Interior Planning Fail?

[iGas]

LEED is complete nonsense. You get more points for feel good crap than for things that actually save energy.

There are government incentives for LEED, therefore everyone and their dogs running for the handout.

 

[thescreensavers]

The floor plan shown there are jogs in the wall that suggest there are supports and/or chase in those area that you can't see.

There must be a huge oversight where exterior finishings/windows drawing that doesn't match up with the supports and mechanical. Every building that I worked on have errors that needs to be corrects as the work being done (there are original blue prints, then updates prints...sometimes in the dozens while work being done, and then there are as built drawings that we summit after completion date) there are rooms that are absolutely wacky because the architect didn't make allowance for mechanical and structural as well as fire exits, etc...

PS. Most architect that I have worked with are absolute control freaks and thinks that they are the builder/engineer, matter of fact they have absolutely no idea how to put things together (they don't know the different between a hammer and a pry bar) and rely completely on builders/engineers/artisans create the magic.

ah, so it really is just some type of huge error lol. Sucks I would have them redo the walls. It sounds like a thin wall when we knock on it.

 

[jiggyest]

PS. Most architect that I have worked with are absolute control freaks and thinks that they are the builder/engineer, matter of fact they have absolutely no idea how to put things together (they don't know the different between a hammer and a pry bar) and rely completely on builders/engineers/artisans create the magic.

^This

Looks like they didn't have enough window and added some more as an afterthought. Probably didn't care if the window coincides with the partition wall as long as they get enough window/lighting to get their LEED points.

You'd figure it'd be bad practice to have little nooks like that where a person(child) can potentially get trapped.

 

[endlessmike]

^ hehe

endlessmike: did you just draw that up or did you find some place that there is a reason for it?

I drew it quickly last night to see if I was imagining it the same way you were describing it. I really have no idea why this would be done without seeing the plans or at least more pictures, but it doesn't make much sense. With that plan it doesn't look like there are any supports or mechanical things being worked around to me.

 

[IronWing]

There are government incentives for LEED, therefore everyone and their dogs running for the handout.

MarketPlace did a story about LEED a few weeks ago. One thing they found was that there were about 1500 LEED certified buildings in existence and about 15,000 LEED certified architects/designers. It seems to be a much more successful resume polisher than a building program.

 

[IronWing]

So they go something like this?

Finally, a vertical storage solution for depleted pizza boxes.

 

[DougK62]

I bet it's for aesthetic reasons - to get the windows where they want them so they look good from outside. I've seen equally goofy things in buildings for this reason.

 

[Sluggo]

I bet it's for aesthetic reasons - to get the windows where they want them so they look good from outside. I've seen equally goofy things in buildings for this reason.

I agree, just making all the windows symmetrical on the exterior, but sometimes the interior has to be moved around a bit if there are mechanical chases at the ends or in the middle to contend with.

 

[endlessmike]

I bet it's for aesthetic reasons - to get the windows where they want them so they look good from outside. I've seen equally goofy things in buildings for this reason.

They could have eliminated those weird little nooks and moved the windows over a few feet - same number of windows and equal/symmetrical placement could have still been achieved.

My guess would be that maybe the wall back there between the two rooms is actually thicker than I originally showed it (like in the blue square) to accommodate either some kind of structural support (red square) or mechanical access.

That seems like an odd location for any HVAC, plumbing, or electrical though, so it's probably structural. I was always taught to not place parallel interior walls anywhere near that close to a window though, so I'd say it either wasn't the original design, or some architect just wanted to be clever for the hell of it.

Edit - What iGas said is sometimes true; sometimes architects and designers don't fully understand all about construction and how things are put together. The problem is when they are control freaks and THINK they know how to do everything as he said, or refuse to concede that their ideas might not work or be overly practical. I have seen plans for upper floors that were laid out so that it would be impossible to move any furniture up after walls were in, for example.

 

[Gibson486]

i can answer this:

To be LEED, you need so many windows to create natural luminance. The university put that in their plans. They hired an Architect who had no idea about code and he drew the plans wrong. He probably proposed they put a windows x ft apart when in reality they have to x more feet apart. Contractor that won bid probably noted these issues, so he under bid the competition thinking he would get it back in a change order. University was like "OMG, these people a re thousands cheaper, get them". They get that contractor. Contractor proceeds and shows them change order. University says "no". Contractor needs to regain the loss due to low bid, so he puts the window in the location that cost the least money without violating code.