High-Rise Office Buildings: Changes Anticipated by the Year 2000

Abstract

What is wrong with mechanical and electrical installations in large buildings today and why should we expect them to change in the next fifteen or twenty years? The answer is a great deal is wrong, certainly as they are perceived by the occupants of the buildings for whom they are created. Present air conditioning systems are complex and difficult to operate properly, are often inefficient, and frequently cannot provide satisfactory levels of comfort. Electrical power is not used efficiently, either for lighting or general purposes; plumbing systems waste large volumes of water; and there is no general agreement on design of fire suppression and smoke control systems. Designs must be changed to overcome the deficiencies, and creative new methods and techniques will be sought to meet present requirements as well as new ones, thereby rendering some present designs obsolete. The economics of the market place will compel the changes; an attractive incentive, return on investment, always moves us toward improvement. The big changes will be to do better what we have already been doing and to accommodate the new requirements of a computer and communication age. This discussion looks first at what the needs are and then to where these may take us.