Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 - (Page 40)

“We had to run more conduit and cabling to more Piping and conduit by places than HVAC ducts need to go and we couldn’t call others within common for every wall to be thickened,” said Spectrum’s Dave trench coordinate Wesemann, PE, LEED AP, electrical engineer. locations Once the electrical and technology systems were Air sampling piping placed on the correct floor using vertical chases in in trench, tubing and thickened walls and by stacking communications closets, coupling as required horizontal distribution of electrical and communications could be achieved by channeling through existing conAir sampling escutcheon J Box per A5/FA501 connecting crete floors and coring through structural clay tile ceiling tubing incorporated into material. The clay tile was interrupted every 2 ft. or less light fixture escutcheon on center by concrete beams, which also were cored to coordinate with light fixture make room for conduit. Many times, the team couldn’t manufacturer penetrate the ceiling without causing structural issues, Light fixture so paths had to be carefully coordinated. and escutcheon Because the Capitol will probably not be renovated by others again for another 100 years or more, if ever, the project was considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Consequently, systems were designed in anticipation of future Even historic-looking light fixtures were used to double as smoke detectors. technologies, expansions, and upgrades. For example, Wesemann said, “We oversized homerun conduits so they can always When it came to designing the building’s technology system, Nelson pull new or re-pull larger wire.” toured the U.S. Capitol and studied other renovated state houses and Gerald F. Nelson, BSAT, principal technology designer for the Capitol historic structures in search of industry best practices. However, he restoration and principal with Spectrum Engineers concurs: “This renova- said that Utah’s Capitol has far more advanced systems than any of tion was our only chance to get into ceilings and walls to run conduit.” the projects he’s studied. “From a technology standpoint, the systems Consequently, extremely careful planning was required to design at the [Utah] Capitol are second-to-none,” said Nelson. “We designed technology raceways appropriately. Nelson’s team organized raceway all of the associated routing and distribution and planned carefully to systems and precisely drew them for the contractor. Spare capacity make it a very simple handshake to take what is captured, produced was also designed in and fiber backbones were carefully planned. ,and edited at the Capitol and hand it to the broadcasters so they can “A lot of time went into making sure that in the future they will not broadcast it.” have to rip out walls or floors or ceilings,” said Kurt Dallinga, PE, RCDD, Nelson compares the central control room in the basement to transCTS, technology engineer on the Capitol project and an associate with portation hubs where all modes of transportation go to and are routed Spectrum Engineers. from. The same is true of all audio and video signals at the Capitol. High Definition Serial Digital Interface and digital audio originated anyIngeniously hidden where in the building are sent to the central control room. “By using To meet Utah fire code, the fire protection engineers were required to central routing architecture, the Capitol is ready to meet needs that locate smoke detectors throughout common areas and corridors, which haven’t even been thought of yet,” he said. are the most aesthetically sensitive spaces in the building. A fiber optic backbone routes to all the data systems and to all “Seeing the smoke detectors on the plan, the architect told us the audio/video locations and systems. It uses CobraNet, a digital to come up with a way to meet the fire code and not have those audio format allowing multiple packets and streams of audio to be detectors visible. This really caused us to think outside the box,” sent throughout the building. Wesemann said. How far into the future is the building’s technology designed to anticiOn another recent project, Spectrum had implemented early warnpate? A new phenomenon occurring in the audio industry helps answer ing air sampling to detect smoke with small, inconspicuous tubes. the question. When GSM-type mobile phones transmit near a microIt was just the solution that the Capitol needed. A VESDA system phone, it causes a very unpleasant noise on the sound system. was implemented with minute sampling tubes ingeniously hidden in The phenomenon would have occurred at the Capitol if the engineermolding. Even historic-looking light fixtures were used to double as ing team hadn’t taken special measures to eliminate it. “We specified smoke detectors. technology on this project that did not exist yet, requiring bidders to call “The air sampling system is orders of magnitude more sensitive microphone manufacturers for information, because it was unpublished than traditional fire detection. We were able to achieve our aesthetic, at the time, on products that address this problem,” said Nelson. code, and safety goals while better protecting this living museum,” As early as 2003, Spectrum’s designs for video distribution, producWesemann said. tion, routing, and editing systems met FCC standards for broadcasters Source: Spectrum Engineers 40 Consulting-Specifying Engineer • OCTOBER, 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 Contents On the Web In the News M/E Roundtable How To Beat the Energy Codes Professional Practices Codes & Standards A Capital Job on Engineered Buiding Systems Going Green in Data Centers Overcurrent Protection: Fuses or Breakers? Third-Party Liability Management Report New Products Product Spotlight Jobs/Classifieds Specifier's Notebook

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

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