Why Would I Want to Call a Landscape Architect?

Landscape Architects create and shape the outdoor world around all of us. Farnsworth Group boasts that our Landscape Architects create memorable spaces, but how does this process work, and when do you contact a Landscape Architect for your project?

Let’s begin by pretending you are the Director of a Parks and Recreation Department.  You have a large piece of undeveloped land that was previously on the outskirts of town and will soon be surrounded by new residential neighborhoods. You will need to know how to best develop this space for the members of your community, but even more so how to pay for such developments. Call a Landscape Architect to develop a Master Plan- a pretty picture to show the community how the overall space may be developed, and more importantly how it could be developed into future phases. The Landscape Architect will put together a budget that accompanies the Master Plan that you can use to seek grant funding to make this park a realization.

What is Fire Protection?

What does a Fire Protection Engineer do?
A Fire Protection Engineer specializes in fire protection systems and design. They fill in the "gaps," such as a mechanical engineer designing sprinkler systems or electrical engineers designing fire alarm systems. They specialize in building and fire code compliance and assist architects and engineers with code compliance. They are becoming an integral, and often required, member of design teams, particularly in some occupancies such as high-rise office and residential, hospitals, schools, military installations, industrial and warehouse spaces.


Tunnel Smoke Test

Why is fire protection important?
Fires are a major cause of death each year. According to a study in 2010, one person dies every 169 minutes due to fire-related events. This is equivalent to a loaded Boeing 737 aircraft crashing every 17 days, killing everyone on board.

Code compliance is an important aspect of the design process, and the design must be in compliance with all relevant codes to avoid delays. Any errors or failure to comply with these codes can hold up the Certificate of Occupancy and can end up being very costly.

What does fire protection involve?
Active systems:
The most commonly identified with fire protection. Active systems require a certain amount of motion and response in order to work.

Fire sprinklers:
Suppress fire growth to allow occupants to get out and help limit property damage.

Fire alarm systems: 
Smoke detectors - These alert the occupants in the early stages of fire development.
Notifications - Include horns, strobes or speakers. These devices alert occupants of fire, weather and security threats and may include voice instructions.

Smoke control:
Smoke is actually more deadly than the fire itself. This is an important consideration in tall buildings, since smoke spreads upward, and occupant evacuation is slower and more difficult. This is very important in non-evacuation facilities like hospitals.

Passive systems:
These attempt to contain fires or slow the spread through use of fire-resistant walls, floors and doors. They allow buildings to remain structurally intact until they are evacuated.

Fire walls:
Fireproof barriers are used to prevent the spread of fire between or through buildings and structures. They are used to protect exits, such as stairwells. In hospitals, they are used to protect those who are bedridden and unable to leave.

Exits:
Occupants need to get out of the building safely ASAP. Exits include doors, ramps, corridors and stairwells. Exits must be separated in case there is an obstruction and wide enough to allow sufficient occupant capacity.

Firefighting features:
These features include site access, fire lanes, water supplies, fire hydrants, standpipes, elevator fire controls and fire command center for high-rise buildings.

Specialized applications:
These applications include hazardous material storage (flammable liquids, toxins and explosives), rack storage (warehouses), water sensitive occupancies (computer data centers) and industrial process (spray painting or use of flammable liquids).

For more information about fire protection, contact Farnsworth Group Fire Protection Engineer Burt Singleton, PE, at bsingleton@f-w.com.

Why Would I Want to Call a Land Surveyor?

We list land surveying as one of our specialties on our website, here’s the low-down on what it is and why you might want it.

Pretend you’re a major mall retail developer and you want to make some changes.  Before you talk to an architect, you’ll want to know exactly what you own and where the property limits are.  You’d want a drawing to summarize these details called a Boundary Survey or perhaps an ALTA Survey.

Now pretend you’re a project manager with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and you’re getting ready to widen a road.  Who do you want on the engineering team – why a land surveyor of course.  Our survey team will go out “shoot” or photograph the entire designated right-of-way, and maybe even “fly” the site to ensure that all sidewalks, interchanges, monuments and signage are in place and located.  If you were a DOT employee, your constituents would want accurate mile markers or road stationing. 

What if you were a Town Planner and you were considering a new water treatment facility.  Well you would certainly want a topographic site survey.  This map would provide ground contours to within a foot, along with spot elevations for accurate design.  Additionally this survey might help you determine utilities owned by the municipality.

Now you’re a school administrator and your school has raised enough money to build a new Sports Facility Storage Shed.  Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re gonna call a land surveyor.  Why?  Because you’ll need some assistance assessing the best place for the shed on the school grounds so that it will not interfere with any underground or overhead utilities.

And so, you are likely a property owner.  Have you been thinking about building a new fence?  Our team of surveyors could ensure that you are building the fence on your property and make you aware of any recorded easements that may impact the location of where you would like to build your fence.

Ultimately, Land Surveying is the art of location…an important aspect to engineering excellence.

Green Your Home for Summer

 
Although some parts of the country are unfortunately still seeing snow, for most spring has finally sprung!  As you begin your spring cleaning chores, this is a great opportunity to discover new ways to help save energy (and money) during the upcoming hot summer months.  Many of these strategies are simple, economical and will reduce your energy consumption all season.

Ensure that your electronic devices, like computers, are placed at least a couple feet away from your air conditioner’s thermostat. These devices often produce extra heat that your thermostat can detect, causing the air conditioner to run longer than needed.

Your oven and stove produce a large amount of heat when cooking.  Grilling outside, microwaving your meals or using a toaster oven reduces the amount heat produced in your kitchen at dinnertime. 

AABC Commissioning Group 9th Annual Conference

Farnsworth Group, Inc. has been selected to present at the AABC Commissioning Group (ACG) 9th Annual Conference on Total Building Commissioning to be held in Chicago April 16-19th, 2013.  Brian Davie (Normal, IL) and Josh Hickman (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) will be discussing such topics as Building Enclosure Commissioning along with future requirements of the LEED rating systems.

 

Our expertise in the field of both commissioning and LEED navigation will provide the base for a comprehensive and interactive presentation. We will review the benefits and importance of Enclosure Commissioning, along with multiple real project examples.  Conference participants will leave with an understanding of how to implement Building Enclosure Commissioning as well as informative lessons learned.

 

Another topic of conversation will be how Building Enclosure Commissioning fits into the typical Commissioning and LEED version 4.0 processes. Multiple project case studies will be utilized including: New Orleans Schools, a University near St. Louis, MO, a Healthcare project in Peoria, IL, and a Department of Natural Resources project in Spooner, WI. Thus, a broad spectrum of project types will be explored to highlight the strategies, benefits, complexities, and lessons learned.

 

Our team will also discuss opportunities for cost effective implementation measures and the benefits of including certain requirements upfront in the design phase. The methods used to functionally test the enclosure will be discussed and the tasks outlined.  Cost is often a big concern for typical commissioning, let alone adding additional systems such as the building envelope.

 

Myths, concerns and accuracies will be outlined and discussed to allow for a realistic picture for project teams. A discussion will ensue on means and methods to reduce cost while maintaining the integrity of the commissioning process and the owner’s goals for a project.  Our experience will be leveraged to lead a conversation to help ease project teams’ concerns about Building Envelope Commissioning.

 

Selection to present at the ACG annual conference is proof of our experience and of our dedication to ongoing efficiency within the built environment.  If you would like to learn more about envelope commissioning, come by and see us at the ACG conference or email Josh Hickman at jhickman@f-w.com.

Christening, Launching, and Commissioning in the 21st Century

"Christening, launching, and commissioning are bench marks of abiding importance in the history of a United States Navy ship. One sees in these closely related events a striking parallel to the human experience of those Americans, young and not so young, who man the ships for our nation’s defense on the oceans of the world. If launching may be likened to birth, and christening the endowment of individuality, then at commissioning the ship is at the threshold of a productive and rewarding maturity."
- E.B. Hooper, Vice Admiral, USN (Ret), Director of Naval History


"Christening and launching are the inseparable elements which endow a ship hull with her identity. Yet, just as many developmental milestones must be passed before one takes his place in society, so too must the newly-launched vessel pass such milestones before she is completed and considered ready to be designated a commissioned ship of the United States Navy. The engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment required to transform the new hull into an operating and habitable warship are installed and tested. The prospective commanding officer, ship's officers, the petty officers, and seamen who will form the crew report for training and intensive familiarization with their new ship. Crew and ship must function in total unison if full potential and maximum effectiveness are to be realized. The most modern naval vessel embodying every advantage of advanced technology is only as good as those who man her."
 - John C. Reilly Jr., Head, Ships History Branch


Oftentimes, some of mankind’s oldest ideas turn out to be some of his newest and brightest ideas. These two delightful quotations – regarding the commissioning of ships – are taken from a publication of the History Division of the United States Department of the Navy. They speak to the long and storied tradition of ship commissioning that can be traced all the way back to some of our earliest civilizations and societies.

Rethink: What Are Buildings For Anyway?

We have private companies building spacecraft, sexy little electric cars, computers smaller than your favorite book…and yet building control has remained fairly stagnant.  However, current technology inherently has tremendous growth potential for building controls to conserve energy.

Imagine something as simple as an app that tells you when a building is generating more energy than it is using and turns on your EV charger, or other energy using systems.  Now take it to the next step and utilize trend data to predict the energy projection and use for a given day along with estimated energy costs.  That is where we’re heading – integrated project teams leveraging Building Information Modeling (BIM) throughout design and construction phases have helped move the industry towards net zero energy use.

Energy modeling tools and capabilities are bringing us towards efficient performance and proper system designs.  To maximize implementation, water management and ongoing financial incentives are hopefully around the corner.  Rethinking how the end user occupies a building and the role buildings play in each of our lives goes beyond design and gets to the heart of owner and end-user requirements.

Having a true understanding of the end-use allows a design team to maximize the efficiency of the space and energy using components.

The Farnsworth Group team is utilizing the learned skills and latest technologies to create and implement net zero energy goals at Fort Carson, Colorado.  Find out more about the team, goals, and technologies used by visiting our Energy Portfolio.