I have a serious problem with architects

[thewayne]

We're getting a new city hall.

Apparently the architects don't realize that computer rooms/data centers have special requirements.

Trivial things. Like more air conditioning above and beyond what the rest of the building needs. Or more electricity. Or channels through which network cables can be run. Raised floors are also nice.

The "architects", using the term loosely, think that IT can use the same type of space as payroll or personnel or whatever. And that IT can run all the cables when the move happens. As one of our help desk people said today, as long as we dedicate ALL IT staff for six months after the building is completed as there are maybe ten people in IT who can run cable.

When you run network cables through physical firewalls, you have to use special construction techniques to reconstitute the firewall to maintain its fire rating. Same thing if you pierce the floor to drop cable between floors. You don't just drill holes and drop cable through. And you don't use non-professional people to do it, at least if you want it done right.

So now, after the bids have gone out, contracts have been awarded, the formal groundbreaking ceremony has been conducted, we're still trying to get the plans modified to try and get the building to be more IT/network friendly.

*sigh*

These people REALLY need to have someone on staff or contracted to help them modify plans to be network-friendly, not to mention bringing the IT department of the company that they're designing the building for in on the design.

Comments

[chirssly.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they'll have fun when the too-small air conditioner they have in the server room starts to leak on the rack. Or, what was even more fun, when the air conditioner broke in the middle of the winter because they didn't buy the right type. That was a fun one to explain.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

Oh lordy. It should be common sense that one actually consults the groups for whom one is designing something. In my job, we got a new building and the bosses and architect consulted with the head of the production area to make sure we had what we needed. There was only one oversight, and that didn't have to do with our jobs but with the ancient pipes of the building we renovated— we had to pull up a section of the floor, and tore the vinyl tiling, and since we still need to leave the "access hatch" the upshot is that though we've been in the building for barely a year it looks like ancient damage. Oh well, it's the private area next to the printer.

(There are little weirdities that even a good architect couldn't have foreseen, like the fact that a 50' by 20' area could actually develop microclimates. My desk— across from the door to the uninsulated storage garage— is very cold, while on either side of the cubicle walls it's much warmer. Back by the printer (photo) it's warmer still, but that's the natural effect of having a ten-foot behemoth that's always on.)