit this site : http://history.utah.gov/historic_buildings/information_and_research/measure.html. It provides you with the basic tools and techniques needed to measure a building.


Thinking back to studio once again, I began to wonder how and what I should/ could change about this historic building. In my research I stumbled across an interesting article on "Sustainable Historic Preservation". The article examines the inherent sustainability of historic buildings and discusses things to consider when one is looking at adaptive reuse or preservation of a heritage site. It is a very interesting notion that old buildings are sustainable, and I recommend reading the article.

Lecture: Measured Drawings (Sep 18th, 2009)

We’re about to start working on out first assignment which is measuring and recording the King’s Head Pub. Today’s lecture was mostly about the right method for doing this. But before this, we did a short overview of building systems.

When we’re dealing with building systems, the most important thing to consider is the people who are going to use these buildings and their needs such as air quality, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, thermal comfort and spatial comfort to name a few.

Selection of materials could be critical in indoor quality. Beware of volatile organic compounds which are basically contaminant gases emitted by some building materials. These gases could adversely affect indoor air quality and make people irritated and uncomfortable. There is even an illness called “sick building syndrome” attributed to this. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound

Another very important issue to consider is ventilation. Buildings in Winnipeg are closed most of the year. This could cause mold growth which could lead to respiratory infections and allergic reactions in humans.



And now back to the assignment! We’re going to do as built drawings of the King’s Head Pub. Wiggings describes how to do this properly in “A Manual of Construction Documentation”.

“From information on standard utility graphics through specifics on schedules and sequencing, this book covers every aspect of the working drawings and schedules that comprise a standard set of construction documents.” (product description on Amazon)

Just a few quick tips:

-Have a checklist of all you need to do so you won’t miss anything.
-Use standard symbols! You want your drawings to be usable by others.
-Collaborate and share information!

On another note, this new software from Autodesk named “Imagemodeler” is introducing some exciting possibilities for designers. What it does, is generating 3D models from images!

“Bridging the 2D and 3D worlds, Autodesk ImageModeler enables you to capture the reality as-built, take measurements of buildings, and easily create photorealistic 3D models. “

Seems too good to be true!

Learn more here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=11390028

120 King St.

Building Tour – 120 King St (Sep 16th, 2009)

Today we had the opportunity to tour the King's Head Pub downtown. We were shown around by an engineer, Russ, who was extremely helpful in identifying and explaining the different systems that exist within the building.

The pub is located in a heritage building. Built in the late 1800's, the building began as a fur-trading site and later functioned as a printing press, general office for Canadian Pacific Airlines, and Sparling Sales (radio and television wholesaler) before becoming the pub it is today.

We began in the basement, where Russ showed us what was formerly the boiler room. Before the creation of HVAC systems buildings were heated by steam, which was supplied by a boiler and released through various radiators throughout the structure. When HVAC was introduced to this particular building the boiler was no longer required, and was removed. The room now acts as the site of the structure's electrical panel box. It was interesting to examine the HVAC system that now exists throughout the pub, and observation was easy due to the fact that it remained fully exposed; all systems (plumbing, electrical, HVAC were left exposed). Ventilation on the main floor was achieved through 2 systems: diffusion and forced air. One system used a large pipe with small holes cut into it to allow air to "overflow" out and passively enter the room. Alongside, the main system used a system of diffusers to force the air down into the area.

Various code requirements were pointed out during our tour. In the basement we were shown the kitchen, which requires all surfaces to be wipeable in order to maintain sterilization. This includes the ceiling, which I did not previously know. This is why HVAC, plumbing, electrical etc. systems are covered up by a smooth, hard dropped ceiling in the kitchen area. We also discovered that exhaust plumbing has to allow for a drop of 1 inch : 100 feet in order to allow for gravity to remove the waste. Other codes include: the need for at least 2 fire exits per room, a methane exhaust system for washrooms which is separate from other ventilation, and wire-mesh in windows in order to create a fire-separation between neighboring buildings.

We questioned the lack of sprinklers in the building, and were told that there had been insurance issues with the printing press that had occupied the building previously. In addition, some code requirements seem to differ due to the heritage status of the building.

A key point mentioned during the tour was that the moment any significant changes (function, structure etc.) were made, the building had be brought up to current code requirements. Always thinking of studio, the first issue that came to our mind when viewing the building was its non-accessibility. The three-story building is not accessible to people requiring the use of a wheelchair, or even a cart if one was needed by staff. This will prove to be a challenge when designing our studio project, which involves placing a creative environment project for kids 10-18 within the building. The absence of sprinklers will also have to be dealt with, as well as any other issues that will almost surely arise.

Again thinking of studio, we were concerned with utilizing new technology that would help us make use of the roof/rainwater. Collected rainwater can be used as gray water, and may be used for gardening, cleaning, or flushing the toilets. In one of the “void spaces” within the building we may be able to build a water tank; perhaps something like the Raintrap offered by www.watertanksonline.co.uk/all_products.asp (first image) or something more creative like CISTA project developed by architects MOSS SUND and industrial designers figforty (second image below)

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/05/cista-rainwater-cachement-by-moss-sund-and-figforty/) or a combination of two.

Other possible sustainable innovations may include solar collection, geothermal heating, or advanced heat exchange systems.