Schinnerer's RM Blog

Proposed changes to ADA regulations

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:56:00 GMT

The Justice Department recently completed a draft totaling 1,000 pages of proposed changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The sweeping changes would affect facilities of all kinds, including courthouses, drinking fountains, amusement park rides, stadium and theater seating, fishing piers, boat slips, and bowling lanes. The regulations would establish specific design requirements catered to each facility.

Business owners see the changes as a financial drain, leading to expensive construction costs and potential losses in revenue while construction is completed. Disability rights advocates praise the legislation as long overdue, but also view it as only one major step in a process to make public facilities more easily accessible to the disabled.

The Justice Department is estimating that more than 7 million businesses will be affected, with construction costs to bring those businesses into compliance totaling more than $23 billion over the next 40 years.

The rules would apply to new businesses and facilities and to alterations of existing ones. Businesses also would have to remove ‘readily achievable’ barriers — changes that don't require a lot of difficulty or expense. The proposal was published by the government last month. Final regulations could take effect next year, after a period for public comment.

While the costs to bring facilities into compliance may severely impact small businesses, the potential revenue stream from the roughly 51 million disabled Americans could prove to be a financial boon to those same companies.

Critics from both sides of this issue are already weighing in on the potential consequences of passage of this proposed legislation. Disabled rights advocates are concerned about a “safe harbor” provision that would let small businesses meet their obligation to remove barriers in a given year if, in the preceding year, they spent at least 1 percent of their gross revenues on barrier removal.

“We are worried about people claiming ‘we did this, this and this, we renovated the bathroom on the second floor’ but you still can't get in the three steps at the front door,” said Kleo King, senior vice president of accessibility services at United Spinal Association. “There’s too much room for abuse here.”

Business groups fear the changes will lead to a new round of lawsuits from “drive-by” ADA lawsuits that are attempts by lawyers to get quick cash settlements. Both sides have said that much uncertainty remains and are asking the Justice Department to clarify some points before releasing the final rules.

While waiting for the changes to be passed, design and construction professionals would be wise to familiarize themselves with some of the changes. This would give firms a head start on methods to bring facilities into compliance. To see the proposed changes, go to the ADA website at www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/ADAnprm08.htm.

New Green Building Standards

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:51:00 GMT

In May, a new version of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings system for buildings was released for public comment. Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Buildings Council, the organization that oversees LEED, wrote that the new system “delivers against key environmental and human health impacts, and puts in place a transparent framework for weighting credits accordingly, based on the best available science.” The public comment period will be open until June 22.

The 2009 version of LEED was crafted to increase the rating system's emphasis on a building's environmental, economic, and social impact. As Ted Smalley Bowen of the Architectural Record writes, the new version “consolidates the many LEED variants, such as the versions for new construction and commercial interiors, into a core set of requirements.” Smalley continues:

Other key changes include the addition of bonus points (eventually core points) for addressing regional environmental conditions, and a methodology for reallocating points within the scoring system to give greater weight to human health and the environment.

The new version also shifts the scale of credits to 100 points, up from the current 69, and places greater emphasis on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. An interesting exploration (and a slightly more critical and humorous one) of the changes can be found at the blog Real Life LEED.

The new release comes on the heels of a study by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) of the three green building rating systems, LEED, Green Globes, and SBTool 07, which asses how the programs “resonate in various dimensions with the goals of the AIA position statements on sustainability.” The statements, part of a larger AIA goal to achieve carbon neutrality in construction by 2030, can be found here.

The study seems to find LEED the most complete system, noting that Green Globes needed more “stringent and specific requirements in the areas of energy reduction and operational performance” since they have a direct relationship with carbon emissions. Similarly, the study looked for SBTool 07 to be more rigorous in their standards, preferring “‘required’ items vs. those that are simply ‘encouraged.’"

Modern Architectural Wonders

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:33:00 GMT

The April issue of Traveler magazine, published Condé Nast, has an article that picks the seven architectural wonders of the modern world. According to the article, “This year’s class of wondrous structures is responsible, variously, for transforming a neighborhood…revitalizing a landmark…and breaking all limits of what a building can be….” The seven architectural wonders are:

Cumulus Building, Danfoss Universe (Nordborg, Denmark) – Designed by Berlin-based architect Jürgen Mayer H., this building is an exhibit hall that’s part of the Danfoss Universe science and technology museum. The unique contours of this building give it a striking silhouette.
Burj Dubai (Dubai) – Chicago-based architect Adrian Smith designed this soon-to-be world’s tallest structure, which will measure 2,111 feet when finished. Smith made sure to incorporate regional design motifs and inspiration so that the building’s design would at least blend into the cityscape, size of the building notwithstanding.
Wembley Stadium (London) – Pritzker-prize winning architect Sir Norman Foster was the lead architect on the redesign of London’s most famous stadium. He added about 9,000 seats and eliminated obstructed sight lines by using one massive support arch to brace the stadium’s retractable roof. All of this is in preparation for 2012 when London hosts the Olympics.
New Museum (New York City) – Located in New York City’s Bowery district, the New Museum houses contemporary art from around the world. Designed by Japanese design team Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the museum is seen as the standard for revitalizing this section of New York City.
Kogod Courtyard, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC) – The Smithsonian is one of DC’s most well-known buildings, and British architect Sir Norman Foster took a careful approach in redesigning this part of the Reynolds Center, which is home to the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
Red Ribbon, Tanghe River Park (Qinhuangdao, China) – The Beijing-based firm of Turenscape designed this park as a garden and “ecological oasis.” In particular, the Red Ribbon is a 1/3-mile red bench that snakes and curves its way through around one of the park’s trails. The bench “orients the visitor, gives a frame of reference for the garden, provides seating, and, after dark, sheds light from the fixtures embedded in the structure.”

Photo: Raymond Meier, Condé Nast Traveler

Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) – American architect Daniel Libeskind designed this at times controversial entryway to the Royal Ontario Museum. Dubbed “The Crystal” by museum leaders, the structure’s exterior walls are often covered in footprints by people trying to get a better look at this unique structure.

Photo: Raymond Meier, Condé Nast Traveler