Facilities Manager
I would like to request for increased chilled airflow to the Birchwood room A to be carried out immediately.
The hotel will be hosting a group of very important clients in two days time. The group has been booked to attend a function to be hosted in Birchwood room A. it has come to my attention that the room has been nicknamed “the roaster” by the employees. On further enquiries, I realized that this was because the room has a tendency to get very warm and uncomfortable for people in there. Due to the reasons listed above, I investigated the claims. I have realized that this may be true.
This afternoon I did an inspection of the room. Although the temperature was fine, this might not be the case during the function because the air wall between Birchwood room A and room B was open. Opening helps the circulation of air over the larger area, therefore, regulating the temperature. During the meeting, this air wall between these two rooms will be closed. Therefore, this temperature regulation method will not be available.
Something else noted was that warm air was flowing into the room through the gaskets on the sliding glass door. This shows that the warm air outside is getting into the room. During the meeting, the door to the courtyard might be opened. Therefore, more warm air will flow into the room from the courtyard. This will lead to higher temperatures during the meeting than I experienced today.
The room is adjacent to the kitchen, which gives out a lot of heat. On the day of the meeting, the steam tables will also add to the temperature of the room. The heat load of all the appliances will increase the temperature significantly. This added to the number of guests who will attend will also lead to a likely high temperature in the room.
The facilities manager has mentioned that the chilled airflow to the room has been calibrated according to floor space. The Birchwood room A has a floor space of 1500 square feet. However, this room needs more chilled airflow than other meeting spaces in the hotel due to its ceiling height. The ceiling height in Birchwood room A is only 10 feet. This means that the room does not enjoy the temperature regulating properties of a high ceiling. This room needs more airflow than normal rooms to maintain a cool temperature.
The only way to maintain a cool environment by the time we host the guests is to increase the chilled airflow into the room.
In the future, a number of changes can be done so as to ensure guest satisfaction while using the Birchwood. The sliding glass door opening to the courtyard can be covered in tinted material. This will ensure reflection of radiant heat from outside and help ensure a cool temperature inside.
The second long term way to improve the cooling in the Birchwood will be to employ shading in the courtyard. This can be done by landscaping. Vegetation on the courtyard will reduce the temperature and therefore the temperature of the air flowing into the room.
Reference:
Stitt, F. A. (2002). Architect's room design data handbook. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Whyte, W. (2010). Cleanroom technology: Fundamentals of design, testing and operation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
