Party Walls

It has now officially been over one month since the 2016 NYS energy code went into effect. In a recent blog post, we covered some of the significant changes for residential buildings in New York. In this post, we will explore the substantive changes made in the commercial code section, particularly with respect to envelope and air barrier requirements.

As a reminder, in this post, we are referring to retail, commercial, or larger than three-story R-2, R-3, or R-4 buildings. New York buildings can choose between one of two compliance pathways: ASHRAE 90.1 2013 or IECC 2015, by applying the appropriate state and city amendments. Prescriptive as well as performance options are available, depending on the chosen pathway. (more…)

Is Voting Accessible?

Having lived in Washington, DC for over a decade, I’ve cultivated what some may call a geeky sense of pride in upholding my civic duty to vote. Last Saturday I stood in line at 8am with nearly 200 other Washingtonians, eager to cast an early ballot for the 2016 Presidential Election. I noticed a man using a cane join the line behind me. Further ahead of us was an elderly woman in a wheelchair. My mind started wandering down a path that is all too familiar for those of us on SWA’s Accessibility Team:

Would the front entrance provide access for wheelchair users?
Would clear pathways be provided to registration tables and polling machines?
Have volunteers been trained to provide reasonable accommodations?

Unfortunately, my concerns aren’t unfounded. In a 2008 study, the Government Accountability Office estimated that 73% of polling places used in 2008 had architectural barriers that made access difficult or even impossible for people with disabilities. While Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires state and local governments to provide accessible polling places; the GAO survey showed only 27% of polling places to be accessible to people with disabilities in the 2008 elections.

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LEED v4 Changes and Updates

We all knew the time was creeping up on us when LEED v2009, known as LEED v3,would no longer be an option. There are plenty of Halloween ghouls about, but LEED v4 shouldn’t give you a scare! We have a few key resources to help you understand the new rating systems and ensure a smooth transition.

LEED v3 Sunset and Registration Dates

All projects that wish to pursue LEED v3 must register  by October 31, 2016. Additionally, LEED v3 projects must certify by June 30, 2021. Projects that register now under LEED v3 can always transition to LEED v4 at no cost, but you can’t switch back to v3 after 10/31/16.

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In a new and exciting opportunity, we’re partnering with Energize CT, the Connecticut Technical High School System, The Connecticut Light and Power Company dba Eversource, The United Illuminating Company, and The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) Education and Workforce Partnership to help implement Green STEP (Sustainability Technical Education Program). This program will train CT technical high school students in a construction career track in energy, water, and resource efficiency.

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A week has passed since the new energy code went into effect in New York State and New York City. Did you miss it? Hopefully not, but we thought it might be helpful to review some of the new requirements in the residential section (stay tuned for future posts on the commercial section).

In case you need a refresher on what constitutes a residential building, we’re talking about “detached one- and two-family dwellings and multiple single-family dwellings (townhouses) as well as Group R-2, R-3 and R-4 buildings three stories or less in height above grade plane.” Here are the documents you’ll need:
1. 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)
2. 2016 Supplement to the New York State Energy Conservation Construction Code (NYSECC)
3.2016 New York City Energy Conservation Construction Code (NYCECC)

New York City did us a favor and put everything into one document, but we weren’t so lucky with the state code – you’ll have to cross reference the supplement with IECC (links 1 and 2 above). All of the residential codes are now denoted with an “R” prefix (as compared to “C” for commercial).

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Katie Osborn, Principal and Chief Designer of Via Collective and expert wayfinding strategist, took some time out of her busy schedule to connect with SWA’s Victoria Lanteigne on the importance of wayfinding and to debunk the myth that wayfinding is just signage!

Victoria Lanteigne (VL): Can you define wayfinding?

Katie Osborn (KO): At a basic level, wayfinding is utilizing tools and cues to help people navigate seamlessly from point A to point B. However, wayfinding strategies are complex and can include signage, maps, architectural features, lighting, floor patterns, customer service representatives, digital apps, and more. Proper wayfinding will enhance a visitor’s experience based on the sense of ease with which they can access all points, elements, and features of a space.

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Next time you are cooking, take a look at your kitchen hood. You are likely cooking on the front two burners, but your kitchen hood is not likely to extend fully over these burners. For typical exhaust fans, they do a good job of exhausting steam, contaminants, etc. from directly below them, but don’t necessarily pull all fumes that are outside the perimeter of the fan enclosure.  According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) the capture efficiency of standard hoods is typically in the range of 30-40% on front burners and can be as high as 90% on back burners. To demonstrate this, I boiled some water in a tea pot on my stove. Once steam was coming out, I pulled out an infrared camera and started to take images. Wait…you don’t have an IR camera just sitting around your home? You are missing out on hours and hours of fun with the kids. They are great for science projects.

Back to my point. I have an LG over-the-range microwave with extenda™ vent. This allows the vent area to extend out an additional ~6”. When the microwave hood (exhausted to outside) was operating on turbo mode (just over 300 cfm exhaust) and without the vent extension slid out, the majority of steam from the tea pot on the front burner was passing by the vent and going up the front of the microwave (as evidenced by moisture build up on the microwave door). And yes, I realize that I turned the spout of the tea pot outwards to more dramatically show the point I am trying to make. When the slide out vent was pulled out, the amount of steam capture increased dramatically, but there was still some moisture build up on the front edge of the vent slide out.  Obviously, this is not a scientific study; it is just anecdotal evidence to further the discussion on the need to consider capture efficiency in the design of kitchen range hoods.

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In recent years, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions have seen a tremendous increase in interest in Passive House buildings. It’s not only in the news; here at SWA we have experienced a dramatic increase in requests for Passive House. The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority (PHFA) now includes a 10 point incentive within its Qualified Allocation Plan to developers of affordable, low-income tax credit projects that design to Passive House standards.

In New York City, public initiatives like SustaiNYC have spurred a mixed-use project that will likely result in the largest Passive House building in the world. Other public initiatives, like the reopening of NYSERDA’s MPP program, carve out funding exclusively for Passive House projects. The emergence of singular and iconic Passive House projects, such as Cornell Tech – which, upon completion, will be the largest and tallest building with this certification in the world – have also boosted interest.

It is clear that as code is made more stringent across the country, the gap between basic compliance and Passive House certification will shrink, making it more attractive for developers.

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New Energy Code on the Horizon?

We’re already more than halfway through 2016, and many states are still enforcing energy codes from 2009. While a few have adopted 2012 IECC and even 2015 IECC, state adoption of energy codes tends to remain a few years behind the times and the code development process continues. In fact, the wheels are in motion to create the 2018 IECC. Hundreds of proposed changes were submitted and reviewed early this year.

Based upon the Committee Action Hearing in April, some proposed changes were preliminarily approved and some weren’t. The Public Comment period occurred in July, providing an opportunity for others to weigh in. So, while the 2018 IECC may not affect projects for years to come, SWA weighed in, advocating for changes we think would be good additions to the 2018 IECC.

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Post written by Chelsea Wales, SWA Intern in Washington, DC

“Human centered design is a creative approach to design solutions that are tailored to individual users. Oftentimes human centered design is about building a deep empathy with the people you’re designing for; which is critical when we design for people with disabilities.” That’s how industry experts Katie Osborn, Hansel Bauman, and A.J. Paron-Wildes define this innovative design approach. On August 2, 2016 the American Institute for Architects Committee on Accessible Design located in Washington, DC hosted its first-ever panel event entitled, “Trending Strategies for Human Centered Design”. The District Architecture Center was bustling with people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities as they filled the glass-walled lecture room to hear the industry thought leaders discuss the importance of human centered design.

Moderated by SWA’s own Senior Accessibility Consultant and Accessibility Committee co-chair, Victoria Lanteigne, the panel format allowed for each human centered design professional to share their stories and expertise in their respective fields. Following the presentations, Victoria lead the panelists in a group discussion which ended with a Q&A session during which audience members asked their own questions related to human centered design. (more…)