BFRL HISTORY

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Building and Fire Research at NBS/NIST 1975-2000

In the last quarter of the 20th Century, building and fire research programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly the National Bureau of Standards, provided one of the most significant sources of technology, measurements and standards for the construction and fire safety communities of the world. These communities are of great social and economic importance. The built environment shelters and supports most human activities. Its functionality, safety, environmental quality, aesthetics, and economy are important to everyone’s quality of life and productivity. In the United States, new construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of constructed facilities amount to over 1/8 of the Gross Domestic Product, and the costs of fire protection and losses to unwanted fires exceed $200 billion, annually. This history summarizes the technical accomplishments of these programs and their impacts, the existential and management challenges faced by the programs, and the visions and efforts of the staff.  

This document, Building and Fire Research at NBS/NIST 1975-2000, was published December, 2003.  The chapters are available here as PDF files. Questions or comments should be directed to Noel Raufaste at 301-975-6062 or noel.raufaste@nist.gov.  To request a hard copy of the report, contact Kellie Beall at 301-975-5643 or kbeall@nist.gov.

CONTENTS 

• Front Material

• Introduction

• Center for Fire Research in the 70s

• Center for Building Technology in the 70s

• Center for Fire Research in the  80s

• Center for Building Technology in the 80s

• Building and Fire Research Laboratory in the  90s

• Architecture, Psychology and Acoustics

• Construction Integration and Automation

• Economics

• Environmental Systems

• Fire Safety Engineering

• Fire Science

• Materials

• Standards and Codes

• Structures

• Appendix A - Funding and Staff

• Appendix B - Awards
  

BFRL Staff Photos

• 1967 BFRL Staff Photo
• 1973 BFRL Staff Photo
• Mid to Late 70's BFRL Staff Photo

 

 

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