While many of the aforementioned factors affect project completion deadlines, ventilation selection is a hedge architects, consulting engineers, and HVAC contractors are using to expedite projects toward completion once mechanical equipment finally arrives on-site and is installed.
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For buildings, the security of access control systems is critical. If a card system is hacked, there can be major problems. For example, at a university, years of research can be tampered with or lost. At a hospital, federal and provincial security rules are stringent and the penalties for having them breached can be severe. No administrator wants to be ultimately responsible for causing injury to an employee or visitor because unauthorized entry was gained via the card system.
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When an architect, designer, or specifier is asked what characteristics of copper they are drawn to, the answers can be intriguing. Some might mention the natural colour—from the bare, polished, salmon colour of new material to the mature, patinated, green of aged material—or the warmth copper and copper alloys bring to any assembly. Others might cite the lack of maintenance copper alloys require and their long lifecycle.
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Doorways have evolved from simple mechanical building components into high-tech access control platforms and life-safety portals. Fortunately, in the case of doorway security, ‘complex’ does not necessarily mean ‘difficult.’ Even with the rapid development of new products, electrified hardware systems, changing building codes, positive pressure, and heightened security requirements, the basic fundamentals for providing security remain unchanged—hang, secure, close, and protect the door.
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Accessibility and barrier-free design notwithstanding, the North American Fenestration Standard (NAFS), referenced in the 2010 National Building Code of Canada (NBC), sets different operating force limits for standard CW and AW Performance Class windows. There are inherent differences between window types.
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Accessibility to fresh air and a connection to the outdoors for those with physical disabilities are especially important in skilled nursing and personal care facilities, multi-family dwellings, and hotels, along with classrooms and dormitories. To help ensure this access, windows capable of meeting operating force and motion requirements of International Code Council/American National Standards Institute (ICC/ANSI) A117.1, Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities, are being more commonly specified in the United States. This trend can be expected to expand into Canada.
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It is an all-too-common tale: a job is finished, and it is time for the inspectors to show up and sign-off on the entire project. Unfortunately, they find the doors and hardware are not to code. This comes as a surprise. After all, the design team relied on the same code information used on its last building in Ontario and… this facility is in Québec, which has different requirements.
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