Looking Beyond the Conventional

Description

Check in at the registration desk in the hotel lobby to pick up your badge and conference packet.



This course will bring participants back to the basics of accessibility, why it matters, and how it can be applied through all aspects and decisions in the design and construction of a space.

This course will explore the complicated endeavor of ADA compliance in the higher education arena. Projects of multiple ages and changing uses, lengthy renovation history, overlapping requirements, complex funding mechanisms, and a continuing interface with a changing public combine to create a challenging environment in which to comply with accessibility requirements.

Our recent series of projects with a number of public and private institutions have highlighted useful design strategies and construction oversight techniques that have resulted in better compliance and significant savings, limiting tear-out and rework - all to the benefit of the design teams, contractors, districts and their effective stewardship of available funding.

This course looks at the unique ADA Standards and Regulations for judicial and correctional facilities. Their functionality requires you to interpret the ADA requirements creatively. For example, while the ADA only requires one accessible route into a space, modern courtroom design necessitates three accessible routes. In prisons, one plumbing fixture contains a lavatory, a drinking fountain spout, and a toilet. It attaches to the wall at a 45-degree angle. How do you measure it? We’ll explore these and other challenges and requirements in judicial and correctional facilities.

Description

This course will give an overview of the requirements of each of the pertinent Laws and how these fit together to ensure that accessible housing is available to people with disabilities. The primary focus will be on the 2010 ADA Standards, the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards, and the ABA Accessibility Standards. Additionally, the important relationship of the International Building Code and ICC A117.1 Standard to the Federal mandates will be addressed. Emphasis will also be placed on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s section 504 requirements under the Rehabilitation Act that affects most Federally funded housing projects.  Key scope requirements will be highlighted and critical differences between the various Standards discussed. An extended part of the session will focus in more detail on HUD’s “deeming notice” that permits state and local governments to align their housing efforts more closely with requirements of the 2010 ADA Standards. While not a primary focus, the Fair Housing Act and its accessibility guidelines will be generally reviewed for key conceptual differences from the other statutes.

This course will present the audience with several examples of how certain accessibility standards may be interpreted. The audience will be presented with real case studies from our work and hypothetical issues we have pondered, and they will be asked to offer their experience and opinions. Participants will leave the session with alternative viewpoints and be better equipped to assist their clients in understanding and interpreting the various accessibility requirements and how adversarial parties may respond.

This course will explore the regulations under the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) related to Areas of Assembly. We'll take an in-depth look at, not only the codes related to the various aspects of these spaces, but the impact that using the minimum standards have on the experience of guests. We'll discuss how going beyond the minimum standards can help reduce the risk of litigation. This is designed for those who work or plan to work in the space of venue design or remodeling. 

This course will discuss hidden alcoves. In the ADA Standards, a clear floor space is 30” by 48”, except when it is an alcove, then it is either 36” by 48” or 30” by 60”. Could the clear floor space at a table be an alcove? If parts of three sides are confined, then it could be. We’ll find these hidden alcoves and maybe a few other issues.

The 2017 ICC A117.1 now includes many new options for accessibility for parking and sidewalks. This course will discuss new options for parking, including provisions for electrical vehicle charging stations, diagonal parking, and street parking. We will also look at the new requirements for perpendicular and parallel curb cuts as well as blended provisions. We will discuss the coordination between the IBC/A117.1 and the federal Public Rights of Way Guidelines (PROWAG).

Description