“We need the sense of the sacred, and the sense that things transcend our grasp.
We need to know that we are dependent on others,
and that the condition of our existence is the existence of others.”
— Sir Roger Scruton
The founding of many education communities is inspired by faith communities. In many of them the place of worship was the very first building. College and university chapels are central places of worship for students, staff and faculty, and provide a space for solitude and reflection. A place for feeling at home in the world.
There are several hundred technical standards, or parts of standards, that govern how churches and chapels are made safe and sustainable. Owing to innovations in construction, operation and management methods, those standards move, ever so slightly, on a near-daily basis. They are highly interdependent; confounded by county-level adaptations; and impossible to harmonize by adoption cycle. That movement tracked here as best we can within the limit of our resources and priorities. That’s why it’s best to simply click into our daily colloquia if you have a question or need guidance.
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi.
The 13th century Eucharistic chant of Ave verum corpus was set to music by Mozart in 1791 to be sung especially to celebrate the feast day.
Here I sing it in the historic chapel of Launde Abbey. #History pic.twitter.com/frkUFkPHVj
— Katie Marshall (@KatieHistory) June 11, 2023
The image criteria of our WordPress theme does not permit many images of college and university chapels to be shown fully-dimensioned on sliders or widget galleries. We reproduce a few of the outsized images here and leave the complexities of financing, designing, building and maintaining of them in a safe and sustainable manner for another day. CLICK HERE for the links to our Sacred Space Standards workspace.
Click on any image for author attribution, photo credit or other information*.
In the sun-dappled chapel, all 155 new families were welcomed to the start of their Denstone journey. #ItStartsHere pic.twitter.com/veefqSVBGG
— Head | Denstone College (@DenstoneHead) September 3, 2023
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen:
not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
— C.S. Lewis
The “Dark Ages” produced the most divine vessels of light ever built.
Sainte-Chapelle:pic.twitter.com/B2lPLtWEVx
— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) February 12, 2024
Sainte-Chapelle:pic.twitter.com/B2lPLtWEVx
— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) February 12, 2024
Christ’s Chapel | Hillsdale College, Michigan
St. Ignatius Church | University of San Francisco
More coming.
*404 ERRORS and Page Not Found messages are common as webmasters move content.
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CLICK HERE for bibliography
Abstract. Insights into the history and future of western civilization are found by applying information theory to the acoustical communication channel (ACC) of its worship spaces. Properties of the ACC have both influenced and reflected the choice of message coding (e.g., speech or music) at various times. Speech coding is efficient for acoustically dry ACCs, but hopeless for highly time-dispersive ACCs. Music coding is appropriate for time dispersive (reverberant) ACCs. The ACCs of synagogues, early Christian house churches, and many Protestant churches are relatively acoustically “dry” and thus well suited to spoken liturgies. The spoken liturgy, dominant in synagogues, was carried over to early Christian churches, but became unworkable in Constantinian cathedrals and was largely replaced with a musical liturgy. After a millennium, the cathedral acoustic was altered to suit the doctrinal needs of reformation churches with its renewed emphasis on the spoken word. Worship forms continue to change, and the changes are reflected in the properties of the ACC. The pulpits of electronic churches may be evolving into radio and television performance spaces and naves into worshipers’ living rooms.
"Shenandoah" | King's College Choirhttps://t.co/VRpzzKPoKA@ChoirOfKingsCamhttps://t.co/1arQmfueQ0 pic.twitter.com/QcyPr56n52
— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) September 10, 2023
American National Standards Institute: Standards Action
International Electrotechnical Commission
International Organization for Standardization
International Telecommunication Union
2026 National Electrical Code Workspace
We sweep through the world’s three major time zones; updating our understanding of the literature at the technical foundation of education community safety and sustainability in those time zones 24 times per day. We generally eschew “over-coding” web pages to sustain speed, revision cadence and richness of content as peak priority. We do not provide a search facility because of copyrights of publishers and time sensitivity of almost everything we do.
Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Study of Mind
Our daily colloquia are typically doing sessions; with non-USA titles receiving priority until 16:00 UTC and all other titles thereafter. We assume policy objectives are established (Safer-Simpler-Lower-Cost, Longer-Lasting). Because we necessarily get into the weeds, and because much of the content is time-sensitive and copyright protected, we usually schedule a separate time slot to hammer on technical specifics so that our response to consultations are meaningful and contribute to the goals of the standards developing organization and to the goals of stewards of education community real assets.
Really fun seeing our teachers modifying core curriculum to meet our students needs. Instead of thinking that they can’t, I love how we think of how we can!!! #dg58pride pic.twitter.com/xTGjkjd7DS
— Dr. Jackelyn (@DrCadard) January 24, 2024
1. Leviathan. We track noteworthy legislative proposals in the United States 118th Congress. Not many deal specifically with education community real assets since the relevant legislation is already under administrative control of various Executive Branch Departments such as the Department of Education.
We do not advocate in legislative activity at any level. We respond to public consultations but there it ends.
We track federal legislative action because it provides a stroboscopic view of the moment — the “national conversation”– in communities that are simultaneously a business and a culture. Even though more than 90 percent of such proposals are at the mercy of the party leadership the process does enlighten the strengths and weakness of a governance system run entirely through the counties on the periphery of Washington D.C. It is impossible to solve technical problems in facilities without sensitivity to the zietgeist that has accelerated in education communities everywhere.
Department of Energy
Lorem ipsum
Federal Aviation Administration
Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools | Consultation closes April 14, 2023
Science & Technology Policy Office
We typically post one federal and one state level consultation or action every day for at least one of the 50-states — in the lower right corner of our home page when most education communities in the United States have begun a new work day. Examples, irregularly linked:
2. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Post-Quantum Cryptography Practice Guide (June 8)
Public Consultation on Semiconductor Manufacturing (November 28)
NIST Awards Funding to 5 Universities to Advance Standards Education
NIST Center for Neutron Research: 2022 Outstanding Student Poster Presentation
NIST Report Outlines Strategic Opportunities for U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing
3. ANSI ISO Business (Many of these projects are normally covered during our Hello World! colloquia
ANSI April 2023 Public Policy Update
ANSI January Report 2023 on ISO, IEC & ITU Work Items
ISO Standardization Foresight Framework | Trend Report 2022
New ISO Subcommittee ISO/TC 197/SC 1 – Hydrogen at Scale and Horizontal Energy Systems
New ISO Subcommittee ISO/TC 67/SC 10 – Enhanced oil recovery
Update: Certification+Degree (C+D) pathways in information technology (IT) and health sciences.
Standards Coordination Office | USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point
Consultations (Some posted with IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee) | Direct access to primary workspace
4. Fast Forward
5. Rewind
6. Corrigenda
International Standardization Organization Week Date
Readings
“The ideal architect should be a man of letters, a skillful draftsman, a mathematician,
familiar with historical studies, a diligent student of philosophy, acquainted with music,
not ignorant of medicine, learned in the responses of jurisconsults,
familiar with astronomy and astronomical calculations.”
Duncan G. Stroik is a practicing architect, author, and Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame specializing in religious and classical architecture. Gathered here are images from Christ Chapel, Hillsdale College Michigan. His award-winning work includes the Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel in Santa Paula, California, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
A frequent lecturer on sacred architecture and the classical tradition, Stroik authored The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence and the Eternal and is the founding editor of Sacred Architecture Journal. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Yale University School of Architecture. Professor Stroik is the 2016 winner of the Arthur Ross Award for Architecture. In 2019, he was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
“The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians,
but a school for the education of imperfect ones.”
— Henry Ward Beecher
2024 International Building Code: Chapter 3 Occupancy Classification and Use
In the International Code Council catalog of best practice literature we find the first principles for safety in places of worship tracking in the following sections of the International Building Code (IBC):
“303.1.4: Accessory religious educational rooms and religious auditoriums with occupant loads less than 100 per room or space are not considered separate occupancies.” This informs how fire protection systems are designed.
Section 305 Educational Group E
“305.2.1: Rooms and spaces within places of worship proving such day care during religious functions shall be classified as part of the primary occupancy.” This group includes building and structures or portions thereof occupied by more than five children older than 2-1/2 years of age who receive educational, supervision or personal care services for fewer than 24 hours per day.
Section 308 Institutional Group I
“308.5.2: Rooms and spaces within places of religious worship providing [Group I-4 Day Care Facilities] during religious functions shall be classified as part of the primary occupancy. When [Group I-4 Day Care Facilities] includes buildings and structures occupied by more than five persons of any age who receive custodial care for fewer than 24 hours per day by persons other than parents or guardians, relatives by blood, marriage or adoption, and in a place other than the home of the person cared for.
Tricky stuff — and we haven’t even included conditions under which university-affiliated places of worship may expected to be used as community storm shelters.
2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
Committee Action Hearings on the Group A tranche of titles will happen in Orlando, April 7-16.
Because standard development tends to be a backward-looking domain it is enlightening to understand the concepts in play in previous editions. The complete monograph of proposals for new building safety concepts for places of worship for the current revision cycle is linked below:
2021/2022 Code Development: Group B
A simple search on the word “worship” will reveal what ideas are in play. With the Group B Public Comment Hearings now complete ICC administered committees are now curating the results for the Online Governmental Consensus Vote milestone in the ICC process that was completed December 6th. Status reports are linked below:
2018/2019 Code Development: Group B
Note that a number of proposals that passed the governmental vote are being challenged by a number of stakeholders in a follow-on appeals process:
A quick review of the appeals statements reveals some concern over process, administration and technical matters but none of them directly affect how leading practice for places of worship is asserted.
We are happy to get down in the weeds with facility professionals on other technical issues regarding other occupancy classes that are present in educational communities. See our CALENDAR for next Construction (Ædificare) colloquium open to everyone.
Issue: [17-353]
Category: Chapels
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel
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Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt. pic.twitter.com/H6dgJ5DnSC
— Prof. Feynman (@ProfFeynman) October 8, 2023
The Invention of the Wheel – The Journey to Civilization
Today we amble through the literature providing policy templates informing school district, college and university-affiliated transportation and parking facilities and systems. Starting 2024 we will break up our coverage thus:
Mobility 100 (Survey of both ground and air transportation instructional and research facilities)
Mobility 200 (Ground Transportation)
Mobility 300 (Air Transportation)
Mobility 400 (Reserved for zoning, parking space allocation and enforcement, and issues related to one of the most troublesome conditions in educational settlements)
March 28, 2024
This will be the last session during which time we will cover both land and air transportation codes, standards, guidelines and the regulations that depend upon all them.
Public consultation originates from the following organizations:
International Electrotechnical Commission
International Organization for Standardization
Intelligent Transport Systems
Road Vehicles
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
Intelligent Transportation Systems Society
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International)
Like many SDO’s the SAE makes it very easy to purchase a standard but makes it very difficulty to find a draft standard open for public review. It is not an open process; one must apply to comment on a draft standard. Moreover, its programmers persist in playing “keep away” with landing pages.
Technical Standards for Road Vehicles and Intelligent Vehicle Systems
International Code Council
National Fire Protection Association
Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals
International Light Transportation Vehicle Association
Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Accreditation Commission
Noteworthy:
The public school bus system in the United States is the largest public transit system in the United States. According to the American School Bus Council, approximately 25 million students in the United States ride school buses to and from school each day, which is more than twice the number of passengers that use all other forms of public transportation combined.
The school bus system is considered a public transit system because it is operated by public schools and school districts, and provides a form of transportation that is funded by taxpayers and available to the general public. The school bus system also plays a critical role in ensuring that students have access to education, particularly in rural and low-income areas where transportation options may be limited.
Something is always happening in this domain:
A Quiet Rollout: Electric Scooters on Campus
Notre Dame Police Department shares gameday parking restrictions, tips
Electric School Bus Market Size, Industry Share, Analysis, Report and Forecast 2022-2027
Non profit associations proliferate:
American School Bus Council
American Bus Association
Campus Parking and Transportation Association
National Association for Pupil Transportation
National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services
National School Transportation Association
School Bus Manufacturers Association
…and 50-state spinoffs of the foregoing. (See our ABOUT for further discussion of education industry non-profit associations)
There are several ad hoc consortia in this domain also; which include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Charging specifications are at least temporarily “stable”; though who should pay for the charging infrastructure in the long run is a debate we have tracked for several revision cycles in building and fire codes.
Because incumbents are leading the electromobility transformation, and incumbents have deep pockets for market-making despite the “jankiness” of the US power grid, we can track some (not all) legislation action, and prospective public comment opportunities. For example:
Keep in mind that even though proposed legislation is sun-setted in a previous (116th) Congress, the concepts may be carried forward into the following Congress (117th).
Public consultations on mobility technologies relevant to the education facility industry are also covered by the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.
This topic is growing rapidly and it may well be that we will have to break it up into more manageable pieces. For the moment, today’s colloquium is open to everyone. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
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