Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design (Hardcover)

by Barbara A. Nadel (Author) "In 1933, President Roosevelt told the world that only by confronting the biggest challenges head-on could they be defeated..." (more)
Key Phrases: security design criteria, infection isolation rooms, perimeter security elements, New York, World Trade Center, General Services Administration (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Last word in security design...offers the definitive 21st-century reference on security design, technology, building operations, and disaster planning." -- AIArchitect, March 17, 2006

...detailed case studies, best practices... security guidelines from over 30 professional firms, national state... city agencies and nonprofit organizations. -- eOcculus, June 2004

...draws... recommendations for... future from... lessons learned through past tragedies, as interpreted by more than 50 multidisciplinary national experts. -- The Kentucky Post, June 2004

Among the lessons…is a model for determining the potential cost impacts of incorporating nine building security elements into a design. -- AIArchitecht, May 2004

Award-winning architect... and over 50 contributors provide security design solutions for... safe commercial... institutional... industrial... residential buildings in... post-9/11... environment. -- EPIConnection, July 2004

Handbook to Safer Buildings... looks at building security and public safety in the post 9/11 world. -- Heritage News, June 2004

authoritative... weighty... state-of-the-art examination... properties can deter criminal activities... imaginative examples... easily digestible tables... bullet points. Six hundred... photos... -- New Urban News, Sept. 2004

definitive 21st century…reference for…professionals, public officials, and…specialists seeking to create safe, secure, and well-designed projects …Private clients also want…projects…safe from…threat. -- Guidelines for Improving Practice, July/August 2004

weighty reference... focuses... on architectural issues in security design, though... does pay attention to landscape and perimeter security... worthy reading -- Landscape Architecture, July 2004

…a hot topic…with wide ramifications…single-source reference…comprehensive…addresses not only terrorism but also natural disasters, crime, and violence in the workplace. -- Civil Engineering, July 2004

Review
Excerpts from article by Shelly Whitehead
A Farewell to Mayberry
Enhancing building security was top priority for new Boone facility

Kevlar walls. Blast windows. Blow rooms. In a post-9-11 world, designing secure buildings to protect and serve those sworn to protect and serve has gotten very complicated and costly. ….Security actually begins outside the building, where cameras record who enters what door and at what time, while a gated parking area ensures that only authorized employees' cars park in the walled lot adjoining the building. Such perimeter security considerations are primary in the minds of architects when designing critical infrastructure buildings like police departments.

"Every law enforcement agency is concerned about threats and being a target," said Barbara A. Nadel, a New York City-based fellow of the American Institute of Architects who this week publishes her voluminous reference book, "Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design." "So if you go from the baseline that a police station is a target," she asked, "what do you do from there?" Ideally, she said, such buildings should have a setback from the road of 50 feet or more. "Then they have to take a look at access roads and -- how traffic and circulation goes toward a building."

..predicament for many law enforcement agencies struggling to build or renovate more secure quarters: They must create a facility which balances the need for a receptive, citizen-friendly environment with the demand for a facility that is hardened against the violent and criminal forces that might stymie their efforts to protect and serve.

In fact, the predicament is so pervasive today Nadel said it's spawned a whole new architectural subheading called "transparent security." In essence, this means building safeguards into a structure through unobtrusive and sometimes invisible features. "Everybody is concerned about this because they don't want to build fortresses. So what a lot of us are trying to do is to encourage transparent security. It is invisible to the public eye, but it's there," Nadel said. "It's things like setbacks, laminated glass, blast windows. -- Then on the mechanical engineering side -- there are subtle things like moving air supply vents several stories higher -- where somebody can't throw some substance into it and affect everybody inside."

As with Kentucky's police accreditation program, Nadel's book draws its recommendations for the future from the lessons learned through past tragedies, as interpreted by more than 50 multidisciplinary national experts. She says that, for all their collective horror, events like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and 2001 terrorist attacks spoke volumes to law enforcement and other emergency responders about protecting themselves so that they might protect everyone else during mass tragedies. ... (The Kentucky Post )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 1 edition (April 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071411712
• ISBN-13: 978-0071411714
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #663,804 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Zen of Security: A must have, July 5, 2004

By	Sirius (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Security from soup to nuts, here it is, in one big book. Big picture ideas, nitty gritty details, many different security concepts. Lots of tips and checklists on how anyone can apply them in any scenario or location. Packed with all kinds of useful information for designers, building owners, security personnel, students, professors, and just plain folks. Well-organized and edited, beautifully illustrated, very user-friendly. Simply a remarkable volume about one of the most important subjects on the planet.

Destined to become the bible for security experts - or those who wish they were!

130 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book for everyone in the post-9/11 world, July 4, 2004

By	"faia00" (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This outstanding book is easy to read and useful to everyone who wants to build security into their region, city, community, home, workplace, design and construction projects, and daily routine. Topics are clearly divided into sections and chapters. Sections include achieving transparent security (the opposite of designing fortresses and building bunkers), planning and design of buildings (including commercial, institutional, historic, and religious facilities, schools, health facilities, single and multifamily residential, and many others); engineering, technology, construction, cost estimating, codes and liability concerns. A who's who of experts in the design and construction world, government and nonprofit organizations, along with the author/architect, write about security for many situations and building types.

A series of lessons learned from benchmark events, such as September 11, 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing, Khobar Towers, and major natural disasters, are found throughout the book, reflecting extensive research about what went wrong in the past, and how we can learn from previous mistakes. Rarely has such a comprehensive reference been compiled for the public.

For those concerned about home and business security, there are dozens of handy checklists, charts, and illustrations for disaster planning, emergency response, disaster recovery, and even how to handle public relations and the media when your organization is caught in the middle of a crisis. Homeowners, landlords, families, and those involved in residential design and construction will find information about design and emergency management techniques to minimize damage from fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, blackouts, and natural disasters.

Readers will be pleasantly surprised with many impressionist pen and ink architectural drawings illustrating the topics, injecting a creative, artistic touch into serious discussion. Hundreds of checklists, diagrams, top 10 lists, website resources, and photos simplify important concepts and summarize key ideas at a glance. Examples include how to recognize suicide bombers to safety checklists for building personnel dealing with intruders, hostages, suspicious packages and workplace violence.

Not to be missed are the very moving photographs of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon taken on and immediately after September 11, 2001, by those on the scene. They serve as a chilling, yet poignant reminder to readers everywhere why this remarkably comprehensive book is so essential and immensely valuable to everyone concerned with building safety, freedom, democracy, and maintaining a free and open society. Highly recommended, as a must have, must read!

120 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attorney at law, November 28, 2004

By	David S. Barmak - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll never look at my clients' nursing home facilities the same as I did before I read this handbook! I'm a healthcare attorney, not an architect. There are some chapters that are more applicable to my role with clients than others; nevertheless, I found this book extremely informative and thought provoking. Clearly this book was a labor of love for Ms. Nadel.