Ronald L. Geren, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA, SCIP, the new board chair for CSI, has literally wrote the book on the building code. His Applying the Building Code: Step-by-Step Guidance for Design and Building Professionals has been published by Wiley.
Geren, who runs specifications consulting firm RLGA Technical Services (Scottsdale, Arizona) and sits on the editorial advisory board for The Construction Specifier, says the resource is aimed at architecture students and practicing architects, but can also be used by interior designers, design-builders, and contractors involved during the design process.
The book explains the requirements of the International Building Code (IBC) as they apply during the common phases of design—from schematic design through to the preparation of construction documents.
Recently, Geren chatted with The Construction Specifier about his goals with the new book.
TCS: What inspired you to write this?
Geren: It was a result of a request by the CSI Salt Lake City’s then-president, Richard Baxter, CSI, to be the keynote speaker at the chapter’s Education Symposium in 2010. The requested topic for the presentation was to be something in the area of a “step-by-step code analysis.” So, I prepared a presentation that would provide the steps using the standard three phases of design—schematic design, design development, and construction documents.
The presentation was well-received and I thought that it could be turned into a more in-depth seminar, which I did. Later, as a professor that teaches codes to architecture students, I found the present selection of code resources limited for my students and determined my step-by-step process would make a good book.
TCS: How does it differ from other books?
Geren: What excites me about the book is that it approaches code compliance from a completely different perspective. Most building code resources cover code requirements chapter by chapter, section by section, without any underlying process on how they should be applied as a design progresses. In the early phases of design, there is limited information available to the designer, so the broader requirements affecting the overall design are more important than detailed requirements.
TCS: What do you hope readers will get out of the book?
Geren: Using the step-by-step process presented in the book, readers will be able to apply the right code requirements at the right time. The book also addresses requirements across multiple codes—IFC, NEC, IPC, IECC—into a single source, ensuring a comprehensive code application is achieved. To assist in explaining the step-by-step process, a single example project is used throughout the book to demonstrate how code requirements are applied with the information available during each phase of design.
TCS: Aside from the fact it was a CSI presentation serving as the genesis for this book, did your membership, and participation in various local and national activities, play a role in other aspects?
Geren: Yes. With that presentation, it was my connections within CSI and their knowledge of my code experience that brought me that opportunity to present. Additionally, CSI’s relationship with Wiley made it much easier for me to get my foot into the publisher’s door—a connection many authors do not have available to them. CSI also has a few authors of other books that I reached out to for advice. One of those was the late Ralph Liebing, RA, CPCA, CBO, CSI, CDT, a CSI Cincinnati Chapter member and an author of several code books—the book is written in his memory.
TCS: How else does the book fit in with your CSI approach to design and construction?
Geren: The culmination of the step-by-step process is a format for documenting code information in a set of construction drawings that makes it easier for a plans examiner to determine compliance. Placing code-related information in one location in a logical format simplifies the review process. Where detailed code-related drawings are located elsewhere within the drawing set, the code information points the plans examiner to the proper location, thus reducing search time.
