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The L&I Mystery

“Do you think the City (of Philadelphia) will require a stamped permit drawing for this project?” Aaahhh… the question I get asked with ever increasing frequency these days. The short answer to that question always seems to be, “yes.” Back in the day, before the...

MEP/FP Systems for Young Architects: A Basic Primer

At hpeGROUP we enjoy teaching. I am a guest lecturer and charrette participant at Philadelphia University’s Design IX course. On occasion I give lectures to architectural engineering students at Drexel Univeristy. Gary teaches solar design fundamentals on an as...

Computational Fluid… What?!

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a field of analysis used to predict behavior of fluids. The Navy uses CFD to predict turbulence in water from its submarines and redesigns the shape of the hulls, etc. to reduce this noise generating turbulence. More recently, in...

Working with Engineers: A Primer

As an architect or owner looking to build or renovate a building you are often thrust into the hands of engineers who can either make your project work… or turn the process into frustrating nightmare. What makes engineers tick? How do you interpret what they...

Understanding Fixture Counts

The model plumbing codes that we use between PA, NJ & Philadelphia vary greatly when it comes down to fixture quantities versus occupancy. hpeGROUP prefers to be proactive in our coordination efforts to help our partner architect translate the required fixture...

PV in PA? Not without help.

I’ve been fortunate to have been the engineer for more-than-my-fair-share of photovoltaic (PV) projects in past few years. PV projects have been a very enriching and a very satisfying part of my career. IÂ’ve been involved with such big name corporations as Tiffany...