Archinect - News

A Cambridge University research paper explores the challenges faced by architectural design practitioners in embracing inclusive design

2024-01-05T12:15:00-05:00

New research produced by the University of Cambridge has identified key strategies to better effect a widespread implementation of inclusive design beyond its current status as a nascent set of concepts that have yet to be fully adopted by practitioners in almost every sector.

The paper’s lead investigators, Dr. Matteo Zallio and Professor P John Clarkson, surveyed a total of 114 different practitioners of architecture to produce an assessment of the current perceptions and challenges inherent in designing for inclusivity. The results are a reminder of how far the industry still has to go in terms of raising awareness and dispelling misconceptions about inclusive design by identifying critical gaps in client and practitioner awareness.

For example, the paper states “only 41.6% of clients were reported to have requested guidance on regulatory and legal compliance in the pre-design process.” A post-design evaluation of occupants' usability using available tools is another key lagging ...

New York's MTA will officially make 95% of subway stations ADA compliant by 2055

2023-04-11T15:25:00-04:00

A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved a settlement to a class action lawsuit that locks the MTA into equipping 95% of subway and Staten Island Railway stations with elevators or ramps — with a deadline three decades away. The approval by Judge Edgardo Ramos caps one part of a long-running push by advocates for people with disabilities to improve access to a transit system where merely a quarter of the nearly 500 stations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

As The City reported, the ruling makes the terms of last June’s landmark settlement official. Judge Ramos told plaintiffs that he knows the push would be a “very difficult thing to achieve.” MTA officials currently plan the upgrades in stages, with 81 stations affected by 2024 as part of the $50 MTA Capital Program; another 85 by 2035; 90 more by 2045; and the final 90 ready by 2055, bringing the total to 346 (or about 95% of the networks total stations).

ICC's method for updating building codes is revised to ‘foster more in-depth vetting’

2023-03-02T11:25:00-05:00

The International Code Council is to revise its building code development process with changes taking effect in 2024. The new process for reviewing code change proposals will see a three-year rolling cycle encompassing Committee Action Hearings and a joint Public Comment Hearings / Online Governmental Consensus Vote session, with the 2027 I-Codes to be the first edition produced using the pathway.

In the new timeline, Year One will host two Committee Action Hearings for Group A Codes, while Year Two will host two Committee Action Hearings for Group B Codes. In Year Three, joint Public Comment Hearings and an Online Governmental Consensus Vote will be held for both Group A and B Codes.

ICC believes that the addition of the second Committee Actions Hearings in the first two years will allow for a more thorough vetting of code change proposals while allowing proponents more opportunities to build consensus for...

Chicago will receive $185 million for long-awaited CTA station accessibility upgrades

2022-12-27T13:40:00-05:00

Chicago will receive a total of $185 million in federal funding to make several of its Chicago Transit Authority and Metra stations accessible for disabled riders, officials announced Monday as part of a new program tucked into the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden last year.

The money is part of the larger $1.75 billion provision set aside for accessibility improvements in various urban transit agencies by the federal infrastructure bill from last year. New York is the only city to receive more. Per the Tribune, a total of 42 of the CTA’s 145 stations are not currently compliant with the ADA’s design standards. Nationwide, the number is thought to be around 900.

“It’s a sorry state,” disabled Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who asked for twice the amount of funding before the bill was watered down in congress, told the paper. “I don’t take the ‘L’ in Chicago because I never know if a station is going to be fully accessible for my wheelchair or not.”

Who owns building codes?

2019-12-23T14:49:00-05:00

A copyright infringement lawsuit filed in 2017 against building industry startup company UpCodes by the International Code Council (ICC) is getting ready to head to court next year.

UpCodes is a for-profit company that dubs itself as a "searchable platform for building codes" by providing a variety of code-related services for designers and other building industry professionals, including a Revit plug-in that can scan building models for code compliance. This for-profit use of the ICC-generated code information is what's at issue in the lawsuit.

Samples of UpCode's desktop and mobile code software systems. Image courtesy of UpCodes.

Although International Building Code (IBC) guidelines are written into the building codes specified by nearly all municipalities in the country, the codes themselves are considered to be under copyright by the ICC. ICC, a non-profit entity, does the work of researching, writing, and periodically updating the codes itself, a service that is funded throug...

Can you guess the most common building code violations?

2019-11-11T12:08:00-05:00

A new report from the International Code Council ranks the top commercial building code violations in a variety of construction trades. The 2019 Common Code Noncompliance Survey Report also details the reasons behind the violations.

Construction Dive lists the top five causes for issues, according to inspectors as:

Workers that don't follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
A contractor’s lack of code knowledge.
Cost-cutting, such as using substandard building materials that don’t meet local requirements.
A lack of coordination between trades resulting in one trade covering up another’s work or not providing enough access for a subcontractor to perform critical work.
Damage to a trade’s work. This could occur, for example, if another trade penetrated existing firestopping while installing telephone or cable television wiring, reports Construction Dive.

Check out the Construction Dive article for an interactive guide of the specific violations covered in the full report. The subcategories covered look at plans, sitework/foundation, framing, building envelope, MEP, stairs/railing, and safety.