Equipment Room Planning
Mechanical equipment rooms house the core plant of a building HVAC system: chillers, boilers, air handling units, pumps, heat exchangers, cooling towers (on the roof), and the associated electrical and controls equipment. Equipment room design significantly affects the entire project because mechanical spaces drive structural column spacing (to accommodate equipment dimensions and access paths), floor-to-floor heights (to clear ductwork and piping mains while providing maintenance access), and proximity to vertical shafts for supply and return air distribution. Mechanical rooms should be established in the building program before architectural design begins, not retrofitted around completed floor plans.