Monday, November 7, 2011


I submitted my first set of drawings to a buildingdepartment and they were approved on the first round. This seems like a smallthing to those seasoned designers, but I was excited. I guess it is just one ofthose rights of passage that you cross. Just in case you don’t know what a buildingpermit is - a permit is required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existingstructures, and for major renovations.  

This made me wonder about the history of building permitsand did a little research. It is believed the first building code was in the Code of Hammurabi  (really old, like 1750 BC). And it was seriousstuff.

·        Ifa builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, andthe house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shallbe put to death.

·        Ifit kills the son of the owner, the son of that builder shall be put to death.

·        Ifit kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay, slave for slave, to the ownerof the house.

·        Ifit ruins goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, andinasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and itfell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means.

·        Ifa builder builds a house for someone, even though he has not yet completed it;if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from hisown means.

Luckily, although the current rules are quite stringent,I won’t be put to death…………

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