Date of Award
May 2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Historic Preservation (MHP)
Department
Planning, Development, and Preservation
Committee Member
Amalia Liefeste
Committee Member
Ashley K Jennings
Committee Member
Melvyn Green
Abstract
The existing building codes offer exemptions for historic structures that lessen the
prescriptive requirements and offer alternative means to achieve life safety goals. Three
examples selected for this study are unreinforced masonry towers subject to high wind loads
and seismic forces to explore the methods of Prescriptive, Work Area, and Performance
Compliance with an eye to the role of the building code official and where the decisions may
impact life safety in the course of repairing, altering, or changing the occupancy of the
towers. The thesis explores the complexity of the code while forming a roadmap of the
process. As the American Institute of Architects and Association for Preservation
Technology send out a call to professionals to better understand and increase their
involvement in the code development cycles at ICC, this thesis might offer a point of
discussion about the nature of hard-to-follow codes and the impact it has on life safety.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, John Sheridan, "Existing Building Codes and Historic Masonry Towers" (2020). All Theses. 3303.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3303