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. ...

With so large a part of our lives lived in buildings, building security therefore has become a hot topic, one with wide ramifications. Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design aims nevertheless to be a single-source reference not just for architects and engineers but also for building owners, facility managers, public officials, and safety specialists.

Replete with pictures, sketches, checklists, and tables, Building Securityoffers comprehensive information on virtually every conceivable topic under that broad heading. Chapters are devoted to chemical and biological protection, to codes and standards, to disaster planning for both homes and businesses, and to the considerations that come into play in protecting sites of historical or cultural importance. Design information relating to security is offered for structural design, fire protection, and mechanical and electrical systems. The book also examines the lessons learned from "benchmark events," as well as liability issues in the current climate. Building Security draws on the talents of more than 50 contributors from a wide range of disciplines employed by corporations, universities, public entities, and nonprofit organizations, as well as on the experience of editor Barbara Nadel, who twice served the the board of the American Institute of Architects and specializes in the planning and design of government and health care facilities. The book she has assembled won the 2003 Milka Bliznakov Prize Commendation from the International Archive of Women in Architecture, a program established at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Although September 11 is a frequent reference point, Building Security addresses not only terrorism but also natural disasters, crime, and violence in the workplace. Above all Nadel hopes that the book will help translate the talents and knowledge of building industry professionals into improved security for all of our indoor living and working areas. "Refer to this handbook often" she urges in the preface. "Use the information contained within as a guide to creating secure and well-designed environments, Share it with your colleagues, clients, consultants, friends, and family. Encourage them to prepare for disasters and emergencies. Their lives may someday depend on your foresight and thoughtfulness."

...state-of-the-art examination of how courthouses, commercial high-rises, hospitals, museums, stores, schools, subways, women's health centers, multifamiliy housing, and many other kinds of properties can deter criminal activities...

...imaginative examples of grilles, fences, gates, and other devices that help safeguard parks, subways, museums, and other public facilities...

Much of the information...is broken down into easily digestible tables and bullet points. Six hundred black-and-white photos, renderings, plans, and other illustrations complement the text...

The massive Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design (2004; McGraw-Hill; $89.95) delivers what its title promises. More than 100 contributors, most of them architects, spell out recommended procedures in 31 chapters under six general headings of achieving transparent security, planning and design, engineering, construction, technology and materials, and codes and liability. The resulting compendium is intended as "a handy reference for architects, designers, planners, engineers, facility managers, building owners, construction managers, real estate professionals, public officials charged with security, and public safety specialists."

The editor, architect Barbara Nadel, discerns three themes that underlie the multitude of disciplines and building types in the book: learning from the past (lessons learned are included in each chapter and summarized in the first); integrating approaches (critical since building designers and managers are rarely the same people); and planning carefully for each situation.

Of interest to planners are chapter two, "Security Master Planning," chapter nine on historic preservation and security design, and chapter 16 on perimeter security and aesthetics (adapted from an earlier publication).

Jane Jacobs, Oscar Newman, and what is now called Crime Prevention through Environmental Design get frequent though sketchy mention. The chapter of that title is good in itself but poorly integrated with the rest of the book, as it's adapted from a previous publication of the National Crime Prevention Council, and focuses more on garden-variety crimes than terrorism.

One test of a large reference book (this one weighs in at just a few ounces under the Manhattan White Pages) is navigation: how long it takes to track down a particular query. From that standpoint, Building Security ranks high. The 39-page index steers you swiftly wherever you need to go. Moreover, each of the 31 chapters is organized under logical headings, not necessarily consistent across the various chapters, but geared specifically to the demands of each building type or topic. One weakness is the surplus of freestanding quotes, ranging from FDR (on fear), Churchill (on the shaping quality of buildings), and Edmund Burke (on security), to Henry Ford (on self-confidence) and John Kennedy (on the price of liberty).

The book is a solid compendium of information from its 50 contributors, edited and skillfully assembled by Barbara Nadel, FAIA, who herself wrote several chapters. One chapter, on museum security, is by New York AIA member and former chapter president Arthur Rosenblatt, FAIA. With the threat of terrorism likely to be with us for decades, it's a timely and authoritative resource fit not only for the architect, engineer, and specialty consultant, but also the building owner, facility manager, public official, educator, and student.

Richard L. Tomasetti, PE and John Abruzzo, PE, co-chairman and vice president, respectively, of Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Inc., are contributors to the new book Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design by Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA, recently published by McGraw-Hill.

From terrorism, crime and natural disaster to biochemical agents and workplace violence, few issues are of greater concern to Americans and global citizens than personal safety and public security. In Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design, New York architect and writer Nadel taps the nation's leading experts to present an essential resource for everyone seeking safer commercial, institutional, residential and industrial buildings.

Tomasetti and Abruzzo contributed a chapter entitled "Protective Design of Structures," detailing engineering research and practice regarding building performance and the ability of structures to withstand blasts and damage due to unexpected impacts and fires, some of the most important issues that engineers, architects and building owners face today.The chapter cites lessons learned from such benchmark events as the 1983 attack on the American embassy in Beirut; the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center; the 1995 destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City; and subsequent attacks on public and private American facilities overseas, leading up to the tragic terrorist attack and destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The authors describe how new protective designs of structures have emerged in response to these events, integrating architectural and engineering design programs into various means of mitigating threats in a cost-effective manner.

Whether planning for new construction, renovations or security upgrades of existing facilities, Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design is the definitive resource for crime prevention strategies, security master planning and design of over 20 building types, along with engineering, construction, technology, materials, codes and liability exposure after September 11, 2001.

Over 50 multidisciplinary experts from over 30 professional firms, national, state and city agencies and nonprofit organizations across the US provide extensively researched and well documented case studies, best practices and security guidelines in the books 31 chapters.

Author Barbara Nadel, FAIA, and over 50 contributors, including members of Schinnerer's risk management staff, provide security design solutions for constructing safe commercial, institutional, industrial, and residential buildings in the post-September 11th environment. Illustrated with 600 photos, drawings, tables, and checklists, this is a valuable reference for architects, engineers, planners, building owners, facility managers, contractors, real estate professionals, public officials, and public safety specialists seeking to create safe, secure, and well designed projects.

Schinnerer staff contributed to Chapter 12, "Home and Business: Security, Disaster Planning, Response and Recovery." This chapter deals with disaster planning and emergency preparedness as necessary activities for every location. The book emphasizes that to avert economic losses, disaster planning is best begun long before a crisis occurs, enabling individuals and business owners to recover and rebound quickly.

As expectations from clients regarding security for their facilities become increasingly risk intensive, all involved in design and construction should be aware of the latest trends and developments in security.

Since the phrase "homeland security" entered our national lexicon, safety has become fundamental to the design, construction, and management of buildings. Nadel?s integrated approach to building security, disaster planning, and emergency response is particularly timely, and results in a handy reference for a wide variety of security issues. Structured around the lessons of September 11th and other benchmark events (thoroughly outlined in the introductory chapter), this title is logically organized into six subject areas: transparent (i.e., unobtrusive) security, planning and design, engineering, construction, technology and materials, and codes and liabilities. The planning and design section is the most robust, with chapters focused on the security concerns of particular classes of buildings (educational, religious, commercial, etc.). Numerous tables, checklists, figures, and black-and-white photographs clarify and summarize the text. Chapters conclude with a short bibliography and a list of Internet resources; some provide a glossary and/or related standards. Crime prevention, workplace violence, and natural disasters are also given substantive treatment. The index (with see also references) provides sufficient access to the material. An excellent single-volume written by building design, construction, and management experts for fellow professionals.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals.