I love design-build mechanical projects, and York Arts was one that presented many challenges. The basement level would be two large pottery classrooms with a third room isolated for the electric kilns, the first floor an art gallery and offices and the upper floor was to be classrooms and a large open space where lectures, painting classes or gatherings would be held. With such a diverse and wide-ranging load for maintaining thermal comfort, multiple zones would need to be created.
The electric kilns produced toxic fumes, so exhaust hoods and fresh air makeup were required. The exhaust hoods had to be raised when loading or removing pottery from the kilns and lowered to capture all by-products during the firing process. Counter-weighted pulleys and flexible exhaust ducts connected to the steel hoods are made for this exact application and provided the engineering criteria that enabled us to determine sizing for the combined exhaust line.