Owners of buildings in hurricane zones want to minimize damage and get tenants back in their homes or offices as soon as possible after a storm. So the onus is on the Building Team to find, specify, and—when necessary—engineer products and systems to ever-higher standards. The powerful hurricanes of the past 20 years have resulted in more stringent building codes and standards as well as more rigorous product testing.
In Florida, for example, the Miami-Dade County Building Department issues a Notice of Acceptance (NOA) to products only after they’ve passed intensive tests that simulate the effects of high-velocity hurricanes. The Miami–Dade list is a good place to start when selecting products for a building in a hurricane zone, says Bryan Karsky, AIA, LEED AP, executive vice president of Collman & Karsky Architects in Tampa, Fla. “You’re dealing with assemblies and testing that already give you a baseline for the level of hurricane hardening or wind resistance,” says Karsky. But bear in mind that additional engineering will be needed in areas where wind speeds can reach Category 4 (sustained winds of 131 to 155 mph) or Category 5 (sustained winds greater than 155 mph).
Let’s take a look at four building products that have been recently put to the test and approved for use in hurricane zones.
Wellbilt’s Sure-Board Wall Panel
Bilco’s Type S and Type NB steel and aluminum hatches
Related Stories
| Jan 4, 2012
Skanska acquires Industrial Contractors
Industrial Contractors Inc. is a contractor in the commercial, industrial and power markets of the Midwest. The company employs 2,400 people and in 2011 the revenues are estimated to be approximately $500 million.
| Jan 4, 2012
HDR to design North America’s first fully digital hospital
Humber River is the first hospital in North America to fully integrate and automate all of its processes; everything is done digitally.
| Jan 4, 2012
New LEED Silver complex provides space for education and research
The academic-style facility supports education/training and research functions, and contains classrooms, auditoriums, laboratories, administrative offices and library facilities, as well as spaces for operating highly sophisticated training equipment.
| Jan 3, 2012
Gilbane awarded $88M Contract for Ohio elementary school construction
The new award, which comprises the construction of five new elementary schools and demolition of 11 older facilities, is the latest K-12 building program managed by Gilbane for the Ohio School Facilities Commission since 1998.
| Jan 3, 2012
AIA's ABI November Index reaches 52.0
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reached its first positive mark since August.
| Jan 3, 2012
Callison acquires Barteluce Architects & Associates
This acquisition will grow Callison’s New York team to over 75 architects.
| Jan 3, 2012
VDK Architects merges with Harley Ellis Devereaux
Harley Ellis Devereaux will relocate the employees in its current Berkeley, Calif., office to the new Oakland office location effective January 3, 2012.
| Jan 3, 2012
Weingarten, Callan appointed to BD+C Editorial Board
Building Design+Construction has named two new members to its editorial board. Both are past recipients of BD+C’s “40 Under 40” honor.
| Jan 3, 2012
New Chicago hospital prepared for pandemic, CBR terror threat
At a cost of $654 million, the 14-story, 830,000-sf medical center, designed by a Perkins+Will team led by design principal Ralph Johnson, FAIA, LEED AP, is distinguished in its ability to handle disasters.
| Jan 3, 2012
BIM: not just for new buildings
Ohio State University Medical Center is converting 55 Medical Center buildings from AutoCAD to BIM to improve quality and speed of decision making related to facility use, renovations, maintenance, and more.
