Archinect - News

FDNY Union says no to oversized mechanical spaces

2019-06-14T19:45:00-04:00

"It is difficult enough for Firefighters operating inside of high-rise buildings. Access to the fire area and to whatever is on fire is paramount to save lives and to protect Firefighters operating at these fires... While we acknowledge and accept the risks of our profession, we strongly oppose construction methods that are inherently dangerous that for no valid reason increase the threat to the lives of the public and our members."

The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York has come out in strong support of state-level legislation aimed at limiting the ability of real estate developers to use "mechanical void spaces" to game zoning codes into allowing them to construct taller buildings.

In a strongly-worded memo, circulated by the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts group, the Fire Department of New York union says, "Void spaces, often entire floors in buildings put hazardous equipment such as High Voltage Air Conditioning and heating equipment in the middle of buildings, many floors above street level. These void floors bring fire hazards into areas of a building where it is most difficult for Firefighters to fight these types of equipment fires."

New York City's "Accidental Skyline," Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Chris O.

Two legislative proposals, Senate Bill S3820A and Assembly Bill A5026A, aim to fine-tune how municipalities define a project's floor area.

Under recent gui...

Are California homes burning from natural disasters or poor planning?

2017-12-11T19:08:00-05:00

The fires raging in Los Angeles County and Ventura are an urgent signal that we need to start asking the hard questions — about the true cost of expanding the local tax base with new residences in high fire hazard zones. We need to stop having the same conversation over and over again, a conversation laced with non-sequiturs and focused on outdated, ineffective solutions.

The fires consuming California homes are located in wildland areas, where developers continue to spread cities further. Planning agencies should be the first line of action, not firefighters.

Does Jeanne Gang's architecture inspire social justice?

2016-07-21T12:36:00-04:00

In this New York Times interview with Ginia Bellafante, Jeanne Gang discusses the importance and challenges of designing work that isn't simply aesthetically pleasing, but that influences positive changes in social behavior and policy. In addition to her work on waterways, she discusses her idea behind designing a fire rescue station in one of New York City's poorest and most violent neighborhoods:

You feel like you trust a firefighter, a rescue worker. And those doors on the building are often open. And we even put a bench in the front of the building so people can actually sit there instead of taking this approach of creating a fortress, which I think is a contrast to what we see in the design of police stations.

And so really designing this Fire Rescue 2 started me thinking about, are there ways that design could help improve the relationship between community members and police if we looked at the architecture? Not that it can solve everything. But I think, you know, maybe it can ...

Flying firefighters: the jetpack is quickly becoming a reality

2015-11-11T22:18:00-05:00

In the near-future, Dubai Civil Defence officers may be zooming in on to the scene of building fires using futuristic personal jetpacks. Designed by New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft Company, the jet-packs can be operated by a single pilot for 30 minutes at ranges of between 30 and 50 kilometres at altitudes of up to 3,000 feet. The pilot stands on a platform in a 'pilot module' between two propeller engines, which look like large versions of those commonly found on civilian drones.

I'm not sure when or how it happened, but apparently jet packs are a real thing now. On Tuesday, the Dubai Civil Defense service signed a deal with Martin Aircraft for the future delivery of jetpacks, training material, and spare parts. Dubai's towering skyline necessitates a degree of vertical mobility in its emergency respondents. Equipped with jetpacks, firefighters can rapidly rescue people stranded near the top of a building if an emergency renders the elevators inoperable (as they tend to do).

And then last week, the US Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration let an Australian named David Mayman fly around the Statue of Liberty with a jetpack made by Jetpack Aviation. According to a report, this satisfied Mayman's dream to become a "real life Ironman" (which is a bit odd, because I'm pretty sure Elon Musk already called dibs on that).

In any case, the videos are really fun and the technology is obviously quite interesting, with a lot of possible applications. The articl...

Architect to plead "no contest" in Los Angeles firefighter's death

2014-01-03T14:39:00-05:00

A German architect accused of improperly installing a fireplace in his Hollywood Hills mansion, leading to a firefighter’s death in February 2011, is expected to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter Friday.

Architect, Gerhard Becker, is accused of involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles in the death of a firefighter in February 2011. He is expected to plead "no contest" and serve a 6 month long sentence.

Becker was accused of constructing fireplaces in a 12,000 square foot residence in the Hollywood Hills despite having filed drawing that showed otherwise. Prosecutors allege that he did so after final inspections in November 2010.

Investigators determined that the fire was a result of several gas exterior fire pits that were installed inside. A fire broke out and several responding firefighter were pinned when the ceiling collapsed, resulting in one death.