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UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN
iron beams, concrete between iron beams, etc. being alternated in the construction of each floor. The direction of the beams is changed for every room. In this way a very remarkable interference of wave-sounds is obtained, so that the transmission of noise from one part of the building to the other is reduced to a minimum. This is very important in the different experiments on man and animal to protect them from undesirable acoustical excitation, a source of experimental error too often neglected.
There are casement windows, which occupy the maximum amount of wall space, consisting of an upper and a lower central casement, each flanked on both sides by smaller lateral casements. The lateral sashes open inwards, so that all panes may be cleaned from the room itself. The upper lateral divisions are movable to provide for ventilation.
On the walls of different rooms are placed wooden moldings for hanging pictures. There are small tables for supporting apparatus.
The floors of the basement, of the ground story, and those of a part of the first and second story are of tile ; the others are in planking. On the second floor the department for aseptical operations and the animal hospital also have tiled floors which can easily be cleaned.
THE ENGINEERING INSTALLATIONS
Ventilating
The engineering installations had to be made at a minimum expense. A central ventilating system would have been preferable, but it would have been too costly. Under these circumstances the ventilation was planned in such a way that the system could eventually be transformed into a central ventilating suction system. Each window has under its threshold a fresh air intake and each room has in its wall one or two canalizations that end in a chimney on the roof. In the garret of the building these chimneys are visible and each of them has a trap that by closing these chimneys upwards and by connecting them with a large central suction tube, we can eventually arrange a large aspirating fan to exhaust the vitiated air from the different rooms of the whole Institute.
When, under the present conditions, we have to purify the air in one room or another, we can apply the same exhausting system on a more moderate scale by placing a small electrically driven fan in the corresponding chimney near the roof. To supply a large quantity of air the lower lateral parts of all the windows can be opened. The upper parts are all provided with special ventilating apparatus. All fume cupboards have special ventilating chimneys whose current is facilitated by a simple gas flame.
Heating
Heat is provided by a central apparatus that supplies both the Institute of Physiology and the Institute of Commerce which is nearby. Between the two buildings is situated a large cellar 12 meters long and 8.15 meters wide, which contains two boilers of different dimensions, so that different degrees of heating are obtained by lighting one or two boilers. A low pressure system is employed for heating. The Institute of Physiology is united with the heating cellar by a tunnel through which pass the heating and the return pipes.
The supply pipe entering the Institute goes through the central corridor of the basement. Two columns, one for each wing of the building, carry the steam to the garret, where it is distributed in a main tube which surrounds the whole garret. This main pipe is tapped by numerous secondary pipes, going down to the various rooms on the different floors. In this way the condensed water is driven back by the pressure of steam so that all the noise caused by the resistance of water to the arriving steam is eliminated. This is of the greatest importance for silent laboratory work and is also the most reasonable system because we have heat there, where cold penetrates into the building. Some rooms such as the calorimetric room, the room for metabolic research by gas analysis, the spectatorium, and the aseptic operation room can be heated to a high temperature by means of large radiators.
Water and Gas
The Institute is supplied with water, gas, and electricity from the works of the city of Louvain. Consequently all the installations in connection with the works have had to be placed in accordance with the elaborate regulations issued on these matters. In the center at the top of the building under the roof is a large cistern which serves as a supply for constant pressure. The water supply of this tank is automatically regulated. In laying the pipes special care has been taken to make the whole system as conspicuous and as easily accessible for repairs as possible. All pipes are therefore laid clear of walls and ceilings. The main conducts for heating, gas, water, and electricity are all placed in the central corridor of the basement.
Electricity
Because the Institute is situated just at the intersection of the center and the edge of the town we have at our disposal continuous as well as alternating current. We have continuous current from our own battery of 120 volts, charged by a motorgenerator, continuous current of 440 volts tension from the electrical town works, continuous current of 220 volts from the same