Create a posting that includes:
- A screenshot of an interior view of your merged model from Model Coordination showing the HVAC elements.
- A brief paragraph discussing:
- any challenges that you encountered in this supply duct routing exercise
- whether your proposed design meets the project’s spatial design goals
- any recommendations to make the design more sustainable (and lower the heating and cooling loads)
I realized late into my routing that I should’ve run the return ducts through the center of the space (via the middle 2 slots in the air handler) and the supply ducts along the outer most walls of the respective floors to reduce the material usage and impact ductwork had in the space.
I also struggled with positioning ducts in a way that they wouldn’t be detrimental to the design intent of open spaces, because the floor to floor heights were relatively low once the structural supports were factored in.
As mentioned above, I don’t believe the current layout would meet the designer’s intent and I would need to take a more detailed look at where to creatively place ductwork (or redesign the structural framework) so that collectively the systems could deliver on the initial goals.
Among many things, I would recommend using (1) a radiant heating and cooling system, (2) triple-pane / low-e windows, (3) smart sensors to detect occupancy, daylighting… etc., and (4) materials with a high R-value for structural and architectural components.