Plumbing is one of the great developments of human civilization!

1. Plumbing is one of the great developments of human civilization! • To turn a faucet handle and have clean, hot or cold running water issue forth is truly a wonderful thing. • If you do not think this is wonderful, spend a few days camping! • Plumbing in buildings today consists of a ‘system’ of inter-related parts, all of which must be in working order for the system to deliver its wonderful product: water.

2. Plumbing Systems

4. Plumbing systems include supply lines,drain lines, water heaters, valves, filters, and other equipment

5. between supply and drain lines there is an air lock, trap, device

6. plumbing pipes are made of: copper, pvc, cast iron, and occasionally brass

8. a typical residential plumbing layout

9. There are many different types of toilets:flush valve, tank, composting

10. good quality fixtures are made of brass, with chrome plating

11. Diagram showing how the fixtures are related to drain and vent lines.

12. Sinks design is about responding to, and meeting, needs. for good designers the result of this pursuit is the creation of something that is 'good'. 'good' is a multi- dimensional characteristic, including things like appropriate material use, cost and value, energy required to manufacture, et cetera.

13. the physical relationship/detail of the counter top to the sink is a functionally important one

14. glass sinks are becoming common today

15. pedestal sinks

16. being 'pretty' may, or may not, be a part of being 'good'. in fact, we often say something 'looks good' precisely because it works well. the 'beauty' of something may lie in, and be revealed as, the working, functioning, of it. think of a high performance sports car, a well designed, high quality electric tool, or a high tech, high performance running shoe. we see these as 'beautiful' because of their refinement, performance capabilities, and ingenious uses of materials and technologies. this is what we call 'design' adding a floral pattern to the surface of an object, or a wall, is not design.

17. the concept of ‘beauty’ and aesthetics an aesthetic of functionality and of production processes needs to be encouraged, and celebrated, in place of the aesthetic of appearance. the phrase 'aesthetically pleasing to the eye' is not only lacking in meaning, but it distracts from the true essence of beauty and of appreciation.

18. Understanding and appreciation of something may result in calling it 'beautiful'. Something that looks nice is just that, something that looks nice. Think of Adolf Hitler dressed in a really nice suit. Perhaps someone might say "My he looks very nice".

19. Knowing who Hitler was over rides our ability to say anything positive about him, and we say "No, he is bad, period." By definition, Adolf Hitler cannot even look nice, period.

20. The floral covered plastic water pitcher may be 'pretty' but it is bad design, period. What does 'bad design' mean? Potentially many things, including; it is wasteful of material, of energy to manufacture, it is overly expensive for what it offers, it does not work well, it is likely to break too soon, et cetera.

22. The 'Gourmet' kitchen trend The current trend in residential kitchens is to include 'gourmet' or 'chefs’ quality components. while this may be primarily a ploy to lure people to spend more money for a kitchen that looks fancy, it also happens to reveal a range of products that are functionally much better than those typically installed in a residential kitchen.

23. The problem with this trend in kitchens is that the cost of the components, and of the overall kitchen, is too high. A $6,000 refrigerator, a $5,000 stove, a $7,000 granite counter top, is too much money to spend for these items, and is a bad way to suggest that people think about their living environment.

24. good design does cost money, it will not occur for free, but good design can be, and should be, done at a reasonable level of expense

25. the virtue of this type of kitchen, a 'commercial kitchen', is that it works well for preparing food, serving, and cleaning up afterwards.

26. The design and manufacture of kitchen and bath components is, today, better than ever before. Components are available that are designed and produced at high quality levels. Look through a good design magazine, such as Domus, Dwell, Metropolis, and you will see many interesting variations of sinks, toilets, ovens, stoves, and refrigerators.

27. Electricity: we do not really know what it is, but we can create it, control it, and use it.

28. volts, amps, watts: these are the terms that we typically use to discuss aspects of electricity. in fact the true meaning of these terms is very complex.

29. http://www.amasci.com/miscon/elect.html for a good explanation of the complexities of electricity, look through this web site.

30. The generation of electricity is most commonly achieved by converting chemical energy in fuels or the flowing energy of wind, water, or steam into electrical energy, using a mechanical turbine connected to a generator. The force of the fluid causes the turbine to rotate, which in turn rotates the magnetic field inside the generator to produce electricity.

31. Typically, a fuel such as coal or oil is burned in a boiler to produce steam. The chemical energy in the fuel becomes heat energy as it burns, forming hot gases. The steam, under great pressure, rushes through pipes and valves and turns the steam turbine at high speed. The turbine is made up of blades on a shaft and is driven by the steam like wind drives a windmill.

32. 'Volts' is generally used to describe the measure of "electrical pressure" that causes current flow. (for example, typical residential electric lines have 110 volts) 'Amperes' (amps) is generally used to describe the amount of electricity in a circuit. (a typical circuit in a house is described as being 30 amp, or 20 amp, which is a description of how much current there is in the circuit) 'Watts' is the term used to describe the power used by a circuit. (for example, a light bulb may use 100 watts of power to generate the level of light that it produces.)

33. requiring space: wires, conduit, and fixtures take up space; hidden inside walls, floors, and ceilings, or exposed to view. requiring coordination: between designers and electrical engineers. adding heat to the space: many commercial environments always require cooling because of internal heat generated by occupants, electric fixtures and machines. electric wiring, and electric components impact the design of interiors by:

34. Caliper Studio ‘genetic stair’within an existing apartment in new york city

35. 'genetic stair' is made with polished stainless steel, white translucent Corian and low iron glass.

36. Caliper Studio designed a three thousand square foot duplex apartment renovation in a building on new york's upper west side. their solution removed all existingvertical circulation and connected the two floors with a new feature stair, located centrally in the apartment, free from all walls and supported only at the top and bottom. From designboom.com

43. Stair Design: General Guidelines 2R + t = 24-25 inches: this is one standard way to describe the requirements of riser height and tread width in a number of codes. no more than 3/16" variation between successive risers and treads Residential stairs: minimum width = 36" maximum riser height = 8 1/4" minimum tread depth = 9" minimum headroom = 6'-8"

44. Non Residential (public locations)stairs: minimum width of the stairway = 44" minimum height of riser= 4" maximum height of riser = 7" minimum tread depth = 11" minimum headroom = 6'-8” maximum distance of travel of 12' in horizontal travel distance(in plan view) without a landing. landings must be as deep as the stair is wide. stairways must have a landing at the top, bottom, and at changes of direction

45. Non Residential (public spaces) stairs handrails must be on both sides of a stair handrails are to be between 34"-38" above the stair-tread nosing handrails are to be a minimum of 1 1/2" from the wall/mounting surface to allow for grasping

46. outdoor stairs, or monumental stairs do not have to adhere to the riser and tread requirements of egress stairs. the width of an exit stair is calculated in terms of 'exit units' which are 22" units, based on the idea that one person is approximately 22" wide.

47. Ramps ramps are to be no steeper than 1:12 a ramp may not be longer than 30' without a level landing ramps are limited to a vertical rise of 30" between landings the width of ramps shall not be less than the width of exit corridors: a minimum of 44" (2 exit units)

48. Stair calculation: the number of risers and treads in a run of stairs to calculate the number and size of steps in a run of stairs: identify the required height, from finished floor, to finished floor divide this height by the approximate height of the riser of one step since there can be no partial steps, round off any non-whole numbers and divide the rounded number into the height of the run of the stairs. this number is the accurate size of one riser, to the nearest tenth of an inch. plug the riser height into the 2R+T=24-25 formula to determine how long each tread needs to be

49. Let's say that we need a stair to go from the first floor of Cutler Hall, to the second floor. The distance, from the first floor finished surface, to the second floor, finished floor surface is to be 13'-7". How many risers and treads are needed to make a legal stairway here?

50. Assume 7" as a beginning size for a riser 13'-7" = 163” 163 divided by 7 = 23.28 Now, we know that you cannot have 23.28 risers; risers must be a whole number.