In the master bedroom, a removable window provides egress, as required by code.

Building Codes: Whether you are planning a renovation or building from the ground up, arm yourself with the knowledge that will help you navigate endless meetings and negotiations. Illustration by Andy Rementer

The title rendered in Morse code.

Houldin, 10, curls up in the playroom nook which is directly under a side skylight that Pulltab added in order to make the interior rooms inhabitable, as per New York City building code. The custom millwork around the window seat is painted in Rainy Day by Fine Paints of Europe.

The MoMA Store is unveiling an assortment of over 20 products that have emerged from the London tech scene. Catch innovative items like Kano, a computer and coding kit built for kids. (81 Spring Street)

Clayden made the most of his modest lot by building as close to the perimeter as local zoning codes allow.

While eating in a local cafe, I was pleasantly surprised by the color coded books at the barista stand.

Fun Fact: Although there were few building codes in colonial America, Benjamin Franklin took some steps in that direction in 1735, lobbying for minimum safety provision for fireplaces and surrounding construction. Franklin also founded the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia in 1736.

Fun Fact: The adoption of sustainable building codes, like the California Green Building Standards Code, is likely to increase in the future. These codes describe more aggressive standards than typical building codes as regards energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor environmental quality, and other green topics.

The compact bathroom is equipped with low-flow fixtures, including this D-Code sink by Duravit.

The home reinterprets the city's building code, which governs the use of stone in the seismically active region.

"The Herd" as they are often referred to, sit out in the open in breathtaking scenery. Tanner Construction collaborated with Tom Kundig on the project for the same client who commissioned Delta Shelter. As the story goes, the rolling huts were zoned for an RV park so Kundig put them on steel wheels to swerve around the local building code. Photo by Tim Bies.

The glazed wall separating the apartment from the street was required, since the code otherwise requires the street front to be occupied by businesses.

Wright's sketches called for an external stair off of the cantilevered section. Massaro nixed the stairs due to modern building codes.

The home was originally constructed in 1972, when building codes and permitting allowed for its location so close to the beach.

Just off the bedroom, a restrained bathroom combines Duravit D-code sinks with Techno by Cifial faucets and a Toto Aquia toilet.

The team leveled the floors and brought the stairs up to code. A NextGen-Fyre wood stove by Lopi feels much more appropriate for the room’s proportions.

Movable wood screens on the exterior provide shade to alleviate heat gain. The home is color coded to correspond to the outside elements.

Fun Fact: The first Uniform Plumbing Code in the United States was developed by the Los Angeles City Plumbing Inspectors Association in 1928. This code dramatically improved the quality of sanitation systems, thus helping reduce the spread of waterborne illness.

This particular project, at 300 square feet, required some modification to meet building codes. Nevertheless, it took only a week and a half to build on site.

In an effort to blend into the wooded environment the home is clad in reclaimed cedar siding which has been fire treated to meet with local building codes.

LOHA’s design is a result of new code requirements and creatively working within limitations so that the project would successfully maximize the site potential.

Designed for energy efficiency, the home features insulation above code and hydronic radiant heating. Note the Morso 6148 wood-burning stove in the entry hall that’s fueled by locally felled lumber.

Cubicco, a pre-engineered housing company based in Miami and the Netherlands, creates homes that are designed to meet winds of up to 180 miles per hour, per the hurricane zone code of Miami Dade County.

The color coding of the Nursery School in Covolo di Pederobba in Italy continues on the exterior, where red signifies outdoor courtyard space.

Outside, the glass border almost disappears, so as not to interfere with the architecture of the home. “It’s a full glass panel that meets all safety codes with planters at the bottom for added warmth and dimension,” explains Uzcategui.

The apartments are located in a building in Old Montreal that dates from 1895. The renovation was complicated on many levels, as the building code has a number of requirements that are hard to accomplish in a 125-year-old structure.

After: The industrial accents were kept at the ceiling in a nod to its past. The city required interior insulation to fulfill code, which meant McCuen was unable to expose the more rough, industrial texture on the walls.

All the original windows were restored and reglazed with high-performance glass. The original openings were reinstated, and the large timber trusses (and the entire warehouse shell) were strengthened to meet the latest earthquake code.

ICN is Seoul's airport code, even if the airport is in Incheon. Here Publique Living lionized the Loop House by NL Archiects and YO2.

A Children’s chair N65, also from Artek’s 2nd Cycle series and also embedded with coded RFID tags.

The Hansen Residence—also known as Modern Surf Shack or Casa Los Arboles—is a simple concrete construction, providing a robust envelope to withstand storms (the walls are double the thickness required by code). From the beach, stairs lead up to the main bedroom.

The patio is also equipped with a generous workspace. Bates’s original fenestration, which failed to meet current building code, has been brought up to safety standards by employing the same slatting motif used elsewhere in the house.

Because the unit was temporary, it didn't follow the typical permitting process of a micro-unit or home in New York City; what's more, because it was installed on land owned by the United Nations, local and federal codes and permits did not apply.

One of the home's most dramatic elements is a fireplace built from a gear from an old oil rig. To keep up with code regulations, the Hogans added a concrete base, which they customized with text celebrating the year they moved in.

In order to rebuild the room to code, the couple had to swap out the old windows for new units, remove the wood and fit in insulation, and then reinstall the boards, which were painted. The 9' x 22' room will get bunkbeds when their youngest is old enough.