Last month, at the midpoint of the three-year cycle of changes for the 2009 International family of codes, the International Code Council held its final hearing in Rochester, N.Y., and made significant changes that will have a dramatic effect on architecture practice. The new rules require an additional stairway in all buildings (except R-2 occupancies) with occupied floors more than 420 feet in height and a firefight elevator in buildings over 120 feet. The changes also embrace the “live-work concept,” lessening fire separation requirements between living and business spaces in mixed-use buildings. For more information on these and other ICC actions, read the AIA Angle.