Email #ee – Steam Pipe or Time Bomb?

OK, maybe that language is a little strong, but I do have concerns....But first, thanks to the two of you who shared your memories of the Steam Pipe, or at least the heat that it produced: Jeffrey Ochsner and Brian Johnson. Jeffrey notes "That is the steam pipe that ran through the Archives Room.  The room was always warm and that dried out the drawings and made them brittle."

Sounds like not a good spot for an archive, underneath a 24/7 Live Steam Pipe. So now what are we going to put under the Live Steam Pipe?

On the plans it looks like computer rooms labeled "Server", "Input/Output Center", and “IOC Suite.” That's on the west end underneath the auditorium, as marked with a yellow X in the bottom photo. Seems like it might get a little toasty for all those computers. Did the HVAC design of these spaces account for the steam pipe?

The steam pipe photo I sent you in a previous email shows the section at the center of the building where the new "Review/Exhibit" space will be (top photo). I hope it doesn't get as hot in there as it did in Rm. 135.

Meanwhile, the men at Mortenson answered some of my questions about the steam pipe: The low-pressure steam for heating enters the building vertically on the east side of the building where the new restrooms will be. The pipe bends, and then shoots straight through the building at just above ceiling height, first above the new Review/Exhibit room (top photo) and then above the computer rooms (bottom photo).

At the west wall the pipe dives vertically again (between 2rd/3th windows from north) and carries steam to all the Guthrie Annex buildings just downhill of Architecture Hall. So if we damage the pipe, only the Annex buildings go cold.

Meanwhile, will we be too hot?

John Stamets
June 14, 2006

See also #5, #49, #56 and #63