Beyond superstition, 13th floors also hold a money-making opportunity

Johnathan Meade was born on Friday the Thirteenth. A neat coincidence, given his emotions on the quantity’s impact on development.

Meade is the chief working officer of Phoenix-based Meade Engineering, a family-owned engineering providers agency. He additionally has various ideas about how a constructing’s Thirteenth ground — which is commonly deliberately designed out of buildings as a consequence of superstition — will be made more practical.

Whereas the true property trade has omitted the Thirteenth ground for years for each superstitious and financial causes — resort vacationers and apartment patrons typically eschew Thirteenth-level models, reducing their worth —  the observe has obtained pushback from municipalities. In 2015, town of Vancouver, British Columbia, banned the omission of these floors on elevator buttons, per the Vancouver Solar, with a view to keep away from confusion when first responders want to seek out individuals in an emergency.

Right here, Meade talks about his expertise, why superstition nonetheless holds sway over constructing designs and what will be completed to treatment it.

Editor’s word: This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: What was your first expertise with this observe within the development trade?

JOHNATHAN MEADE: The 44 Monroe Tower in Phoenix, which we labored on within the early 2000s. It doesn’t have a Thirteenth ground. It is certainly one of this stuff that, from a design standpoint, it’s very owner-driven. 

Whoever’s funding the constructing, who has the imaginative and prescient for the constructing, they’re working with the architect. They personally, say, “I do not need to have the quantity 13 on this constructing.” That turns into a design point of interest that you simply then need to construct round.

It not solely impacts architectural design, however it’ll be impacting all the opposite design disciplines similar to mechanical, electrical, structural and civil.

That is what I believe is so attention-grabbing about this phobia, that is gone again a pair hundred years, the place we have actually made choices round a phobia about tips on how to design one thing within the development world.

As I take into consideration this, are these all the time the most effective design choices from an engineering standpoint? In all probability not. It is most likely not all the time logical, nevertheless it’s an proprietor desire. 

How does altering the Thirteenth ground have an effect on the constructing from a design standpoint?

Whenever you construct these towers, you have got tools that’s wanted to help the tower, particularly HVAC and mechanical tools. Many occasions, the mechanical ground as you name it, shall be slotted on that Thirteenth ground. Every now and then, you may have a mechanical key that you simply use contained in the elevator with a view to entry this particular ground.

Due to all that tools on the Thirteenth ground, you are going to have to switch that ground to accommodate it. Possibly the concrete slab goes to need to be thicker due to the burden of the tools. It is not simply individuals and condominiums.

Possibly the best way that you simply route {the electrical} conduit with a view to feed that mechanical tools goes to be routed otherwise and fewer effectively because of having to get it to that Thirteenth ground, versus placing it on the underside ground, or placing it in a mechanical yard on the outside of the constructing.

These are the sorts of choices which are going to influence your complete construction and the best way that the constructing is designed, as a result of we have now to accommodate this desire.

Why just isn’t designating a Thirteenth ground a possible situation?

If you wish to design one thing luxurious, you are going to design that constructing in a specific method. You need to create that environment, create that surroundings, that is going to talk to that viewers that you simply’re attempting to draw. However the Thirteenth ground is completely superstitious.

If it is a condominium constructing or a resort, there’s that potential income loss due to that phobia of the quantity 13. The values of the condominiums which are being bought on the Thirteenth ground shall be much less in-demand than the remainder of the constructing, which can then influence the entire constructing. So there may be some monetary motivation, too.

On account of this superstition, I believe we’re making design choices that might be challenged in any other case.

Right here’s an instance I like utilizing: I’ve tasked you with creating two equivalent buildings. On certainly one of them, it’s a must to use the Thirteenth ground on your mechanical tools and electrical tools. On the different constructing, you are able to do no matter you need. 

Who’s going to have the extra environment friendly design? In all probability, the one that can do no matter they need, if the final word aim is to be sustainable or to be environment friendly with their design. If you consider it that method, that you simply needed to design across the Thirteenth ground, it simply appears odd.