Security Testing of Corporate Buildings

Sheltered

“In recent years, corporate building owners have become increasingly blast conscious. They are now aware that specialized materials, such as safety glass films, can help mitigate damage caused by attack or natural disaster.”

-Carol Borow, President of CHB Industries

Larkin, Jay.  “The Science of Safety.” Security Magazine.  1 July 2004. 

http://www.securitymagazine.com/Articles/Feature_Article/395086fa164d8010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____

 

Larkin is a contributing writer for Security Magazine.  His article explores different tests and experiments that corporate buildings are undergoing to determine how secure their buildings are in the face of natural or man-made disaster.  One of the first things Larkin points out is that the catalyst for this testing was not 9/11, as many would think, but was the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.  Larkin goes rather in-depth discussing the security enhancing safety films that are placed on windows to reduce deadly shrapnel that occurs when windows explode.  He also discusses the various blast-assessment tests are done to find out the building’s customized risk-reduction solution.  The part of the article that I found most interesting was when Larkin discussed perimeter security, which “is typically deployed to protect structures from external attacks, such as car bombs, or short-range strikes like the recent attack on the Sheraton Baghdad.”  Larkin then goes on to say that traditional blockades like the Jersey barriers and steel pylons are no longer popular because of the negative aesthetic value they  produced, and their negative impact on employee productivity.  Apparently employees did not like being aware of the risk they faced on a daily basis just by coming in to work.  So, as Larkin explains, buildings are improving and updating perimeter security by installing “more natural exterior barriers” that don’t alarm employees.  According to Larkin, “Many commercial complexes have positioned large concrete planters along the border of the building and some have even placed hefty rocks in front of high risk areas. These techniques provide the same basic function as would a Jersey barrier, but do so more discretely, without disrupting the delicate balance between security and comfort levels.” 

Reading this article was helpful to give me a better understanding of how corporate buildings evaluate their security.  While new information was presented, the majority of the article reaffirmed what I already knew about the ever-tightening security of the corporate world.

 

 

Lecture # 4: Amy Stein

During Stein’s lecture she explained two of her most prominent series, Domesticated and Stranded.  While showing these series she explained her background and how it influenced her in creating these series.  As a photographer, Stein had almost no formal training, but her background in politics becomes evident in her photos which show American families and communities coping in hard economic times.  However, this is not the overwhelming factor in her imagery.  Her series Domesticated consists of staged images based on real stories about encounters that locals of Matamoras, PA, have had.  These staged scenes always involve taxidermied animals of some sort, and sometimes involve interactions between people and animals.  Stein stated that the purpose of this series is to examine the boundary between the built environment and the natural world, as well as the tension between humans and animals.  Given her intent, I think her series accomplishes its mission, because upon viewing the images I immediately feel a tension between the domesticated and the wild, even though I know the images are staged.  Her other series, Stranded is almost the opposite of Domesticated, in the sense that it is not staged, and doesn’t involve props of stuffed dead animals.  When working on this series Stein realized that she wanted to take portraits of stranded motorists, and that by doing this all over the country she would also be documenting the political and economic temperature of the time.  This series began right after Hurricane Katrina, and ended around the same time as the Bush Administration, and certainly shows people in a certain light that no doubt were affected by the times.  Over all I really enjoyed viewing Steins images, and the way in which she works.  Though both Domesticated and Stranded are two very different series, they both revolve around a central structured element – and it is partly this structure that makes them so successful.  

Monday Post: Doris Salcedo

Salcedo is a sculptor who was born in 1958 in Colombia.  After obtaining her bachelors in Colombia, she traveled to New York where she obtained her MFA at NYU.  Her sculpture and installations are based on her experiences from living in Colombia, and usually are based around everyday items of furniture.  According to Wikepedia, “Doris Salcedo addresses the question of forgetting and memory in her installation artwork. In pieces such as Unland: The Orhan’s Tunic from 1997and the La Casa Viuda series from the early 1990’s, Salcedo takes ordinary household items, such as a chair and table, and transforms them into memorials for victims of the Civil War in Columbia.”  Andreas Huyssen, a writer and professor at Columbia University writes about Salcedo’s exhibition Unland: The Orphan’s Tunic, stating a seemingly mundane table, when looked at closely, “captures the viewer’s imagination in its unexpected, haunting visual and material presence.”

Gallery representing artist:

http://www.whitecube.com/artists/salcedo/

Interview with Artist:

http://www.tate.org.uk/tateshots/episode.jsp?item=12198