Part 1: Architect’s Guide 1 - 57 6.6 Service integration 6.6.1 General remarks A multi-story building, regardless of end use, is the combination of multiple elements or sub-elements that contribute to its performance: not only the structure and envelope, but also the technical installations and services which sustain the life of the building. The control of interactions between the services and the building structure should allow: Ease of access to services for maintenance purposes Facility to replace elements where their life span is shorter than the structure Prevention of nuisances arising from vibration of structures due to operation of equipment. The main services to be installed are: Heating and air conditioning, Ventilation, High and low current power supplies. Services to the whole building are supplied using horizontal and vertical systems. 6.6.2 Horizontal systems The steel structure and envelope offer very efficient methods of service integration using horizontal systems, as illustrated in Table 6.7. It is worth highlighting the use of cellular beams in this context (see sections 3 and 4 in this document for a description of these products). Since services can pass directly through these beams, the floor-to-floor height can be reduced. In some cases, this allows another floor to be added without altering the overall height of the building. The standard configuration of cellular beams (regularly spaced cells of the same size) can generally be adapted to create larger openings, especially near the mid-span, in order to allow the passage of large rectangular ducts (Figure 6.10). 6.6.3 Vertical systems Steel construction and standard envelope systems also offer flexible integration of vertical systems, due to open spaces in the wall thickness. Achieving floor openings, and changing their location during the life of the building, is facilitated by the use of composite dry floors. It is best to prevent the passage of services through hollow sections (between flange plates) because of potential problems with beam/column connections and in event of application of fire protection coating. The integration of vertical pipes in tubular columns is not recommended because of lack of access for maintenance.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzE2MDY=