This chapter is devoted to ‘‘fundamental’’ fundamentals — certain prin-ciples which lay the foundation for what is to come. Starting with the original author’s suggested thought process for analyzing typical prob-lems, the reader is then exposed to a buzzword of our time: value engineering. Next follows a discussion of codes and regulations, polit-ical criteria which constrain potential design solutions to the bounds of public health and welfare, and sometimes to special interest group
sponsored legislation. The final sections of the chapter offer a brief review of the basic physics of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) design in discussions of fluid mechanics, hermodynamics, heat transfer, and psychrometrics. Numerous classroom and design office xperiences remind us of the value of continuous awareness of the physics of HVAC processes in the conduct of design work.