2015 gypsum fire resistance design manual released

The Gypsum Association has released the 21st edition of the Fire Resistance Design Manual. Revised every three years, GA-600 has been referenced by the model building codes as a source of fire resistive designs for more than 40 years.

The 2015 edition contains nearly 100 new systems that supplement existing assemblies for walls and partitions, floor-ceiling systems, area separation walls, and many others. Among these, are 20 new head-of-wall and base-of-wall systems that significantly expand the options for perimeter relief.

A more interactive digital version of the Fire Resistance Design Manual (FRDM) is available with the 2015 edition. More like an e-reader than previous PDF versions, the new digital manual is searchable, easy to navigate, delivered on demand, and allows users to print specific pages for reference, the association says. Customers who purchase the electronic version will receive a complimentary hardcopy.

The FRDM is referenced by the International Building Code, and The National Fire Codes, as well as many state and local jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada as a source document for fire-resistance and sound-control rated designs that incorporate gypsum board in a variety of building systems.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.