Single-storey care unit

In a single-storey building, the roof is a major part of the load-bearing system. Its trusses, joists or upper-floor components must span the bedrooms, the circulation and the central zones while carrying their loads towards clearly identified walls.

Equipment placed on the roof or suspended beneath it introduces loads and vibrations that do not necessarily appear on an architectural plan. Air handling units, services, cable trays, technical ceilings, suspended appliances and any care equipment must be identified before the final calculation.

A suspended load must not be carried by an internal lining alone. Heavy equipment, handrails, fixed furniture, sanitary appliances and wall-mounted devices call for reinforcement built into the panels at the intended location.

The roof penetrations required for ventilation and services must be coordinated with the load-bearing components, the falls, the upstands and the drainage. Adding them after manufacture may interrupt a truss, a joist or a waterproofing layer.

A care building brings several movements into relation: patients, visitors, staff, supplies, linen, cleaning and waste. The plan shows a general layout, but it does not allow the conclusion that these flows are separated or that they comply with a particular health brief.

The position of the accesses, the waiting areas, the support rooms and the exits must be defined according to the real activity. A residential unit, a consultation centre, an observation unit or a building intended for specialist care do not call for the same adjacencies or the same equipment.

The width of the circulation, the turning spaces, the doors, the sanitary facilities and the changes of level must be verified for the people, the wheelchairs, the beds and the equipment that will actually move through them. The fact that the building is on a single level is not, by itself, enough to establish its accessibility.

Ventilation needs depend on the use of each room. Air change, filtration, temperature, humidity and any pressure relationships must be defined by the competent specialists on the basis of the care brief.

The ventilation ducts and services occupy a volume that must be reserved in the ceilings, the walls or the plant rooms. Their dimensions may change the available height, the passages through the trusses and the position of the roof equipment.

The water points, drainage, hygiene provisions and waste management rooms must be connected to services that are accessible and maintainable. The passages through the slab and the foundations are coordinated before they are executed, so as to avoid remedial work around the anchors or beneath the load-bearing walls.

The internal materials must be chosen according to cleaning, humidity, impact and the use of the rooms. How easy a surface is to maintain depends on the facing, the joints, the corners, the thresholds and the connections; it does not follow from the steel frame behind that surface.

The bedrooms, circulation, plant rooms and staff spaces may call for different levels of acoustic separation. Noise from equipment, from drainage, from doors and from circulation must be dealt with in the complete build-ups of the walls, the ceilings and the services.

Acoustic and fire protection performance depends on the facings, the insulation, the cavities, the fixings, the doors, the seals, the penetrations and the continuity between walls and roof. No performance must be attributed to the frame alone.

The facades are defined according to the climate, the orientation, the openings, the level of exposure and the requirements of the project. Their build-up must ensure the continuity of the insulation and of the water and air management layers around the windows, the doors and the many technical penetrations.

The exits, compartmentation, escape routes and safety provisions are established according to the use, the capacity and the applicable rules. The schematic plan does not constitute a validation of these provisions.