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Physical integration of building components.

5/07/2014
Bahrain trade center

    Building components have to fit. They share space and volume in a building, and they connect in specific ways. CAD drawing layers offer a useful way to think about how complicated these networks of shared space and connected pieces can become.
Superimposing structure and HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning) layers provides an example: Are there problems where large ducts pass under beams? Do the reflected ceiling plan and furniture layouts put light fixtures where they belong? Physical integration is fundamentally about how components and systems share space, how they fit together. In standard practice, for example, the floor-ceiling section of many buildings is often subdivided into separate zones: recessed lighting in the lowest zone, space for ducts next, and then a zone for the depth of structure to support the floor above. These segregated volumes prevent “interference” between systems by providing adequate space for each individually remote system. Meshing the systems together, say, by running the ducts between light fixtures, requires careful physical integration. Unifying the systems by using the ceiling cavity as a return air plenum and extracting return air through the light fixtures further compresses the depth of physical space required. If the structure consists of open web joists, trusses, or a space frame, then it is possible that all three systems may be physically integrated into a single zone by carefully interspersing ducts and light fixtures within the structure.

   Connections between components and among systems in general constitute another aspect of physical integration. This is also where architectural details are generated. The structural, thermal, and physical integrity of the joints between different materials must be carefully considered. How they meet is just as important as how they are separated in space.

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