Fine Arts 300

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Fine Arts 300

July 25, 2025
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Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until January 6, 2027

Comments on the Second Draft of NFPA 909 — Cultural Resource Property Protection — will be received until 3 October 2024

“Wir haben Kunst, damit wir nicht

an der Wahrheit zugrunde gehen”

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Not every student is passionate about Graph Algorithms, Green Policy or coding the Internet of Things but wants to devote their energy and talent to making the world a better place by making the world a more beautiful place.  Spaces for the “creatives” among them are elevated risk spaces.   Today we examine the literature for designing, building and maintaining these occupancies in the safest and most sustainable way; among them the spaces for textile research and fashion design; usually co-mingled with drawing, painting, and textile creation space.

The garment industry is multi-disciplinary and is larger than the energy industry.  It contributes to the standard for civilization; even though subtly so.   For this reason, starting 2023, we will break down our coverage of the literature that supports the fashion industry from the fine arts domain in separate colloquia every quarter.

Fine Arts 200.   Exploration of best practice for spaces used for various forms of creative expression that are appreciated for their artistic or aesthetic value, often involving skills and techniques that require specialized training and expertise. 

    • Painting: The application of pigment to a surface, such as canvas or paper, to create images or visual compositions using techniques like oil, acrylic, watercolor, or tempera.
    • Sculpture: The creation of three-dimensional artworks by shaping and manipulating materials such as stone, wood, metal, or clay.
    • Drawing: The use of lines, marks, or other materials to create images or representations on paper, canvas, or other surfaces.
    • Printmaking: The creation of multiple copies of an image from a master plate or block, using techniques like engraving, etching, lithography, or screen printing.
    • Photography: The use of a camera to capture and create visual images, often through techniques such as exposure, composition, and processing.
    • Architecture: The design and construction of buildings and structures, involving artistic elements such as form, space, materials, and aesthetics.
    • Ceramics: The creation of pottery or ceramic objects using techniques like wheel throwing, hand-building, or glazing.
    • Mixed media: The combination of different artistic materials or techniques in a single artwork, such as collage, assemblage, or installations.
    • Conceptual art: The creation of artworks that prioritize ideas, concepts, and intellectual or philosophical aspects over traditional aesthetic or material considerations.

Fashion 300.  Best practice literature for the spaces needed for the creation of artworks using textiles and fibers, such as weaving, quilting, or embroidery.  Research and teaching spaces in this domain; at the foundation of the garment industry — one of the largest sectors in the economy in any nation — present surprising challenges

See our CALENDAR for a schedule of those session.

Fine Arts 200

US-based standards developers with a footprint in the fine arts domain:

ASTM International

Committee D13 on Textiles Celebrates a Century

International Code Council

2021 International Building Code: Section 305 Educational Group E

Underwriters Laboratories

Lorem ipsum (product testing: kiln heat specifications, fabric and paint flammability, wet and dry fire extinguishing systems, etc.)

National Fire Protection Association

Art, Design & Fashion Studios

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

Leveraging User-Provided Noisy Labels for Fashion Understanding

Fuzzy Logic in Personalized Garment Design

Institutional Guidelines

St. Louis Community College

Federal Regulations & Recommendations

Environmental Health and Safety in the Arts Guide for K-12 School, Colleges and Artisans

Global standard developers:  (partial list)

Eurocodes

Illumination Art

Textiles

Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act

Open to everyone.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Cultural Resource Properties

July 25, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until January 6, 2027

Comments on the Second Draft of NFPA 909 — Cultural Resource Property Protection — will be received until 3 October 2024

University of Chicago

 

 

Books cannot be killed by fire.  People die, but books never die

No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever

— Franklin Roosevelt

 

Many education communities build and maintain cultural resource properties whose safety and sustainability objectives are informed by local adaptations of consensus products developed by the International Code Council (ICC) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).   We need to understand the ICC and NFPA product suites as a pair.   For most real assets in the education industry  they move “roughly” in tandem even though they are produced by different organizations for a different set of customers.  Sometimes the out-of-step condition between NFPA and ICC permits subject matter experts on technical committees to make the best possible decisions regarding the safety and sustainability agenda of the interest group they represent; but not always.

Occupancy classification is always a first consideration and both the NFPA and the ICC have a claim to some part of this occupancy concept*.   In the ICC suite we find code requirements for many “cultural places of worship” tracking in the following sections of the International Building Code (IBC):

Section 303 Assembly Group A-3

Section 305 Educational Group E

Section 308 Institutional Group I

Note that Sections 305 and 308 recognize the accessory and multi-functional nature of occupancy types in the education industry – i.e child care and adult care function can marge and be an accessory to a place of worship.  The general rule in the IBC is that accessory religious educational rooms and religious auditoriums with occupant loads of less than 100 per room or space are not considered separate occupancies.    Other standards developers are guided by this rule.

"The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library" - Albert Einstein

Close coupled to the IBC for this occupancy class is NFPA 909 Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties – Museums, Libraries, and Places of WorshipFrom the document prospectus:

This code describes principles and practices of protection for cultural resource properties (including, but not limited to, museums, libraries, and places of worship), their contents, and collections, against conditions or physical situations with the potential to cause damage or loss.

• This code covers ongoing operations and rehabilitation and acknowledges the need to preserve culturally significant and character-defining building features and sensitive, often irreplaceable, collections and to provide continuity of operations.

• Principles and practices for life safety in cultural resource properties are outside the scope of this code. Where this code includes provisions for maintaining means of egress and controlling occupant load, it is to facilitate the evacuation of items of cultural significance, allow access for damage limitation teams in an emergency, and prevent damage to collections through overcrowding or as an unintended consequence of an emergency evacuation.

• Library and museum collections that are privately owned and not open to the public shall not be required to meet the requirements of this code.

"The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library" - Albert Einstein

Since we are hard upon release of the 2021 Edition of NFPA 909 let us take a backward look at the current (2017) version of NFPA 909 Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties – Museums, Libraries, and Places of Worship.  Chapter 14 covers “Museums, Libraries and their Collections”.   Chapter 15 covers “Places of Worship”

Free Access Edition NFPA 909

The 2025 Edition is now open for public input.  Let us pick through proposals for the 2021 Edition to inform our approach to its improvement by referencing the technical committee transcripts linked below:

Public Input Report: January 12, 2023

N.B. We find committee response (accepted in principle) to Standards Michigan proposal to articulate conditions in which places of worship and libraries are used as community disaster relief support facilities.  We consider this a modest “code win”.

Circling back to the ICC suite we find elevated interest in hardening community owned facilities to tornadoes, hurricane and floods and other storm related risk in the structural engineering chapters of the International Building Code.

"This We'll Defend."

NFPA 909: Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties – Museums, Libraries, and Places of Worship | 2021 Edition

Leadership and facility managers for enterprises of this type are encouraged to contribute obtain their own (free) NFPA public participation account in order to directly participate in the 2025 revision of NFPA 909 by logging in here: https://www.nfpa.org/login.

Public consultation on the First Draft of the 2025 Edition closes January 4, 2024.

This document is also a standing item on our periodic Prometheus, Lively and Fine Arts teleconference.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [15-258]

Category: Fire Safety, Public Safety

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier

*See NFPA 101 Life Safety Code

Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act

Property Loss Prevention


LEARN MORE:

Guidelines for the Security of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Other Special Collections, Association of College & Research Libraries, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2795.

“A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections,” Malaro, Marie, second edition 1998

“Risk and Insurance Management Manual for Libraries,” Mary Breighner and William Payton, edited by Jeanne Drewes, ALA 2005 ISBN 0-8389-8325-1.

Wisconsin Historic Building Code, Madison, WI:Wisconsin Administrative Code.

 

Property Loss Prevention

July 25, 2025
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Left Panel Of George Julian Zolnay’s Allegorical “Academic, Business & Manual Education” Granite Frieze At Francis L. Cardozo High School (Washington, DC)

All fifty United States have their own “signature” disaster with which to reckon; some more than others.   California has earthquakes, Florida has hurricanes, Missouri has floods; and so on,  Life and property loss are preventable; but losses will persist because technical solutions notwithstanding, culture determines human behavior.  It is impossible to be alive and safe.

FM Global is one of several organizations that curate privately developed consensus products that set the standard of care for many industries; education communities among them.  These standards contribute to the reduction in the risk of property loss due to fire, weather conditions, and failure of electrical or mechanical equipment.  They incorporate nearly 200 years of property loss experience, research and engineering results, as well as input from consensus standards committees, equipment manufacturers and others.

If you want FMGlobal as your insurance carrier, or to supplement your organization’s self-insurance program, then you will likely be assigned an FMGlobal conformity professional.

A scan of its list data sheets indicate a number of noteworthy updates of documents establishing minimum requirements for safety technologies common in education facilities:

Technical Reports Supporting Code Change

Note that the bulk of the safety concepts in the foregoing titles incorporate by reference the safety concepts that cross our radar every day   FM Global provides direct access to the full span of its documents at this link:

FM GLOBAL PROPERTY LOSS PREVENTION DATA SHEETS

Note FM Global updates its standards every three months:

Standards in Progress

To respond to calls for public consultation you will need to set up (free) access credentials.

We keep FMGlobal titles — and the literature of other property insurers involved in standards setting — on the standing agenda of our Risk, Snow and Prometheus colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next meeting.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Risk, Facility Asset Management


More

Deloitte University: Innovation in Insurance

University of Pennsylvania demonstrates the critical importance of sprinklers in dormitories

Syracuse University presents an eclectic mix of risk management challenges

Jackson Laboratory

Representative force majeure clauses.

Example 1: Basic Force Majeure Clause

“Neither party shall be liable for any failure or delay in performance of its obligations under this agreement due to events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, war, terrorism, civil commotion, labor strikes, and natural disasters. The affected party shall promptly notify the other party of the force majeure event and take reasonable steps to mitigate its impact on performance. During the continuance of such events, the obligations of the affected party shall be suspended, and the time for performance shall be extended.”

Example 2: Detailed Force Majeure Clause

“In the event that either party is unable to perform its obligations under this agreement due to a force majeure event, the affected party shall promptly notify the other party in writing, specifying the nature and anticipated duration of the force majeure event. Force majeure events shall include, but are not limited to, acts of God, strikes, lockouts, government action or inaction, war, terrorism, epidemics, and natural disasters. The affected party shall use reasonable efforts to overcome or mitigate the effects of the force majeure event. If the force majeure event continues for a period of [specified duration], either party may terminate this agreement by providing written notice to the other party.”

 

 

University Art Collections

July 25, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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“We have art in order not to perish from the Truth”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

 

We occasionally break from our focus on the technology and management of these “cities-within-cities” and dwell briefly on the primary business of the academy. Academic museums and galleries provide a setting for conveying inherited wisdom to the next generation of cultural leaders. We include in this gallery examples of architectural art of the buildings themselves.   Click on images for more artist and location credit.   Technical information about safety and sustainability of this facility class appears at the bottom of this page.

“Street Scene, Christmas Morning” 1982 Frederick Childe Hassam | Smith College Museum of Art

“The Prairie is My Garden” | Harvey Dunn (1884-1952) | South Dakota State University Art Museum

“La Débâcle or Les Glaçons” (1880) | Claude Monet | University of Michigan Museum of Art

Harvard University Art Museum | “Thatched-Roof Cottage by a Lake” | Myles Birket Foster (1825 – 1899)

“The Fall of Novgorod” (1891) / Klaudii Vasilievich Lebedev / University of Wiscosin Chazen Museum of Art

“Dancer” c. 1923 José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud | Museum of Art & Archeology University of Missouri

Brigham University Museum of Art | “Crossing the Mississippi on the Ice” | C.C.A. Christensen (1878)

Self-portrait, 1919 Amedeo Modigliani /Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo

 

Princeton University Art Museum | “Shinnecock, Long Island” | William Merritt Chase (1896)

Georgetown University Museum of Art | “Fujiyama from Kawaibashi, at Tokaido” (circa 1880) | Kusakabe Kimbei

“Volcanic Cones” 1934 Maynard Dixon | Brigham Young University

University of Virginia Museum of Art | “The Natural Bridge, Virginia” | Frederic Edwin Church (1852)

Colby College Museum of Art | “Frankie and Johnny” | Alex Katz (1948-1949)

Bowdoin College Museum of Art | View on the Hudson | George Inness

University of Vienna Ceiling Paintings (Medicine)

Princeton University Art Museum | “Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge” | Claude Monet (1899)

Dinastía Qing / Penn University Museum

Yale University Art Museum | “Young Woman and Child | Berthe Morisot (1966)

 

Princeton University Art Museum | “Mount Adams, Washington” | Albert Bierstadt (1875)

Michigan State University | Broad Art Museum

“Piazza San Marco with the Basilica by Canaletto, 1730” / Harvard University Art Museum

“Boathouses and Lobster Pots” | Fairfield Porter | Amherst College Art Museum

Harvard University | In the Sierras, Lake Tahoe (Albert Bierstadt)

Stanford University Art Museum

“Indians Playing Lacrosse on the Ice” 1934 Yale University Art Gallery

 

Stanford University | “The Burghers of Calais” by Auguste Rodin

University of Texas | Indians of the Northwest (Thomas Hill)

Arizona State University Art Museum

Yale University | The Battle of Bunker Hill (John Trumbull)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti | La Pia de Tolomei | University of Kansas Art Museum

University of Minnesota Art Museum


LEARN MORE:

Workspace / Art Museum Safety & Sustainability

 

Sichere Kinderspielplätze mit Standards

July 24, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Austrian Standards International

During the construction of the new “Christine Nöstlinger Education Campus,” great care was taken to not only make the site accessible to schoolchildren and students, but also to involve the entire neighborhood in its use. We spoke with Rudolf Leber from MA 56 about how standards specifically contribute to making the outdoor facilities safe and robust.

Key points about how Austria cares for its children in kindergarten, based on its early childhood education system:

Compulsory Kindergarten Year: Since 2009, Austria has mandated a free, compulsory kindergarten year for all children who turn five by August 31, requiring at least 20 hours of attendance per week over four days. This ensures early education access and prepares children for primary school.

Variety of Kindergarten Options: Austria offers diverse kindergarten types—public (free, government-subsidized), private (partially subsidized, costing around €250/month), parent-run (costing about €100/month with parental involvement), and company-run

(Betriebskindergarten)—catering to different family needs and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Focus on Development: Kindergartens aim to support physical, mental, and emotional growth through play-based learning and group interaction, complementing family care. The Nationwide Framework Curriculum emphasizes holistic development without formal school-like instruction.

Accessibility and Subsidies: Public kindergartens are free, though parents may pay for meals (around €60/month), while private options remain affordable due to government subsidies. Many facilities operate long hours (e.g., 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to accommodate working parents.

Decentralized Governance with Quality Standards: The nine federal provinces oversee kindergarten legislation and operations, allowing regional flexibility, while national agreements (e.g., 15a B-VG) and frameworks ensure quality, such as trained pedagogues and reasonable child-staff ratios (e.g., max 25 children per teacher in public settings).

ISO 4980:2023 – Benefit-Risk Assessment for Sports and Recreational Facilities, Equipment, and/or Activities

  • This standard provides a framework for assessing both the benefits and risks associated with playground equipment and activities. It introduces a dual-assessment process to balance the developmental advantages of play against potential hazards, ensuring safer design and use.

ISO/TS 24665:2023 – Playground and Recreational Areas — Framework for the Competence of Playground Inspectors and Playground Maintenance Technicians

  • This technical specification outlines the competencies required for inspectors and maintenance technicians of playgrounds. It covers routine visual inspections, operational checks, annual main inspections, and post-installation or post-accident assessments, ensuring outdoor playgrounds remain safe and functional.

ISO 23659:2023 – Sports and Recreational Facilities — Trampoline Parks — Safety Requirements

  • While primarily focused on trampoline parks, this standard includes provisions relevant to outdoor playgrounds with trampoline features, addressing safety requirements for design, installation, and operation to protect children during play.

Finding a Kindergarten in Vienna

 

Playground Equipment

July 24, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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ASTM International develops most of the best practice titles for  sports and recreation equipment and facilities;  among them:

Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Turf Playing Systems as Measured in the Field

Standard Specification for Competition Wrestling Mats

Standard Specification for Athletic Performance Properties of Indoor Sports Floor Systems

Standard Guide for ASTM Standards on Playground Surfacing

Specification for Loose-Fill Rubber for Use as a Playground Safety Surface under and around Playground

Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems under and around Playground

Specification for Playground Surface Impact Testing in a Lab at a Specified Test Height.

Notice the product orientation.  ASTM’s business model is built upon conformity and compliance activity, supported by market incumbents such as manufacturer and insurance interests; but — as an ANSI accredited standards developer — it opens its standards-setting process to all stakeholders; including in one of the largest markets for these products.

We are happy to represent any user-interest at any of the ASTM International meetings; assuming our costs are covered.  Feel free to contact Sanne Anthony either by email or phone for more information.  In the intervening time, we will track action in the ASTM catalog an maintain relevant titles in this product category on several standing agendas — Sports, Kindergarten and Recreation.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

Issue: [18-82]

Category: Daycare, Sport, Kindergarten

More:

Public Playground Safety

East Somerville Community School


Posted  March 5, 2018

 

ASTM has released two documents for public review — one a new standard, the other a revision of an existing standard — that should interest K-12 school systems which are stewards of recreational facilities :

NEW STANDARD: ASTM WK59245-201x, Test Method for Determining Impact Attenuation of Playground Surfaces within the Use Zone of Playground Equipment as Tested in the Field

REVISION: ASTM F1292-201x, Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surfacing Materials within the Use Zone of Playground Equipment (revision of ANSI/ASTM F1292-2017)

Comments are due April 23rd.   You may obtain a free review copy by setting up a (free) stakeholder account at ASTM Technical Committee page or by communicating with Corice Leonard, (610) 832-9744, cleonard@astm.org or accreditation@astm.org.  Send comments to Corice (with a copy to psa@ansi.org).

The ASTM International Committee F08 on Sports  Equipment, Playing Surfaces, and Facilities also meets again May 21-24th in San Diego.  We keep all ASTM documents that affect the revenue and cost structure of the education industry on the standing agenda of our weekly Open Door teleconferences to which everyone is welcomed.  

 

Issue: [18-82]

Category; Athletics & Recreation

Link to ANSI Announcement


 

 

 

H.R. 3949 Safe Drinking Water in Playgrounds

July 24, 2025
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434 lawmakers, including 89 new freshman Members, were sworn in to the 116th Congress on January 3, 2019. Photo by Phi Nguyen.

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide for drinking water fountain replacement in playgrounds and parks, and for other purposes.

Gallery: Playgrounds

July 24, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Entstehung der High Society

July 23, 2025
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“Being an artist means not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

Deutsches Institut für Normung

 

 

 

 

 

 

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