Bluebonnet Bend Apartments, Austin

This sample shows how we approach a typical mid-rise apartment building in Austin; its figures are representative, not taken from a real building. Four storeys of studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments wrap a courtyard with a pool, beside a parking garage, with a leasing office, a fitness room and a mail room on the ground floor. Austin's long, humid cooling season shapes the design: efficient heat pumps in every home, dry fresh air for the corridors and electric water heating.

Mechanical: a 1.5- to 3-ton split heat pump in every apartment, sized room by room, with continuous bathroom and kitchen exhaust, a dedicated outdoor-air unit that dries the air for the corridors, and fresh air and exhaust for the amenity rooms. Electrical: a 125 A panel and meter for every apartment, house panels for the corridors, the courtyard and the garage, and EV-ready circuits in the garage, on a service sized from the dwelling-unit load calculation. Plumbing: city water boosted to the top floor, a 50-gallon heat-pump water heater in each apartment, and sanitary, storm and pool drainage to the city sewers. Fire protection: an NFPA 13R sprinkler system with a fire department connection, and an addressable fire alarm with a sounder in every home. We prepared the energy compliance documents and the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and sprinkler sets for the building permit.