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Week 13: Regulations

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 The difference between a licensed or certified design professional and a regulated professional is that the regulated professional must comply with local, state, and federal regulations or risk losing his/ her status Regulations about certification and licensure vary from state to state and province to province Educated professionals must find out what regulations are in place within the jurisdiction where they are working.  Programming During the programming stage, the interior designer interviews the client and creates a user needs assessment and spatial analysis of what is required of the projects all research and case studies are done occupancy type is determined and codes that apply are considered.  Schematic Design During the schematic design period, preliminary design solutions are presented to the client. Several options are considered and one solution is accepted. The design team will conduct occupancy calculations, determine the required number of exits, and de...

Week 12: Interior Building Systems

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 Interior systems that impact the design of a successful interior environment Data voice and telecommunications systems Telephone lines and internet are necessities in the interior environment.  Many clients also request wireless service Request interior spaces dedicated to teleconferencing Projection space planning needs to made sure that all occupants in the space can see the projected image the closest person should be no closer than 2X the height of the screen and the top of hte screen should form an angle of more than 30 degrees from the horizontal sight line of the viewers Energy control systems, security systems Lock down systems are used to secure a facility after hours or during an emergency prisons, retail malls, schools burglar alarms used in many building types alarm may sound when someone enters or exits a building alarm may sound for an emergency such as a fire Metal detectors identifies pieces of metal that could pose a risk to people such as guns and other haza...

Week 11: Indoor Environmental Quality

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 Acoustics How sounds travel and are heard Noise and unwanted sound Typical decibels of various sounds  the limit of human comfort is 110-120 Noise reduction coefficient (NRC) is the typical materials that are rated as far as the materials absorption capacity Sount Transmission class (STC) is the capability of a material to absorb sound Reverberation Time (RT) Sound that is built up in a room over time (echo) can be controlled Important when designing auditoriums, classrooms, lecture halls, music rooms, and performance facilities The principles of Room design partitions sound waves travel directly through wall studs, from one room to another. Staggered wall studs can disrupt the travel of the sound waves from room to room Room volumes  generally designers keep the room volume low when low reverberation times are desired larger spatial volumes are desirable in spaces such as performance halls when high reverberation times are desired.  Privacy Acoustical Partitions pr...

Week 10: Plumbing Systems

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  Portable water is suitable for drinking Black water contains sewage Gray water is from sinks, bathtubs, and washing machines Sewer treatment plan Septic Tank Toilets are ethe single largest use of interior water     height efficiency toilets use less then 1.28 gallons of water per flush     low flow toilets provided by all manufactures. Legislation requires that new toilets require less water then those of the past     Dual flushing toilets use a mechanism that allows for two flushing possibilities. One flush when less water is required. Two flushes when more water is required Automatic Faucets sensors activate water usage Gray water use takes water from sinks and showers that can be reused to flush toilets or water closet light powered faucets are light-powered automatic sensors so no electricity is required Low-flow shower heads reduce the amount of water used during a shower.  The location of plumbing lines within a building impacts space pla...

Week 9: Electrical Systems and Lighting

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 Power companies provide electricity for most buildings.  they are generated by several sources but the biggest source of energy used in a building is electric lighting.  Electricity travels from the utility company to the user through overhead and underground electrical lines or transformers Components of electrical systems consist of: Connection to a building Cable types Electrical symbols Energy management devices Keeping buildings well-insulated and lowering the thermostat temperature lighting control devices motion and daylight sensors Dual switching option Good lighting design impacts energy efficiency and the ultimate sustainability of a building.  the most common mistake is to overlight a space. the less lighting used, the less air conditioning is needed since lighting creates a big heat load.  The behavior of light depends on the material of the surface, light may be reflected, refracted, transmitted, diffused, or a combination of the above.  Peopl...

Week 8: Mechanical Systems

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 Mechanical Systems The U.S. Department of Energy acknowledges the following that are subdivided into renewable and nonrenewable resources Renewable resources solar, wind, water, geothermal and bioenergy these are clean energy sources and are investments being made by the government towards a more secure future with energy Energy Debate The energy debate talks about the usage of fossil fuels vs renewable energy but not knowing if is renewable resources can ever fully replace fossil fuels Sources of fuel bioenergy fossil fuels hydrogen nuclear energy wind power hydrogen solar fusion Natural Gases Fracking uses water, sand, and chemicals to break down rocks to release the natural gases in them, but this waste can damage the local water supply.  Coal Fossil fuel is obtained through underground mining  Coal takes millions of years to form and after it has been used it takes thousands and millions of years to form more Coal is associated with pollution such as mercury, sulfur,...

Week 7: Ceilings

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 Interior designers don't deal with roof framing, since it is a structural issue They do need to respond to the shape of the roof as it shapes interior spaces The ceiling finish also falls under the realm of the designer.  Ceilings Cathedral ceilings/sloped ceilings Pros made popular during the 1970's Provides a sense of spaciousness Popular in Residential and Commercial design Cons Integration of lighting Issues of proper heating and cooling Creation of the sense of human scale within the space Directly applied ceilings gypsum wallboard A directly applied ceiling that attaches to the building structure most commonly used ceiling finish within the residential environment plaster Plaster is applied over a three-coat system over lath This finish used before wall board on walls and ceilings In historical buildings plaster was used for crown molding or ceiling medallions Suspended acoustical panel ceilings (SAPC) Grid types Material types Preferred ceiling treatment in the commerc...