Education & Institutional
Learning spaces combine high outside-air demand, low background-noise limits, and tight life-safety coordination — then may sit largely unoccupied during summer and other breaks. We deliver construction-ready MEP that students never notice, holds indoor air quality, and goes into state or local plan review documented against the standards the reviewing agency enforces.
Healthy Air, Quiet Rooms, Safe Campuses.
A classroom needs roughly 10 cfm per person plus a floor-area rate, a background-noise ceiling near 35 dBA, and voice notification where required — then it goes dark for summer. So controls, scheduling, and acoustics matter as much as raw capacity. We design systems that hold ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation and ANSI/ASA S12.60 acoustic targets, electrify cleanly, and are documented for state review — behind your seal.
HVAC, Ventilation & IAQ
Air the room never draws attention to, sized to the occupancy and tuned for learning outcomes.
- DOAS with energy-recovery wheels or plates, sized to ASHRAE 62.1 classroom rates (per-person plus per-area)
- CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation — required by the energy code in many classrooms over 500 ft² — engineered per ASHRAE 62.1 so outdoor air never falls below the area-based minimum, with deep scheduling setback carrying the break and weekend savings, and extended to the gyms, auditoriums, and assembly spaces where the density swing is largest and the energy code most often mandates it
- Electrification-ready plant: VRF, air-to-water heat pumps, or ground-source loops where budgets and ordinances push all-electric
- Higher-ed tie-ins to campus central chilled-water and hot-water distribution; steam interfaces coordinated with the steam specialist
- Dedicated exhaust for science labs, art/kiln rooms, CTE shops, and locker rooms
- Deep setback and zoned scheduling for summers, weekends, and holidays, with humidity control maintained
Acoustics & Comfort
Mechanical systems engineered not to compete with the teacher.
- Background-noise targets per ANSI/ASA S12.60 — near 35 dBA for core classrooms, 40 dBA where the room volume allows — driving equipment selection and placement
- Reverberation-aware coordination so duct, diffuser, and unit choices support speech intelligibility
- Low-velocity duct design and remote air handlers to keep noise out of core learning spaces
- Vibration isolation for rooftop and mechanical-room equipment over occupied rooms
- Natatorium and gym dehumidification that holds comfort without roaring
Electrical, Lighting & Technology
Lighting, life safety, and the low-voltage backbone instruction runs on.
- Classroom and task lighting to IES illuminance levels with daylight-responsive and occupancy controls
- Emergency and egress lighting and power per NFPA 101
- Fire alarm to NFPA 72 with voice/EVAC where the adopted code requires it, and mass-notification risk analysis where applicable
- Security, access-control, and lockdown-hardware power and pathways coordinated across disciplines
- Structured cabling, AV, and PA/intercom infrastructure pathways
- Service capacity headroom for added EV charging and electrified heating loads
Plumbing
Fixtures counted by occupancy type and fitted to the age groups on campus.
- Educational- and assembly-occupancy fixture counts per IPC/UPC with age-appropriate ADA mounting heights
- Domestic hot water with recirculation and tempering for gang restrooms and showers
- Bottle-filling stations and lead-conscious potable-water design
- Science-room, art-room, and CTE-shop fixtures, gas, and lab-grade water where programs require
- Natatorium, kitchen grease, and locker-room drainage coordination
Life Safety & Approvals
Coordinated for state or local plan check.
- Assembly and Group E egress, fire alarm, and mass-notification coordination to IBC and NFPA 101
- Lockdown, security, and door-hardware power coordinated with life safety
- Commercial-kitchen, CTE-shop, and stage exhaust with make-up air and interlocks
- Documents prepared for state school review (DSA in California, OSFM, and state-agency AHJs)
We design dedicated outdoor-air systems with energy recovery, sized to ASHRAE 62.1 classroom rates — roughly a per-person rate plus a floor-area rate — and add CO2-based demand-control ventilation so occupied rooms get fresh air while empty ones don't waste energy. Where the budget allows, we push outside air and filtration above code minimums, because IAQ correlates with attendance and learning outcomes — and we size that extra air against the energy-recovery capacity to limit the operating-cost impact of the IAQ gain. The basis of design is documented so the licensed engineer of record on your project can review the ventilation calculations quickly.
We treat background noise as a hard design target, near 35 dBA per ANSI/ASA S12.60, and let it drive equipment selection and placement rather than balancing into compliance later. That means low-velocity duct design, remote or isolated air handlers, vibration isolation over occupied rooms, and diffuser choices that keep mechanical noise from competing with the teacher. We coordinate with the project acoustician where one is on the team.
Yes. We design air-to-water and ground-source heat-pump plants, VRF, and heat-recovery chillers where districts, university systems, or local ordinances are driving electrification, and we tie new work into existing campus central chilled-water or hot-water distribution where it exists, and coordinate any steam interface with the steam specialist. We size electrical service and risers for the added heating and EV loads so the building isn't stranded a code cycle later — all behind your seal.
Yes. We design to the applicable state school-construction standards — including DSA in California and other state-agency and State Fire Marshal review paths — and confirm the adopted code editions up front. Egress, fire alarm to NFPA 72, mass notification where the NFPA 72 risk analysis calls for it, and life safety to NFPA 101 are coordinated across disciplines before the set goes in, so the review is about the project and not about the coordination.