Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
engineer can be described as performing design, writing specifi cations, performing
construction administration, etc. Obviously the process can be continued by adding
more details to the subcategories of each duty or function, such as providing subsets
of drawing, calculations, energy modeling, and cross coordination with other trades
for design category. The process can continue by adding all the energy saving strate-
gies under design category. Furthermore a cross trades coordination process can be
described in details that would help all the parties involved in this community of
practice not only to become familiar with each other's functions, but also to fi nd out
what are their responsibilities regarding the rest of the community while working on
the same projects quickly. To do so, maps of responsibilities for each trade versus
other trades should be designed and added to the body of our categorized knowledge
document. These maps for example should show all the responsibilities of the
HVAC engineer in regards to all other disciplines. As an example HVAC engineer is
responsible for providing equipment room sizes, vertical chase sizes, information
for equipment and devices, and etc. which are necessary information for the archi-
tect. He is also responsible for providing equipment locations, regular and emer-
gency power requirements, phase, voltage, and required power of all his equipment
which are necessary information for the electrical engineer. After such maps are
completed, it would allow a newly graduated, newly employed architect, engineer,
and contractor to have access to the whole industry layout, the functions and respon-
sibilities, the way to design, calculate, specify, and construct in early stages of his
career. As it was said earlier it is not only to the benefi t of the less experienced play-
ers but also helps the fi rms in order to quickly prepare their employees for being
engaged in designing and building processes.
On the application side a building can be subdivided into commercial, institu-
tional, healthcare, etc. Each of these building types has its own dedicated functions
and therefore space requirements. For example the majority of the spaces in an
offi ce building can be described as open offi ces, private offi ces, conference rooms,
etc. While the majority of the spaces in a healthcare facility can be described as
patient rooms, operation rooms, laboratories, waiting rooms, etc. Each space then
can be described in further details by describing the physical characteristics of the
space and expected functions, equipment, occupancy, required cooling, heating, and
lighting. This information then will be essential information for designers to calcu-
late engineering requirements of each space.
By this time a rough overall system map has been created that each community
of practice member could look at it, and easily recognizes the major applications
and players and their major functions and duties in the course of a design and con-
struction process.
The following snap-shuts (Figs.
3.1
,
3.2
,
3.3
,
3.4
,
3.5
,
3.6
, and
3.7
) show samples
of an incomplete attempt for generating categorized knowledge for this fi eld with an
emphasis on the HVAC design and also energy effi ciency branch. This could be
developed into a much larger document covering all the aspects of HVAC design and
further the whole industry concepts and functions. Of course such a comprehensive
categorized knowledge cannot be generated without participation of all the parties
involved as part of the building design and construction community of practice.
