DBIA Book Club: Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design

Whether planning for new construction, renovations, or security upgrades of existing facilities, Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design is the definitive 21st century reference on security design, technology, building operations, and disaster planning. Award-winning architect and author Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA, provides security design solutions for creating safe commercial, institutional, industrial, and residential buildings in the post-September 11, 2001, environment. DBIA’s Book Club asked author Barbara Nadel about the handbook.

DBIA: From your perspective, define building security.

Nadel: Building security provides architects, engineers, and design professionals with an opportunity to enhance public safety in the built environment through various approaches to planning, design, and construction. Building owners, code officials, landlords, and tenants also play a vital role in ensuring buildings are safe and secure from potential threats of terrorism, natural disasters, power outages, workplace violence, and emergencies.

DBIA: What are the components of a successful security design?

Nadel: There are three major elements that comprise a comprehensive security plan: design, technology, and operations.

Design encompasses architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and planning issues for buildings and sites. These are issues addressed by capital programs, whether for new construction or renovations. Security design is generally more efficient and economical when addressed during early project planning stages, rather than after a building is completed.

Technology refers to the electronic devices that may be used throughout a facility, from CCTV to card access systems, electronic fences, magnetometers at entries of public buildings, and integrated systems to monitor building functions.

Operations are the policies and procedures developed and implemented by building owners for their facilities. This can cover how often fire and evacuation drills are conducted to ensure occupants know how to exit buildings quickly, manuals and policies on what to do under certain emergency situations, and who to contact if an unusual situation occurs or unauthorized personnel appear on the property.

Each of these elements alone is effective, but when all three are considered together at the project outset, and all stakeholders are involved in the planning and implementation, the results are more comprehensive.

DBIA: What are the challenges facing the industry today?

Nadel: I have found that generally, outside New York City and Washington, DC, and with the exception of federal agencies, many cities and private building owners are less concerned about building security issues relating to terrorism. Perhaps the perception of risk and threat is not as great as in urban centers that are considered major targets. However, tall buildings, iconic symbols of democracy, and critical infrastructure must be protected, regardless of where they are. In this regard, private sector building owners, facility managers, landlords, and tenants are now on the new front lines of homeland security. We can no longer consider only moving people from one floor to another in a fire, or to an area of refuge. Getting people out of buildings must occur immediately after an attack or emergency, in the event of building collapse. There may not be time to await arrival of first responders. Building systems must be maintained to ensure emergency power and egress systems are functional at all times.

Most regions of the U.S. face some sort of year-round threat from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods. But the threat of terrorism against any location in the U.S., from buildings to infrastructure, still remains a possibility, especially before the 2008 presidential election.

I’d like to see the next American president create an infrastructure agenda that will focus attention on the need to protect, maintain, upgrade, and build infrastructure that reflects 21st century needs and technology. The collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota, and the steam pipe explosion in Manhattan of underground infrastructure over 100 years old are stark examples of how we should be rebuilding critical infrastructure at home.

As to security, the challenge for the building industry is to maintain design excellence in the built environment, while understanding how and when to use transparent security, invisible to the public eye, as well as visible security measures. There are many opportunities for design professionals to apply transparent security techniques to buildings and sites and still create outstanding architecture.

DBIA: What is the most significant piece of information the reader should take from this book?

Nadel: My hope is that readers will gain an understanding of the many ways to implement transparent security from project inception and design, through construction and operations. Understanding the role of building material selection, site planning, codes, and potential liability issues are also essential.

Here are three takeaway points for readers:

Learn from the past. There are many lessons to be learned from September 11, 2001, and other domestic and international benchmark events that have informed how we anticipate and respond to security demands.

Integrate the approach, with design, technology, and operations.

Plan carefully for various situations. The threats, risks, and vulnerabilities for the same building may change over time, even in a day, such as when a dignitary is visiting the property for a few hours. Needs change, and security planning must accommodate visible and transparent responses.

DBIA: Since the publication of this book, what significant changes have you seen in the construction industry in relation to security?

Nadel: The evolving nature of building codes for high-rise construction at the national and local levels is of great interest. Creating safer tall buildings that are more resistant to fire and more easily evacuated during emergencies is critical. This is being addressed by the International Code Council. These model code changes are based on the three-year investigation on the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, issued by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Some of these recommended code changes include an additional exit stair for buildings more than 420 feet high; a minimum of one fire service access elevator for buildings more than 120 feet high; and luminous, or photoluminescent, markings showing the exit path in buildings more than 75 feet high to facilitate rapid egress and full building evacuation.

New York City is the only U.S. city to change its building code based on the events of 9/11. Whether the rest of the country is willing to take on these high-rise safety measures, including widening of exit stairs to accommodate ascending first responders and descending occupants, remains to be seen.

DBIA: What led to the creation of the book Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design?

Nadel: I served as 2001 AIA national vice president during very challenging times. After the events of September 11, 2001, it became clear to me that architects, engineers, design professionals, building owners, facility managers, public officials, students, and teachers needed a single, multi-disciplinary source of information that addressed the many aspects of building security in a post-9/11 world. Public safety and building security has to consider the impact of terrorism, as well as natural disasters, crime, and unforeseen emergencies that lead to building collapse, destruction, and fatalities.

I’d been freelance writing about design and technology for magazines, newspapers, and trade books over the years, in addition to my architectural practice. Writing and editing Building Security, in collaboration with over 50 national multidisciplinary experts, provided us all with a way of sharing knowledge and making a significant contribution to the building industry. As a result, Building Security received the 2005 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement and the 2003 Milka Bliznakov Prize from the International Archive of Women in Architecture. The book has since been translated into Chinese and appears in libraries around the world, from the Middle East to Asia and Australia. I hope our collective efforts contribute to making buildings safer everywhere.

DBIA: Other than Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design, what three books would you recommend to readers?

Nadel: My reading habits are eclectic, ranging from thrillers, mysteries, and inspirational books to the nuts and bolts of practice.

Breakpoint (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2007), by Richard A. Clarke, former national coordinator for security and counterterrorism and special advisor to the president for cyber security, provides a glimpse into the near future and illustrates how vulnerable the American built environment and cyberspace infrastructure are to outside terrorist attacks that can paralyze the U.S. economy. He effectively uses fiction to convey disturbing facts about technology that permeate every aspect of our lives.

Leadership By Design: Creating an Architecture of Trust, by Ambassador Richard N. Swett, FAIA, (Ostberg, 2005) addresses how the citizen-architect can contribute to the public discourse and policy shaping in America, through many inspiring examples and case studies.

Architectural Graphic Standards, 11th edition, The American Institute of Architects, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007). The latest edition of this library essential has newly designed graphics and construction details, and many updates on current issues, from sustainability and accessible design to research, security, climate, and other key topics found in 10 appendices.