November 28th Meeting

Brian Kuhn, P.E., joins the Building Enclosure Council on 28 November 2011 at 4:30 pm at Shepley Bulfinch, 2 Seaport Lane, Boston, to cover fire testing requirements, including NFPA 285, for combustible materials in exterior walls.  As many members know, current building codes require wall assemblies with foam plastic insulation to be tested to NFPA 285.  Mr. Kuhn will review the language of the building code, the nature of the required fire tests, the design challenges with the currently approved wall assemblies, and options for alternative design.

Kuhn is the current practice leader of the Fire Safety group at consulting engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger.  He works with architects, structural engineers and building enclosure specialists on a variety of fire and life safety building performance issues.  His primary capabilities and interests are in the fields of fire and life safety code consulting, computer fire and egress modeling, and structural fire protection.  He is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and has presented on fire safety topics at venues including the NFPA Conference & Expo and the New England Association of Fire Marshals.