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Forum Categories BOMA 1980 - Office Buildings Question

1980 building standard and change in definition of Dominate Portion of wall?

Amy Savoie
HMS Architects
April 9, 2012

To whom it may concern,
I was wondering if you might be able to help me locate an older version of BOMA’s standards prior to the 1996 version? I was wondering if there might be anything available in the 1982-1983 time period? We have a client that is requesting to find out what the "dominate portion" of the exterior wall definition might be from the time it was built. The thought is with the 1996 definition noting "in designs of alternating window systems and wall sections, the DOMINANT PORTION is the inside surface of the wall. In the case of this building, that would be going to the interior face of columns and loosing RSF from the previous calculations. Could you provide me with any information on what the standard might have been in 1982/83? Any help would be much appreciated as I can't find a history of standards on BOMA's website.

Also under categories I noticed BOMA 1980 - Office Building. How do I go about acquiring a copy of this?

Thank you,
Amy D Savoie

Adam Fingret
Extreme Measures Inc.
April 9, 2012

Hi Amy,

There were two major releases of the BOMA 1980 standard, first in 1980, then re-issued in 1989. I am not aware of anything specifically from 1982/83. The BOMA 1980 standard is no longer distributed by BOMA, and we are not permitted to distribute the standards directly. You will have to contact BOMA if you want a copy.

The concept of Dominant Portion is nearly identical between 1980 and 1996 Standards. In both versions, "no deduction shall be made for columns or projections necessary to the building" so your columns should not be measured to the inside surface, but ignored altogether.

Hope this helps.

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