2021 IBC requires automatic doors for entrances to public buildings

The newly released International Building Code (IBC) for 2021 includes a provision that mandates automatic doors for entrances to public buildings.

IBC 1105.1.1 stipulates that in facilities meeting building occupant load thresholds for a number of common occupancies, accessible public entrances must have one door be either a full power-operated door or a low-energy power-operated door. The code applies to a wide range of public places, including retail stores, restaurants, clubs and casinos, movie theaters and concert halls, libraries, banks, and college dormitories.

“The new code requirement accommodates a wide variety of accessibility needs that manual doors being installed today cannot encompass,” said Joe Hetzel, technical advisor to the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers in a news release. In the COVID-19 era, occupants of all buildings could benefit from the touch-free, germ-free accessibility provided by automatic doors, according to the release.

As a result, more building owners may opt for automatic doors in retrofits as well as in new construction.

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.