R&R and Construction Work

I know this may come as a shock to some, but I actually took a few days a week ago for a little vacation, a cruise that left Miami. As I had a late flight leaving Miami following the cruise, I indulged in a guided tour of South Beach and its striking art deco style. While Jerry, the charming tour guide, had plenty to say about the millionaires’ homes along the waterfront and stories about the area’s distinct deco style, I must confess that I was probably most interested in what he had to say about downtown Miami’s very vertical skyline.

Jerry lamented that many of the clubs for which South Beach is known have found new homes in the city’s downtown, as the district is being built up at a rapid pace. According to Jerry, the skyline shown below didn’t exist as much as ten years ago.



Now this was my first trip to Miami so I can’t vouch for that, but I can repeat the words of the taxi driver who brought me into town, that the city constantly “is just knocking down one thing to put up more condos.”

Evidence of construction was everywhere in the city, a startling contrast to the historical deco district which is fiercely protected by the city (according to the tour guide, you can’t remodel the historic building’s exteriors with colors and additions similar to the original style—it has to be exactly the same). Downtown was filled with cranes and scaffolding although, as the taxi driver pointed out, few tenants yet reside in the newest wave of condominiums.

The downtown district is slowly filling, though; according to Jerry, extensive public transportation systems have been constructed throughout downtown to account for the high increases in traffic in an urban area that never expected such high residential growth.


Taking a step back, as I gazed at the city’s skyline from the ship I thought to myself about how the buildings melded together nicely, seeming to confirm that they had all gone up within a comparable amount of time. But after the tour of South Beach, I could appreciate the influence of the deco design upon the urban architects, with the clean vertical lines repeated by interesting protrusions in the building’s otherwise flat profile. In the newer condos, some more contemporary elements had begun creeping in, such as the undulating glass balconies pictured at right.

Of course, I don’t need to point out the incredible use of glass, another “modern” element in this new downtown area.

It was pretty interesting to get a chance to see an area with so much evidence of glass going up, but I’d be curious to hear from you in the area as to whether this is a trend that’s continuing. And if one of these lovely buildings is a project on which you contributed, please speak up and let me know!

Influencing the Glass Industry …

As I mentioned in my last post, the board of the International Code Council (ICC) recently met to vote on whether or not to let its Code Technology Committee (CTC) devote time to researching “marking standards for the rating of fire-resistance and fire protection glazing.” According to Steve Daggers, who handles ICC’s media relations, the board has agreed that the issue is important enough to take on, and CTC will be added to the list of organizations examining this rating system, including the Glass Association of North America and the Americas Glass Association.

As Steve pointed out during our conversation, this is just a go-ahead to research the issue. The committee, or its study group should one be appointed, may decide a code change is necessary and it very well may not. One thing is certain, anyone with a vested interest in this issue will want to stay tuned to these meetings.

While we wait to find out if these code officials will influence this segment of the glass industry, I’m waiting to hear more about who you think is the biggest influence in the glass industry. Just a reminder, you have until August 11 to nominate those individuals who you think should be recognized as the Most Influential in the September issue of USGlass. Whether this is an individual who works quietly behind the scenes to impact our industry, or someone whose name you regularly read in the pages of our magazine, vocalize your kudos by nominating them for this list.

Playing with Fire

Back in May I got to listen in and learn a lot about the labeling of fire-rated glazing when I attended a meeting of the International Code Council’s (ICC) Code Technology Committee (CTC). At that time, the CTC agreed that it would recommend to the ICC board that the committee be allowed to form a task group that would research “marking standards for the rating of fire-resistance and fire protection glazing.” The ICC board is scheduled to address this topic during a meeting this weekend and I hope to have an update for you on Monday as to whether yet another group will be trying to find a way to label these products that suits product manufacturers and properly informs the code officials.

This is a topic we’ve reported on at great length in the past (see Ellen Roger’s very informative article on the labeling system in this April 2006 issue). And in fact, I’ve been asked a couple times in the past two weeks, while interviewing industry professionals for a related article in our August 2008 issue of USGlass, if anyone is really still interested in this topic. Maybe that’s the attitude of manufacturers no longer interested in continuing the discussion (and hey, that’s not commentary on anybody as I’ve heard it from several corners!) but so long as the topic continues to be brought up at industry meetings, I feel that we owe it to our readers to continue covering this discussion.

I’ll admit, I’m new to the intricacies of this labeling system. But the one thing I’ve heard from each and every fire-rated glazing manufacturer with whom I’ve spoken is that the intent of the label is to make things easier for building code officials. Clearly some companies and/or individuals feel the existing label accomplishes this goal, while others do not. Maybe now we’re going to find out if the building code officials feel the need to change this label; not necessarily Monday when the ICC board determines whether or not to establish a task group to research this issue, but perhaps if such research is undertaken code officials will step forth and offer their input.

In the meantime, I’d like to have your input on this issue. Have you heard input from building code officials stating that they find this system confusing? Or is all quiet on the fire-rated glazing front? Send me an e-mail at mheadley@glass.com; rest assured, your name won’t be thrown in print without your express permission, but I would appreciate hearing input from the individuals affected by this issue.

Opening Discussion

While I’d asked in an earlier blog on skylight safety whether you thought skylight manufacturers should be responsible for the safety of individuals walking on their product or if that should be the responsibility of the individual placing themselves in a dangerous situation—it seems like many manufacturers are asking if this should be the responsibility of glass skylight manufacturers at all. As one member of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association’s (AAMA) Skylight Council's skylight fall protection task group brought up in one of the recent conference calls on its scope, there's very little data at this point on how many people have fallen from skylights or what type of skylights were involved in the incident—or, for that matter, if they were skylights at all or merely some type of “roof opening” including unprotected holes on construction sites.

Since the article on ASTM committee E06.51’s work on a human impact resistance standard for skylights ran in the May 2008 USGlass, the Skylight Council task group has worked on revising its scope to reflect the fact that no concrete data exists on skylight-related accidents as of yet. It seems that the AAMA task group is doing a good job of backing up and asking that first question: what risk are we really looking at? The group is examining data to see if glass skylights are creating an unaddressed risk, and upon doing so aims to address what they can do to lower related accidents should the need be there.

As an editor dealing with technical topics I feel that much of my job is trying to collect background information to get to that first real question. Such has been the case during this last week as I’ve spoken with manufacturers of another product that has been under much discussion on our newsletter, fire-rated glazing. Over the last year we’ve published stories about several different groups that are examining the topic of labeling for this protective product. Jumping right into a topic that has been discussed since the labeling system was adopted in the 2003 International Building Code, I’ve done my best to understand the background on why this topic has raised so much discussion, and I’ve had plenty of questions for the professionals I’ve spoken with. But I feel that all of that information is needed to get to the real question behind a story, and that’s something I’m still working to find out on this topic of labeling. If you have any comments about this topic or why we’re addressing it, I’d certainly appreciate your input—shoot me an e-mail at mheadley@glass.com.

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