Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
B.Arch Curriculum · Semester 5 · Elective

Building Services for Special Buildings

A house has services; a tower has systems. As buildings grow tall and complex, their services — water, drainage, power, lifts, air-conditioning and fire safety — stop being simple installations and become engineered systems that the architecture must be designed around. This sequel to the first services course covers the high-rise and special-building scale: pumping water up a hundred metres against gravity, moving thousands of people by lift, cooling a sealed glass tower, and — above all — keeping everyone safe when it burns.

5Units
6Outcomes
4Credits
FreeForever
Start with Unit I All student courses
Unit III · What makes the tall building possible

Electrical & Vertical Transport

A tall building is a vertical city, and its two great circulatory systems are electricity and the lift. Learn the electrical supply chain — high-tension intake, substation and transformer, standby generators and the distribution down to every floor — and then the defining service of the special building: vertical transportation. Lift types, speeds and capacities; the traffic analysis that decides how many lifts a tower needs; the zoning of lift banks and sky lobbies that makes a supertall workable; and the escalator.

HT/LT supplyStandby DGLift trafficLift zoningSky lobby
Open the lesson

The syllabus

Five units, from the water tank to the fire control room.

Transcribed from the official B.Arch syllabus. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons, each with original diagrams, a self-assessment quiz and a studio task.

1

Unit 1 — Water Supply for Tall Buildings

Live

Water demand and storage; the high-rise distribution systems — down-feed, up-feed and hydro-pneumatic; and pressure zoning with break-pressure tanks and pressure-reducing valves, because static head must be kept within fixture limits.

CO1CO6
2

Unit 2 — Drainage & Sanitation

Live

Drainage systems for tall buildings — one-pipe, two-pipe and single-stack; venting and anti-siphonage to protect trap seals; and on-site sewage treatment, greywater reuse, refuse chutes and rainwater harvesting.

CO2
3

Unit 3 — Electrical & Vertical Transport

Live

Electrical services — HT/LT supply, substation, standby DG and distribution; and vertical transportation — lift types, speeds and capacities, traffic analysis, the zoning of lift banks and sky lobbies, and escalators.

CO3CO6
4

Unit 4 — HVAC & Ventilation

Live

Air-conditioning for large buildings — the central plant, chillers (air- vs water-cooled), AHUs and ducting, the refrigeration cycle and the ton of refrigeration, and VRV/VRF; and mechanical ventilation of basements, car parks and kitchens (air changes per hour).

CO4
5

Unit 5 — Fire Safety & Smart Buildings

Live

Firefighting for high-rise — wet and dry risers, down-comers, sprinklers, hydrants, the static tank and pumps, detection and alarm, refuge areas and pressurisation; and intelligent building management systems integrating HVAC, fire, security and energy.

CO5CO6

Course outcomes

What you should be able to do after completing all five units (CO1–CO6, from the syllabus).

1
Apply

Apply water supply and pressure zoning to a high-rise building.

2
Understand

Design drainage, sanitation and waste systems for tall buildings.

3
Apply

Apply electrical services and vertical transportation (lifts, escalators).

4
Apply

Apply HVAC and mechanical ventilation to large buildings.

5
Analyse

Apply fire-safety systems and intelligent building management.

6
Understand

Integrate building services with architectural design at scale.

Topics follow the published B.Arch elective syllabus (L1 · T0 · S5; 200 marks) — the high-rise sequel to Building Services I. Every diagram is original Studio Matrx work; the NBC thresholds, the 1 TR = 3.517 kW conversion and the refuge/pressurisation figures are verified. We flag the myths — a tower can't run on one pressure zone, a wet riser is not a dry riser, 1 TR is a rate not a weight, and sprinklers don't all fire at once.

A house has services; a tower has systems.

High-rise water, drainage, power, lifts, HVAC and fire safety. Read the five units, study the diagrams, then test yourself.

Open Unit I Back to Students

Studio Matrx is a tribute to Amogh N P. The curriculum is free, forever.