Penn State AE Senior Thesis
Christopher Nicolais
Mechanical
DASCO Medical Office Building
Saint Joseph Medical Center
Towson, Maryland
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User Note:Note: While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work-in-progress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of Christopher Nicolais. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design. |
Proposal
A proposal is written to describe the planned continued study of the DASCO Medical Office Building into the spring 2008 semester. Architectural Engineering senior thesis projects incorporate a depth study of the building evaluated throughout the fall semester and the associated technical assignments. Depth studies are focused in the option area of each student; in this case the depth study is related to the mechanical system redesign. Redesign is intended to make improvements to the current engineered system based on observations made about its performance, efficiency, cost or quality noted throughout the past assignments. Breadth studies are intended to take each student out of their concentration and explore improvements that can be made to another engineered system in the building. Whether these ideas are of interest to the student or happen to be a result of depth study redesign being integrated with the installed structural or electrical system.
Thesis Proposal (PDF)
Executive Summary for Proposal (PDF)
Thesis Proposal revised (PDF)
Thesis Proposal revised II (PDF)
Breadth Study 1 - This study will be an analysis of the buildings current electrical demand so that an emergency power system can be sized. Different types of emergency power will be researched and evaluated for the special needs of this medical office building. Most emergency power systems are sized based on certain code enforced percentages of egress lighting and receptacles. However, other loads that make up the total capacity of an emergency power system are at the discretion of the owner and engineer. Choosing how to make the building functional during an emergency is critical in keeping up business and life saftey, especiallty in the medical field.
Breadth Study 2 - This study will analyze concerns related to the cost and schedule of construction due to the mechanical system changes. This includes determining a cost of construction for a building to house the new mechanical equipment since there is currently not enough space after fit-outs have been completed. Also construction schedule may change on the shell and core phase of construction which can delay the ability sell tenant space and complete fit-outs. Also determining the cost of drilling to make a connection with the existing campus chilled water plant will be taken into consideration as a cost associated with the redesign.