Specifying Interiors: A Guide to Construction and FF&E for Residential and Commercial Interiors Projects / Edition 2

by Maryrose McGowan, Kelsey Kruse

Overview

Based on the International Building Code (IBC), this updated and expanded edition of the industry standard covers today’s diverse materials, regulations and requirements, specification formats, and more. Just as detailed as the specifications it explains, this comprehensive Second Edition provides all the critical information necessary for completing contract documents, all organized in a quick-reference format.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471692614
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/02/2005
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	8.52(w) x 11.08(h) x 1.48(d)

About the Author

MARYROSE McGOWAN, AIA, teaches interior architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, and is Editor in Chief of Interior Graphic Standards.

Read an Excerpt

Specifying Interiors

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By Maryrose McGowan

John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 0-471-69261-1

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Chapter One

INTERIORS PROJECTS

INTRODUCTION TO COMMERCIAL INTERIORS PROJECTS

In response to market demands, commercial interiors professionals have developed creative solutions for increased flexibility. To support the turnover in tenant space, the building shell (exterior) and core (shared service space) have evolved as separate from the office floors they support. This separation of base building from leased space continues to meet today's requirements.

Up to the 1950s, adapting office space to suit a tenant's needs involved little more than putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls of existing offices. Today, speculative office building interiors are designed with maximum flexibility, anticipating the wide range of tenants that will inhabit them. Each space is then adapted, or built out, to suit its tenant.

Contemporary base buildings incorporate sophisticated floor duct systems for routing utility wires to free-standing workstations; floor-to-ceiling partitions are no longer required to act as chases for electrical wire or data cable. Movable and demountable partition systems are available as replacements for constructed gypsum board walls. Moreover, the use of systems furniture offers an even easier solution to the problem of relocating walls without downtime or the creation of construction debris.

The separation of base building and infill can be traced through a series of technologic and economic events. As the economy developed, technology and the interior design profession responded with solutions.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Industrial Revolution indirectly prompted the emergence of the service industry. By the late 1840s, less than a quarter of the world's population was dependent on agriculture as a means to make a living. The service sector-law, accounting, banking, and the like-grew in proportion to burgeoning businesses.

After first invading the home-office on the lower level, residence above-small businesses moved to commercial office space, which still imitated the domestic layout. But by 1860, the Sun Fire Insurance Company had opened an office in London that had been designed specifically to support the work of its 80-person staff. However, it was the advent of the steel-frame office building 25 years later that launched the first great step in the development of commercial interiors.

Heralding the future of the skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building was built around a lightweight steel frame. Designed by William LeBaron Jenney, this 10-story building was constructed in Chicago between 1883 and 1885. The new skeletal framing system offered several advantages. Masonry curtain wall exteriors and fire-resistant steel structural members responded to increasing national concern for the prevention of fire in dense urban areas-the great Chicago fire had decimated the city in October 1871 (Figure 1.1). Steel structural systems also offered unprecedented flexibility in interior space. For the first time, interior partitions were easily moved because the interior walls did not have to be bearing walls. Tenant spaces could be adapted to the individual needs of their inhabitants.

By the end of the nineteenth century, electric elevators were familiar amenities in many office buildings. Commercial rental rates no longer decreased with each additional flight of stairs to be climbed. During the economic prosperity of the 1920s, speculative office buildings became a popular form of investment. Most of the skyscrapers of the 1930s and 1940s incorporated flexible partitioning requirements. For example, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building, designed by William Lescaze and George Howe and built in the early 1930s, incorporated movable partitions designed specifically for the project. Varying tenants' needs were anticipated by the base building designer and the interior designer.

In the mid-1930s, the Johnson Wax headquarters building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, included specially made furniture (Figures 1.2 and 1.3). The desk and chair set, manufactured by Steelcase, was an integral part of the interior design and supported the worker's tasks. Other furniture manufacturers worked with architects to respond to the furnishing needs of the modern flexible office. Thonet worked with Le Corbusier and Otto Wagner to improve the office environment in Europe, and in the United States, Raymond Loewy teamed up with the Gestetner Furniture Company.

Furniture manufacturers were producing sophisticated products that targeted the increasingly complex needs of commercial interiors (Figure 1.4). In 1942, Herman Miller introduced its first furniture product for the modern office, a component system called the Executive Office Group, designed by Gilbert Rohde. Standard distribution channels were not equipped to sell these complex office furnishings. Many of these early furniture systems had important features that were not apparent to the casual observer. Few understood the product, and so for the first time, furniture manufacturers marketed furniture directly to architects and interior designers through showrooms and trade shows.

Designer showrooms, as we know them today (open only to architects and interior designers, or "to the trade"), were well established by the 1940s. The Merchandise Mart, completed in 1931, catered exclusively to the wholesale trade (Figure 1.5). The largest building in the world at the time of its completion, the Mart continues to host the NEOCON (New Expo of Contract Furniture) trade show annually.

The Executive Office Group component furniture system responded to a changing lifestyle requiring more mobility and less space. Twenty-five years after its introduction, the radically different Action Office furniture line was marketed (Figures 1.6 and 1.7). Still in production today, Action Office enables a quick and efficient response to change by the reconfiguration of modular panels. "Open plan" office furniture, or "systems furniture," as it is called today, defines and separates work spaces without the use of constructed partitions. Today, it is estimated that more than 30% of U.S. businesses use systems furniture.

The practice of commercial interior design today is a specialty. It reflects the increasingly complex synthesis of construction and furnishings, of base building and tenant space. With the decline in new construction starts and the dwindling availability of prime urban real estate, tenant work will continue to be a primary focus for many design practices.

BASE BUILDING AND TENANT IMPROVEMENTS

The commercial office building shell and core, which include essential services, such as the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, elevators, and toilet rooms, is commonly referred to as the base building. Tenant improvements are those materials and constructions that form the infill responding to the tenant's needs that are not part of the base building.

The base building standard, or building standard, is a package of typical tenant improvements provided by, and sometimes required by, the landlord. By standardizing such building components as suite entry doors, suite signage, lighting fixtures, and window treatments, the landlord can maintain coherence in design and consistency in maintenance routines throughout the building. The designation above base building standard refers to items that are not included in the base building standard. These usually exceed the base building standard in quality or quantity.

A significant point of negotiation between a leasing agent (or property manager) and a prospective tenant is determining who will pay for construction costs for building out the tenant's space. Usually, there is a tenant improvement allowance to cover standard items that will be installed at no cost to the tenant. The quantity of tenant improvements is usually described per square foot of rentable space: for instance, one telephone jack for every 125 sq ft (10 sq m) leased, one door every 300 sq ft (30 sq m), and so on. If such a quantitative approach is not used, the allowance may be stated as a certain amount of money to be provided by the owner per square foot of leased space.

The Lease and the Work Letter

A lease is an agreement between the property owner and the tenant. It gives the tenant the right to the exclusive use and occupancy of a specified space for a stated period of time in return for a stipulated rent. Virtually every lease provision is subject to negotiation.

There are standard improvements that landlords provide to tenants as part of the rental rate. The document that describes these improvements to the rented space is the work letter, which is attached to and becomes part of the lease. The quantity and quality of the materials or construction are described in the work letter (Figure 1.8). The lease and attached work letter are frequently the subject of intense negotiation.

MEASURING COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE

There are about a dozen different methods of measuring commercial office space in current use. All methods make similar distinctions between gross area, usable area, and rentable area, but they differ in how these areas are calculated. Generally, the gross area is the floor area construction, the rentable area is the revenue-producing floor area, and usable areas are those that are occupiable.

The building gross area, defined as the "construction area" by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), is the floor area within the exterior face of the building including the thickness of the exterior wall. It is the total constructed space. This measurement is used in evaluating building efficiency and comparing the construction costs of various projects. The floor area that the tenant pays rent on is the rentable area, usually defined as the interior floor area excluding vertical penetrations through the floor (e.g., air shafts, elevators, and stairways). This measurement is used to determine the income-producing capability of a building. The usable area is the floor area that is inhabitable by the tenant. This measurement is used in planning and designing the space.

It is critical to understand which method is used for a particular project. The method of measurement determines the rental rate agreed to in the lease and often affects the provisions of the work letter. Square footage calculations frequently form the basis of the designer's fee. American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z65.1, Standard Method for Measuring Floor Areas in Office Buildings, commonly known as the "BOMA method," is widely accepted in commercial real estate. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) measurements and classifications are consistent with the BOMA method but describe some tenant-oriented measurements in greater detail.

Contract Documents for Commercial and Residential Interiors

Commercial Interiors

The contract documents describe the proposed construction or furniture, furnishings, and equipment (FF&E) installation. They include the written (specifications) and the graphic (drawings) documentation that communicate the design of the project. There are two sets of contract documents that a designer must prepare for a complete commercial interiors project (Figure 1.9):

* The construction contract documents

* The furniture, furnishings, and equipment (FF&E) contract documents

Table 1.1 provides a comparison of the phases of a construction contract and FF&E contract from predesign through contract administration.

Residential Interiors

The contract documents for a complete residential project are similar to those for a commercial project, but they may not include construction documents. If the designer acts as a vendor, typically their compensation is based on a percentage of the FF&E cost (for example, a designer who works in a textile showroom) or construction material costs (for example, a designer who works in a ceramic tile showroom). Other designers may charge a fee for their design services, typically based on an hourly rate.

The Contract for Commercial Construction

The agreement between the owner and the construction contractor is the contract for construction (Figure 1.10). The construction contractor's responsibilities are described in American Institute of Architects (AIA) A201 The General Conditions of the Contract for Construction. The construction contractor is responsible for supervising and directing the construction of the project. This includes providing labor, materials, equipment, tools, water, heat, utilities, and other facilities and safety features. The construction contractor employs the various trades required to accomplish the work of the contract or makes agreements with subcontractors. The work of these specialty contractors, such as electricians, plumbers, painters, carpenters, and carpet installers, is coordinated by the general contractor.

In addition to orchestrating various construction activities, construction contractors perform a variety of administrative tasks. The general contractor is usually responsible for securing and paying for the building permit and other permits required for completion of the project. He or she is usually responsible for the preparation of a construction schedule and must prepare and submit shop drawings and samples for the architect's approval. Shop drawings illustrate specific situations or details of a project. They are prepared by the construction contractor, one of the subcontractors, or the product manufacturer or supplier and submitted to the designer. Samples are examples of the materials or workmanship; they are used to verify selections and to establish standards by which the completed work will be judged. Shop drawings and samples are not contract documents. They are submitted to demonstrate the way in which the construction contractor intends to accomplish the design expressed by the contract documents.

The traditional approach to a construction project is the design-award-build sequence of events. The designer fully documents the project in the contract documents, which include the construction drawings and specifications. Proposals to build the project are requested from construction contractors. These bids are evaluated, a contractor is selected, and a construction contract between the successful bidder and the owner is signed. The "owner" (the term used on the agreement forms) in most cases is the tenant, but, depending on the terms of the lease and work letter, can be the landlord. The architect is usually retained to administer the contract for construction between the owner and the construction contractor.

Alternative methods of contracting for construction projects are continually being developed in response to tighter construction budgets and schedules. Two such approaches are the fast-track and design/build methods.

It is often necessary to begin construction as soon as possible because of accelerated occupancy schedules or the high cost of financing a project. In the fast-track approach to construction, building begins before the project design is complete. Separate construction contracts are defined, and contract documents are prepared for each phase. Items that will be the last to be installed or constructed-for example, custom casework-will be the last to be fully designed and bid. The design schedule extends into the construction schedule, reducing the duration of the project. Fast tracking often increases construction costs due to decreased labor efficiency.

In design/build projects, one party is responsible for both the design and the construction of the interior (Figure 1.11). The design/build firm may be a construction company with in-house designers or one that has hired a design firm consultant. The advantage of this method of construction contracting is that the contractor is involved with the project from the initial stages. Costs, material availability, and scheduling can be estimated much more accurately.

Construction for commercial interiors on leased properties is referred to by various names, including "tenant build-out work," "tenant fit-up," or "tenant improvements." Lease provisions often require that the prime, or general, contractor and the subcontractors be approved by the landlord. In some cases, landlords retain contractors to build all tenant spaces in their buildings.

(Continues...)

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Table of Contents

Preface vii

Chapter 1 Interiors Projects 1

Introduction To Commercial Interiors Projects 1

A Brief History 2

Base Building and Tenant Improvements 7

The Lease and the Work Letter 7

Measuring Commercial Office Space 7

Contract Documents for Commercial and Residential Interiors 9

The Contract for Commercial Construction 9

The Contract for Furniture, Furnishings, and Equipment (FF&E) 14

Laws That Affect The Contracts For Interiors Projects 22

Sources of U.S. Law 22

Contract Law and Commercial Law 26

Sales Contracts and Services Contracts 26

Differences Between Contract Law and Commercial Law Warranties 26

Warranties 29

Custom and Standard Contract Document Forms 29

Residential Contract Forms 29

Standard Commercial Contract Forms 30

Specifications 32

Types of Specifications 32

Specification Formats 33

Specification Information Classification 33

Specification Section Organization 33

Specification Page Organization 37

Division 1—General Requirements 37

Chapter 2 Regulations, Codes, and Standards 39

Federal Regulations 39

Building Codes 41

Other Regulations Affecting Interior Design 42

Fire Codes 44

Standards 45

Flammability Standards 47

Flammability Standards for Construction Materials and Assemblies 47

Flammability Standards For Floor Coverings 49

Methenamine Pill Test 49

Flammability Standards For Wall Finishes 52

Room Corner Test 52

Flammability Standards For Wall and Ceiling Or Floor and Ceiling Assemblies 54

Wall or Floor and Ceiling Assembly Test 54

Flammability Standards For Door Assemblies 55

Door Assembly Test 55

Flammability Standards For Furniture 55

Cigarette Ignition Resistance Test for Furniture Composites 55

Flammability Standards For Furnishings 59

Vertical Ignition Test 59

Flammability Standards for Fabric 62

Accessibility Regulations 64

The History of Accessible Design and Civil Rights 64

ADA and FHAA Design Requirements 65

Interior Accessible Routes 65

Accessible Toilet Rooms 67

Plumbing Fixture Standards 69

Accessible Kitchens 70

Chapter 3 Building Systems and Performance 75

Structural Systems 76

Wood 76

Masonry 78

Steel 79

Concrete 81

Heating and Cooling Systems 82

Electric Systems 82

Hydronic Systems 83

Forced Air Systems 85

Thermal Performance of Buildings 86

Methods of Heat Transfer 86

Moisture Considerations In A Building 87

Dew Point and Condensation 88

Acoustic Performance of A Building 90

Sound Absorption 90

Noise Isolation 91

Chapter 4 Materials 93

Sustainable Design 93

Green Design 94

Sustainable Product and Material Selection 94

Green Buildings 101

Metals 104

Dissimilar Metals 105

Metal Finishes 105

Nonferrous Metals 109

Copper 110

Ferrous Metals 112

Wood 114

Solid Wood 116

Pressure-Treated Lumber 120

Wood Composite Panels 120

Sustainability and Environmental Impact 126

Wood Veneer 126

Wood Finishing 129

Plastics 134

The Components of Plastics 134

Thermoplastics 135

Thermosets 137

Sustainability and Environmental Impact 140

Glass 142

Float Glass 142

Heat-Treated Glass 143

Safety Glass 144

Wired Glass 145

Fire-Rated Glass and Glazing 145

Laminated Glass 146

Cast Glass 148

Low-Iron Glass 148

Frosted Glass 149

Antireflective Glass 149

Glass Used as Railings 150

Sealing Glass Joints 150

Sustainability and Environmental Impact 151

Textiles and Leather 151

Fibers 151

Natural Fibers 155

Synthetic Fibers 158

Fabric Construction 161

Fabric Wear Resistance 163

Sustainability and Environmental Impact 167

Leather 167

Leather Surface Treatments 170

Chapter 5 Construction Materials 173

Wall Finishes 173

Gypsum Board 173

Gypsum Board Assemblies 174

Plaster 181

Sustainability and Environmental Impact 183

Paints and Coatings 183

Wallcoverings 197

Upholstered Wall Systems 212

Ceiling Finishes 216

Glass Reinforced Gypsum (GRG) 216

Acoustic Ceilings 217

Acoustic Concerns 219

Floor Finishes 223

Flooring Selection Considerations 224

Ceramic Tile 229

Terrazzo 237

Wood Flooring 241

Plastic Laminate Flooring 246

Bamboo Flooring 247

Stone 247

Vinyl Flooring 254

Rubber Flooring 260

Linoleum 263

Cork 263

Resilient Flooring Accessories 264

Carpet and Carpet Tile 268

Doors and Door Hardware 297

Wood Doors 297

Steel Doors 298

Door Hardware 299

Chapter 6 Furniture and Furnishings 307

Casework 307

Custom Casework 307

Prebuilt Casework 308

Countertops 309

File Cabinets 311

Seating 314

Seating for Work 314

Upholstered Seating 318

Systems Furniture 325

Wire and Cable 327

Window Treatments 331

Shading From Solar Heat Gain 331

Insulation from Heat Loss 334

Blinds 335

Shades 339

Draperies 340

Appendix A AIA Document B171 ID 347

Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect For Architectural Interior Design Services 348

Appendix B AIA Document A275 ID 369

General Conditions of the Contract For Furniture, Furnishings and Equipment 370

Appendix C AIA Document A175 ID 383

Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Vendor For Furniture, Furnishings and Equipment 384

Appendix D Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2 (Abridged) 391

Glossary 403

Index 415