Understanding the Role of Regulations in Interior Design

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Codes for Interiors

• Understanding the Role of Regulations in Interior
  Design
• Barry D. Yatt, FAIA, CSI

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Why?

• Can you design whatever you want? Yes, but there
  are two limiting factors
• People want to know that the buildings they
  occupy are
• Safe
• Healthful
• Available to them (ADA, FHA, etc.)
• Professionals need a Standard of Care to define
  negligence

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Who?

• Who gets to set these factors or rules?
• The government, because we give them that right
  and duty through the US Constitution which
  establishes and empowers the government.
• Lets see how that works

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Who?
In a typical business transaction, an entity
creating a demand and a person supplying the
demand agree to exchange goods or services for
compensation.
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Who?
In the construction industry, owners demand
buildings and builders supply them. In addition
to that exchange, owners usually ask design
professionals to explain to the builders the
thing they want supplied.
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Who?
But the public also wants to influence the
project since it will affect them. So they demand
safeguards on their health and safety, and the
government supplies that demand in exchange for
taxes.
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Who?
Through the indirect linkage provided by
licensing laws, the public is able to influence
built projects.
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Where?

• Where do the rules come from that provide this
  safeguard? There are two possibilities
• The government can write their own rules
• Rules can be written by private publishers and
  then adopted into law by legislation
• In most jurisdictions, governments no longer
  write codes and instead adopt published codes
  written by committees of experts.

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Which Ones?

• Ask your local government officials which rules
  apply, or look in the county or state ordinance,
  municipal regulation, etc., found on websites and
  in public libraries.
• Find out
• which publisher
• which version, and
• which edition

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Which Ones?

• What are the choices?
• Publisher ICC, NFPA, Local Government (for whole
  code or just amendments)
• Version
• Full Building Code
• One and Two Family Residence Code
• Existing Building Code
• Many specialty codes
• Edition Published tri-annually with updates
  every year. Back editions are stocked.

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What Kind?

• Statutes are rules passed by the legislative
  branch of government (a council), i.e. ADA
• Regulations are rules passed by the
  administrative branch of government (a
  department) to clarify the practical application
  of a statute, i.e. ADAAG

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What Kind?

• Codes describe a minimum level of function (for
  a design as a whole)
• Standards describe a minimum level of quality
  (for a manufactured product or for workmanship).
  They are cited by codes.

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What Kind?

• Performance rules specify only a level of
  performance, and let the designer figure out how
  to achieve it.
• Prescriptive rules regulate how the required
  level of performance must be achieved.

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What Scope?

• Codes require that designs resist anything that
  might be dangerous or discriminatory. That
  includes
• Fire
• Suitability of building size (height in feet and
  stories, area in SF) to its function and degree
  of fire-resistance.
• Availability of an escape (egress path).
• Structural Collapse (although that has no real
  impact on interior design)

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What Scope?

• Basic habitability
• Minimum ceiling heights and room sizes
• Minimum amounts of light and air, and when
  mechanical can substitute for natural
• Maximum and minimum temperature ranges
• Health and Hygiene
• Minimum number and location of restrooms
• Types of materials allowed in food or healthcare
  facilities (in separate code)
• Energy consumption and efficiency

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What Scope?

• Access
• Lack of built obstructions to doing what others
  do in the same places that others are allowed to
  do it. (ADA)
• Widths of corridors, movement between levels
• Clearances and reaches
• Provision of grab bars and handrails, design of
  knobs
• Lack of economic, age, or racial obstructions.
  (FHA, Civil Rights law, etc.), although these
  rules have no meaningful impact on interior
  design.

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What Scope?

• What about aesthetics?
• It doesnt hurt anyone, so there are no laws to
  regulate it inside a building.
• But there are laws to regulate it outside since
  neighbors might find a particular style to hinder
  the feel or function of a neighborhood. (See
  Zoning ordinances and CCRs Covenants,
  Conditions, and Restrictions)

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What Rules?

• So how do codes actually affect interior design?
  Lets take a few ideas at a time.
• Fire-Resistance
• Use of combustible materials
• Construction classification (IBC 503)
• Fire-resistance ratings and building size
• Steiner Tunnel Test (ASTM E84)
• Flame Spread
• Fuel Contributed
• Smoke Generated
• Need for fire-rated enclosure of space

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What Rules? Project Type

• Well start with the basics
• What kind of building will you be designing?
  (Whats its Use Group)
• Is there anything unusual in its design?

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What Rules? Fire-Resistance

• Now we can see what the code suggests as to how
  we can design for those conditions in a safe way.

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What Rules? Safe Egress

• Egress
• How to calculate number of occupants
• Minimum path width for crowds to get out
• Allowable path obstructions
• Maximum distance to closest exit
• Minimum number of independent exits
• Minimum distance between remote exits
• Maximum dead end length
• Maximum common path of travel
• Enclosure of egress path

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What Rules?

• Habitability
• Minimum ceiling heights 7-6 except
• Corridors, kitchens and bathrooms at 7-0
• Beams and stairs at 6-8
• Minimum residential room sizes
• 70 sf per room
• At least one room somewhat larger (?)
• Bedrooms must include a closet and a window

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What Rules?

• Habitability (continued)
• Minimum amounts of light and air, and when
  mechanical can substitute for natural
• 4 of floor area for natural ventilation
• 8 of floor area for natural light
• Number and Placement of Toilet Facilities
• Minimum number of fixtures of each kind
• Maximum distance to nearest restroom
  (horizontally and vertically)

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What Else?

• All rules are guidelines. The point is to ensure
  that designs are appropriate.
• Feel free to argue compliance. Alternative ways
  of achieving goals are often OK.
• Approval does not remove liability.
• Construction requires a building permit, which
  requires code compliant design.
• Occupancy requires a Certificate of Occupancy,
  which requires code compliant construction.

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What Else?

• What if your client refuses to comply?
• Do product manufacturers know about codes?
• Permits and C of Os can be revoked.
• Plan reviewers are there as a check, not a
  guarantee. The DP remains liable. But codes are
  of tremendous help.
• Other issues?

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• Thank you and good luck.