Come and check us out on Facebook!
Posted by: Dale Vanderwerff | June 5, 2008
Going Green
Part of my interest in building green comes from a Montessori School project we are currently working on in Wheeling, IL. The Owner approached me after we had started with the design of the new facility and wanted to get the building LEED certified. At the time I knew very little about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Therefore I attended The Greenbuild Chicago held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL last year. I also took the intro to LEED 101 class at the convention.
As I became more familiar with building green, the U. S. Green Building Council (USCBC), and LEED it began to generate more questions I had. I decided to attend an all day workshop/class; LEED for New Construction and Major Renovation in May, 2008. This really opened my eyes to the advantages to build green and the challenges to get the building LEED certified. It was interesting and really got me enthused to learn more. When I returned to my office I used the handbook and started to apply it to the Montessori School. I am sure now that I will continue to learn more about LEED and building green as it is the future of construction.
Posted by: Dale Vanderwerff | May 13, 2008
Automatic Doors
Posted by: Dale Vanderwerff | May 7, 2008
Handicap Accessibility
Each jurisdiction has to be looked at carefully as the requirements can vary considerably from city to city, or state to state. Since I work out of Northeastern Illinois I am mainly familiar with the Illinois accessibility code.
Approaching straight on from the front, a door that swings out towards you requires a clearance of 18″ minimum from the latch side of the door edge to the left or to the right. This is required when a door has both a latch and a closure. This is mostly scrutinized when the door is located in a narrow hallway or alcove. Therefore if you have a narrow hallway with a 36″ wide door and a 2″ frame at the end of the hallway, the minimum width of the hallway would be 56″. This assumes you would hold the hinge side of the frame tight to one of the hall walls. If space allows, a 58″ hall width would work better. This allows the door to stand at 90° in the open position.
Side approaches to the door have different requirements from the front approach discussed above.
Posted by: Dale Vanderwerff | April 21, 2008
Through the Roof with an Elevator “Penthouse”
Part of finding the best location for an elevator is to make sure there are no major obstacles on the roof. It is generally required in order to meet safety clearances above the elevator cab that the roof is raised in the area above the elevator shaft.
It is simply a structural challenge assuming that the ideal location chosen by your design-build professional does not have a rooftop unit and related duct work or other major obstacles . Often the new shaft walls will support the roof around the new opening or perhaps some added columns and beams may be needed.
Every building is different as some roofs are supported by bar joists and steel decking, where others are precast concrete and still others are framed with wood joists, beams and wooded decking.
Each situation would require a difference structural answer depending on the existing structure and existing loads on that structure. You may rely on your local design-build general contractor for answers to these questions.
