I recently prepared mechanical shop drawings for the renovation of an apartment at 39 Worth Street in Manhattan, NY, pictured below. The project included a new VRF/VRV air-conditioning system with three indoor fan coil units and a single condensing unit in the mechanical room.
Here’s an overview of the work I completed on this project. Scroll to the bottom to see my drawings and my contact info. And if you’re planning a renovation or new build that needs HVAC mechanical shop drawings, I can help you.
The Project Location
The apartment that the work took place in is located at 39 Worth Street, NY NY. The structure at 39 Worth Street in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood is a **five-story store-and-loft building originally constructed circa 1866 for James Smith, a prominent manufacturer of fire engines. Designed by architect Isaac F. Duckworth, the building is one of the rarer surviving examples of mid-19th-century cast-iron architecture south of Canal Street — a testament to the area’s transformation into New York’s thriving dry-goods district in that era. Its striking façade, manufactured by Daniel D. Badger’s Architectural Iron Works, retains original cast-iron elements above the first story, featuring flat-arched window openings with rounded corners, rope moldings, pilasters with foliate capitals, paneled spandrels, and a deeply ornamented cornice with foliate modillions and a segmental pediment. The architectural design reflects a transitional blend of Italianate and Second Empire stylistic influences, which was typical of commercial buildings constructed just after the Civil War.
Over its long history, 39 Worth Street housed a variety of dry-goods businesses from the 1860s through the early 1970s, illustrating the commercial evolution of the Tribeca area before residential conversion became widespread. Following that period, upper floors of the building were gradually converted to living spaces, and it is now part of the neighborhood’s residential fabric while preserving its historic character. In 2013, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission officially designated the 39 Worth Street Building as an individual landmark, recognizing its architectural significance and its role in the cultural and urban development of Lower Manhattan.
39 Worth Street’s Mechanical Contract Drawing
Below is the contract drawing for the apartment’s HVAC system.
My Mechanical Shop Drawing for 39 Worth Street
Here is the mechanical shop drawing I created. Please click the image to launch the PDF.
The scope for this mechanical shop drawing focused on documenting, dimensioning, and coordinating a VRF/VRV air-conditioning system within an existing apartment building, where ceiling space and duct routing tolerances were limited.
The air-conditioning system consisted of three concealed ducted indoor fan coil units served by a single outdoor condensing unit. The condensing unit was located in a mechanical room on the same floor as the apartment. The unit was detailed as fully ducted, with hot air discharged to the side of the building and outside air drawn in through a dedicated exterior intake louver. The intake and exhaust louver assembly was shown with the exhaust section located in the upper portion and the intake section in the lower portion, utilizing an opposed-blade configuration. Louver dimensions were noted on the drawings as “to be verified in the field” and were subject to manufacturer airflow, clearance, and free-area requirements.
The VRF system was divided into three zones based on room usage and layout. Zone 1 served the living room and dining room. Zone 2 served the primary bedroom, walk-in closet, and primary bathroom. Zone 3 served the office and second bedroom. Each indoor unit was a concealed ducted type installed above the finished ceiling. Supply and return air distribution was detailed using Linear Wall Grilles (TR designation), as shown on the plans and schedules.
Return air to the fan coil units was primarily via the ceiling plenum. Where ceiling conditions or pressure balance required it, transfer ducts were introduced and dimensioned to provide a defined return air path back to the unit.
Bathroom and kitchen exhaust systems were fully coordinated as part of the shop drawings. Each toilet and bathroom was served by an individual ceiling-mounted exhaust fan. Each fan was connected to a single dedicated exhaust duct run, routed independently and terminating at an exterior façade-mounted exhaust louver. The kitchen exhaust system included a dedicated duct connection from the range hood to the exterior, terminating at a wall louver measuring 4 inches by 48 inches. All exhaust ductwork was shown uninsulated.
Supply and return ductwork was coordinated using a combination of rectangular and circular ducts, sized to meet airflow requirements while accommodating existing structural and architectural constraints. Acoustic treatment was specified by providing a 1-inch internal duct liner for the first 10 feet downstream of each fan coil unit outlet. Beyond the initial 10 feet, ducts were shown with 2-inch external wrapped insulation.
Air balancing was provided by manually operated volume dampers (VD), which were installed on each supply branch duct and clearly identified on the shop drawings for field access and adjustment.
During the shop drawing phase, coordination issues were identified related to limited ceiling height and the need to route multiple duct runs through shared ceiling zones. Particular attention was given to areas where ducts passed over, under, or alongside one another. Vertical offsets, duct elevations, and clearance spacing were carefully adjusted to avoid clashes and maintain constructability. These coordination constraints directly informed the final duct routing shown in the completed shop drawing.
Contact
If you have a project that needs accurate mechanical shop drawings—HVAC, ductwork, or other systems—please contact me. I specialize in detailed, code-compliant shops that coordinate with architectural and structural constraints, and I can help you with your next renovation or new project.
You can call me now at 718.441.3968, text me now at 646.504.5230, or email me now at brian@draftingservices.com.