what is the occupancy?

It's a commercial space - yoga studio - Group B Occupancy (?) - on the ground floor of a high rise residential building that already has sprinklers installed.

there aren't any code regulations, but use common sense. don't spray the wall with sprinklers!

typically spray heads are most often used for turf and annual beds, shrubs/perennials often get drip emitters. with drip emitters, no risk of spraying the building. Spray heads have lots of different patters available from 360, 180, 90 degree and more. typically layout is to start with the perimeter and then fill the inside of the irrigated area.

another scenario is that there is a drainage/drip layer of mulch adjacent to the foundation for a few feet that doesn't need to irrigated. so don't worry about the existing irrigation.

oh, if you really care, hire a landscape architect to create a new irrigation plan.

ok, are we talking fire protection here?

light hazard occupancy make sense?

I'm sorry for the confusion - yes Fire Sprinklers - light hazard occupancy for sure...

doh! that's a very different question and I don't have the answer. call your MEP.

mep might not know exactly either.

1 show what you want. don't let the sprinkler head location impact the architecture.
2 survey the sprinkler head locations and show them accurately on your drawings.
3 include a note indicating that sprinkler heads will have to be adapted to meet code.
4 the sprinkler contractor then figures out whether the drops need to be moved or diverters put on the heads to direct the spray, whatever.

Tricksy Hobbit! My Precious reminds you to remember head to head! My Precious reminds you to remember full coverage!

treekiller

what are you???? A fucking park ranger???

no and I'm not yogi bear or winnie the pooh either! just a wannabe 'scaper who's been studying irrigation in preparation for my next round of exams.

tk, I adore you! And "call the MEP" is the answer I would have given.

Steven's advice is spot on. Make sure a note about code covers your ass. But don't let any changes to what is there compromise your design; this will probably require an on-site coordination meeting with the sprinkler contractor before work gets started. Also, if it's a high rise building, this may require that you use THEIR certified contractor. Which actually helps you in terms of responsibility.

thanks LB!!! i've been working on projects so vast for the past couple of years, that my typical response to any technical questions has been to email the engineers/consultants. I'm starting to realize that this is causing a loss of memory and won't help pass the AREs next year.

mdler are you an elf?

Thank you for the input... all very helpful... But really I was looking for a rule of thumb or something. The thing is, I'm designing the ceiling using polycarbonate panels and I have to bring the sprinkler heads down to sprinkler below the panels. When I make a hole in the panels for the sprinklers, you'll be able to see the location of the sprinkler head and it will also affect the location of the lighting... So, while I won't let it compromise the design, I do have to consider the locations, because if I arrange all my panel joints and light fixtures relative to the sprinkler heads, and then I'm told I have to move the sprinkler heads over a foot, it's going to cause me some trouble...

sounds tricky, perhaps laying out using the sprinkler head locations is too much of a moving target? might be a situation that you will have to really closely monitor during shop drawing submittal

otherwise go over the fp layout with your consultant very closely and perhaps have a backup plan that is not so dependent on the head locations?

i started looking at nfpa 13 but I am kind of swamped here

actually the sprinklering in the yoga studio may help the yoga students relax. water does that.

So do a basic layout for your ceiling and mark it all "VIF", then arrange that meeting with the sprinkler contractor for AFTER the stud walls are up. This is not a good place to be spending a lot of time doing the perfect layout because, as you say, it could all have to change based on the sprinkler locations. So get the gist of your idea down, label dimensions VIF, and work it out with a field sketch later.

Typically sprinkler specs read: "Sprinkler heads are positioned no closer than 4 inches to any wall and no further from a wall than one-half the allowable distance between sprinklers."

But:
1. The acceptable distance between sprinklers varies by sprinkler type, occupancy type, partition layout, and local code.
2. This is usually in the MEP scope, not the architect's, and you don't usually want to be making any decisions as to sprinkler locations as you don't want to bring that responsibility/liability directly onto the firm.
3. I would not use the sprinkler head locations as any sort of reference for locating anything else unless I know that there's money and time in the budget for me to work very closely with the consultant AND for me to be onsite observing the installation of the sprinklers.

yeah i would just put a note on the drawing saying that you will conform to that passage of the nfpa.

Thanks a lot. This has been enlightening. I've never really had to think about sprinklers in this much detail before, so I was feeling nervous about dealing with them, but it sounds like there's some flexibility and I can work it out later...

I typically lay them out on a 15' grid with at least 18"-2' from the closest partition. Then I adjust them on grid for walls/small spaces. But yeah, you would definitely want to note that it is the mep's scope to verify...