Week 13: Regulations

•  The difference between a licensed or certified design professional and a regulated professional is that the regulated professional must comply with local, state, and federal regulations or risk losing his/ her status
• Regulations about certification and licensure vary from state to state and province to province
• Educated professionals must find out what regulations are in place within the jurisdiction where they are working. 
• Programming
• During the programming stage, the interior designer interviews the client and creates a user needs assessment and spatial analysis of what is required of the projects
• all research and case studies are done
• occupancy type is determined and codes that apply are considered. 
• Schematic Design
• During the schematic design period, preliminary design solutions are presented to the client. Several options are considered and one solution is accepted.
• The design team will conduct occupancy calculations, determine the required number of exits, and describe the path of egress. The maximum travel distance will be considered.
• Design development
• phase to select all materials and finishes
• hour Hour-rated partition types and make all door, glass, and finish selections considering all relevant building codes. 
• Contract documents
• contain codes
• Construction administration
• visit the site and make sure the design intent is being followed during the construction process
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• The primary purpose of a building code is to get people out of a building safely in the event of a fire or other emergency
• Means of Egress is the path occupants take to exit a building during a fire. The four principles of Egress include:
• A designer must provide alternative paths of travel to avoid a fire
• A design must protect occupants from fire and smoke
• Buildings must accommodate all occupants and their needs
• The means of egress path must be well marked and illuminated. Emergency power must be provided to light the path
• Fire separation
• fire separation codes for different parts of the building
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Equal access to public buildings
• ramps
• doors
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• elevators and areas of refuge
• restrooms
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• signage
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• projections
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• seating
• compliant route

The Thompson building, or the music building, does not follow ADA standards. There are no ramps in any needed areas, and although most doors can be used to get inside, one of the doors is only available through steps. The doors and hallways are almost all ADA-compliant. There is no elevator or ramp to get in between the floors. One would have to go all the way around another building to get to the bottom floor. So this building is not well designed for those with wheelchair needs or other physical disabilities in which needing an elevator would be necessary. There is not a lot of signage in the building but there are restrooms with ADA-compliant stalls. Adding an elevator would automatically make the entire building more ADA-compliant