E – 1874 HVAC Design for High Rise Buildings

A high-rise building is essentially a building with very tall facades relative to the footprint. And what differentiates it from conventional low rise and medium rise building is that it needs special engineering systems due to the challenges posed by height, construction, operation and maintenance.

The reason for adopting high rise buildings could be solutions for density problem and lack of available land for development, sometimes it is more about power, prestige status of occupier and aesthetics than efficient development. But at the same time, the high-rise development brings in numerous challenges for engineers who must design sufficiently strong foundations, MEP services, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, electrical power distribution, lighting, transportation (elevators, stairs, parking), communication, plumbing, fire protection and building security functions for these buildings in order to make them habitable.

This course outlines the key considerations for the design of HVAC services for tall buildings, which are very often mixed use, consisting sometimes of low-level retail, office floors, residential floors and hotel floors.