Party Walls

The rise in remote and hybrid work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has created a demand for spaces in multifamily buildings where residents can work from home. Developers are seeking to meet this demand by providing office and coworking areas as an additional amenity in residential buildings. In these coworking spaces, what accessible design requirements apply?

Accessible Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces are a valuable amenity for building residents who prefer to work from home, but want separate environments for their professional and personal lives. Designing communal areas that are accessible to all individuals ensures that these spaces can be used to their fullest potential.

As an amenity provided to residents, coworking spaces in multifamily buildings must be designed to provide equitable access for people with disabilities, many of whom have seen a pronounced benefit because of the ability to work remotely. (more…)

As architects, building designers, and members of project teams, we are in a unique position to advance equity and inclusion in our world. It is our responsibility to design buildings that support and give opportunities to historically underserved groups.

As we embark on a new year, concepts of equity and inclusion are prominent throughout the field of architecture. The U.S. Green Building Council recently affirmed that equity will remain a key focus at this year’s Greenbuild International Conference, and the WELL Equity Rating continues to gain traction across our industry.

At SWA, we prioritize equity and inclusion in both our company values and strategic vision as well as in our Inclusive Design discipline. We made an announcement not long ago that our Accessibility team is shifting away from Universal Design towards Inclusive Design to more effectively drive equity in the built environment. In our work with Inclusive Design strategies, we have examined how they must evolve to prioritize all building occupants and the surrounding community at each stage in the design process.

Today we are thrilled to have a clearer vision for how we aim to accomplish this goal. (more…)

Project teams may set out to design and construct a building that supports the needs of its occupants and the community as a whole. However, the design process does not typically involve examining the lived experiences of future occupants or the surrounding community.

This missing piece is called co-design, and it’s a crucial practice for creating healthy, safe, and equitable buildings.

Co-design is gaining traction as more project teams prioritize social equity and inclusion as part of their project goals. When community members and future occupants that represent diverse perspectives and lived experiences are part of the design process, the finished building is more likely to support the needs of building occupants.

Read on to learn how project teams are successfully implementing co-design to advance equity through building design. (more…)

As of November 7, 2022, the 2022 edition of the New York City Building Code is now in effect. As designers begin to work with the updated code, our accessibility consultants have been getting a lot of questions about what has changed from the requirements in the 2014 edition of the code.

While it is important to read through the new code in its entirety to ensure compliance with all updated criteria, we have compiled a list of some changes related to accessibility that designers should be aware of, below.

SECTION BC 1106: Parking and Passenger Loading Facilities

8 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

While the 2014 edition of the code was silent on specific requirements for electric vehicle parking, the 2022 edition provides scoping and technical criteria for charging stations and the parking spaces serving those stations. Where EV charging is provided for common use, at least 5%, but no less than one of each type of EV station must be accessible. (more…)

Each state in the U.S. can adopt its own residential building code. States tend to use a specific edition of the IECC as their residential code (with the exception of California). And while 2022 is nearly over, only a few states have adopted the 2021 IECC.

However, several more states are likely to use the 2021 IECC given that under the Inflation Reduction Act, an additional $1 billion has been allocated to support jurisdictions in adopting the 2021 IECC or its zero-energy appendices.

Due to its lack of country-wide adoption, most building professionals might not be familiar with the 2021 IECC as it compares to the current codes in the states where they work. For example, there are significant increases in the minimum insulation requirements, changes to the air leakage test thresholds, and a new section, R408, with requirements to achieve “additional efficiency” through the selection of “packages.”

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What is a sustainable building? We know it must be an energy-efficient, high-performance building and emit as little carbon as possible to protect the environment. But a sustainable building must also be a healthy building that protects people and communities.

A building can’t be considered sustainable if it doesn’t sustain the physical and mental health of all its intended occupants and sustain the community around it.

Healthy buildings require a holistic approach that accounts for how every building material, system, and technology affects the wellbeing of occupants.

This is an important topic at SWA, so we asked our interns to explore it! They talked to our experienced building systems, sustainability, and Passive House consultants and put together this blog post as a resource on designing and maintaining a healthy built environment.

Keep reading to learn more about the following considerations for healthy buildings:

1. Occupant comfort and productivity
2. Optimal indoor air quality (IAQ)
3. Ventilation system upgrades in existing buildings
4. Healthy building certifications (Fitwel, WELL, etc.)
5. Building operations and maintenance staff training

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Montgomery County, MD, passed Bill 16-21, which creates a Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) for buildings within the county. The law also expands benchmarking requirements within the county, requiring private and Montgomery County-owned buildings over 25,000 square feet to benchmark energy use no later than June 1, 2024, in advance of demonstrating energy performance in the future.

Montgomery County BEPS: What We Know

Montgomery County’s BEPS phases in across different groups of buildings between 2024 and 2027. Each group will have 10 years to meet the BEPS for their particular building type.

Most importantly, each building will need to demonstrate that it meets the BEPS. All but the highest-performing buildings over 25,000 square feet may need to take some action. (more…)

Each day, SWA collaborates to create more sustainable, efficient, healthy, and accessible buildings. This holistic approach to the built environment necessitates talented teams with a wide range of specializations. (Want to join us? Check out the open positions on our Careers page!)

In this profile, we’re catching up with Thomas Moore, a Senior Building Systems Consultant located in Toronto, Canada.

Thomas developed a passion for the Passive House standard early in his career: “Simply put, I wanted to reduce the impact buildings had on the environment, and I saw Passive House as an actionable way of doing this,” he says. Thomas has been working on Passive House projects for more than 5 years on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

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New York City: the city that never sleeps—and where buildings account for approximately two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2019, New York City Council passed Local Law 97 (LL97) to hold building owners responsible for carbon emissions. The goal is to reduce over time, eventually reducing emissions 80% by 2050. As it stands, the law applies to most buildings over 25,000 square feet, which is roughly 50,000 residential and commercial properties across the five boroughs.

One pathway to decarbonize New York City’s buildings is using the Passive House standard: a high-performance building standard that significantly reduces whole building energy consumption by up to 60-70% while providing superior comfort and indoor air quality. When coupled with renewable energy systems, Passive House makes net zero energy buildings more feasible. (more…)

Each day, SWA employees collaborate to create more sustainable, efficient, healthy, and accessible buildings. This holistic approach to the built environment necessitates talented teams with a wide range of specializations. (Want to join us? Check out the open positions on our Careers page!)

In this staff profile, we’re catching up with Michael Schmidt, a Building Systems Consultant on our Passive House team in New York City. Michael started his career as an intern with SWA, and upon graduation, joined the team where he has now worked for almost two years.
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