I am the vice chair of the International Code Council (ICC) Performance Code Committee, which is completely rewriting the ICC Performance Code (ICCPC). If you are unfamiliar with the ICCPC, you are not alone. US jurisdictions rarely adopt it; the content is somewhat disjointed and incomplete, and many professionals do not understand how performance-based codes work since prescriptive codes have been entrenched in the US for over a century. However, a performance-based building code is a format used by many governments worldwide (e.g., the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, and New Zealand). To learn more about performance-based building codes, Chapter 2 of a 1997 out-of-print book titled Performance-Based Building Design Concepts does a pretty good job explaining the concept.
When I was on the AIA Codes and Standards Committee, AIA President Carl Elefante, FAIA, established a Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) at our committee's request to "develop a vision for the adoption and application of building codes and standards to ensure they continue to act as valuable design tools in a resource-constrained future." One goal the BRP set was to "Transition to Outcome Based Building Codes and Standards" by 2033.
I am continuing to work on meeting that goal by representing the AIA on the ICCPC Committee. Since the ICCPC is a comprehensive code (it will cover just about everything the entire suite of prescriptive I-Codes provides-and then some), the committee consists of professionals from all fields in the AECO industry. To familiarize committee members with aspects of building regulation and design outside their respective fields, some committee members and invited presenters give 30-minute educational sessions during our monthly meetings on their areas of expertise. As one of the few token architects on the committee, I volunteered to give the architect's perspective on prescriptive and performance-based building codes.
Rather than present my perspective, which is more than slightly biased in favor of building regulation, I have developed a survey to gather information on how architects generally perceive building codes and how receptive they would be to performance-based building codes.
I would appreciate your participation in the survey if you currently practice architecture within a design firm. By my estimation, it should not take more than 10-15 minutes of your time.
Here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9ZZCXFJ
The survey will end late at night on July 31st to allow me enough time to prepare my presentation, which is scheduled for August 8th.
Please pass this on to colleagues and other architects (including intern architects) within your respective circles-the greater the participation, the more accurate the results.
Thank you.
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Ronald Geren, AIA, FCSI, Distinguished Member, CCS, CCCA, CDT, SCIP
RLGA Technical Services LLC
Scottsdale AZ
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