INVITATION & ESCAPE Fire, at The Empire Palace Theatre (re-visited).
INTRODUCTION ESCAPE Life preservation in the event of fire is an important social and architectural concern. Scottish Building Standard 2.9 requires that ‘every building be designed and constructed such that in the event of a fire, occupants are provided with opportunity to escape before being affected’. The technical standards include detailed prescriptions on building form, layout, construction, and materiality, so as to ensure the possibility of safe egress. INVITATION Fire-escape regulations – focussed on an exceptional condition of circulation – can distract us from, even prohibit, more everyday concerns; the staircase of a public building, for instance - once its central social and symbolic feature - is today typically separated and compartmentalised, reduced materially and socially. The architecture of fire-escape, then, can be less than inviting. This studio, however, will contend that there is something inviting about escape. It will ask students to explore the ‘invitation character’ of the built environment, contending that will regulation inscribes specific ‘affordances’ into building, inviting occupants to act. It will ask students to study escape, then, not to ensure life-preservation or legal compliance, but in order to develop an architecture of invitation. THE EMPIRE PALACE THEATRE The vehicle for this exploration will be a re-visting of LDN Architect’s 1994 remodelling of the Empire Palace Theatre (now Edinburgh Festival Theatre). Students will be asked to respond to the original brief for this project; they will add a new front-of-house and reception spaces to the remains of the original ‘Empire Palace’, partially destroyed in the spectacular fire of 1911, an event which itself catalysed the development of modern fire-regulation in Scotland.
CONTENTS LEARNING OUTCOMES BRIEF ASSESSMENT APPENDICES
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT
A: B: C: D: E:
EMPIRE PALACE THEATRE: The 1911 Fire ESCAPE: Scottish Technical Standard 2.9 INVITATION: Gibson’s Theory of Affordance Style Guide, Templates, Submission Guidelines Edinburgh Festival Theatre Drawings
2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11
10 INVITATIONS… Page 2 of 11
Unit Leader and Guests
Liam Ross Luke Bisby Kati Blom Brian Loudon Mark Sidgwick Brian Morell
BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering Newcastle University Edinburgh Festival Theatre LDN Architects Arups Fire
Aims and Objectives This studio offers final year students returning from placement opportunity to engage with a rich academic research project on a theme of professional relevance, through design proposals for modifications to a large and complex building. The course is offered in collaboration with an interdisciplinary teaching and research programme being conducted at the University of Edinburgh; Integrating Technical and Sociological Aspects of Fire Safety Engineering (http://www.stis.ed.ac.uk/research_projects/it-safe). It asks students to study the architectural implications of a number of specified fire-safety regulations [see Appendix B]. Its ambition, though, is not simply to teach technical competencies, nor to ensure the regulatory compliance of students designs. Drawing on concepts from ecological psychology, the course is an opportunity to explore the ‘invitation character’ of the built environment; the tacit means through which the environment communicates its usefulness [see Appendix C]. The course suggests that regulatory limits – design guidelines which seek to maximize the benefits and minimize the potential risks of the environment - codify and inscribe an ‘invitation character’ into building. The project, then, asks students to explore regulatory limits in order to (re)discover an architecture of invitation. Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course a student will demonstrate coherent architectural designs that demonstrate: 1) research into the implication of specified fire-safety regulations (D1 / D3) 2) research into the ‘invitation character’ of specified building elements (D1 / D3) 3) understanding of the spatial, technical and programmatic requirements of an Opera theatre. 4) understanding of building technology, environmental design and construction methods and their relationship to intended design principles (TE1 / TE5). 5) command of specified drawn and modelled (analogue and digital) strategies for analysis, site analysis, architectural design and presentation (C1 / C2). 6) ability to work as part of team. Unit Organization & Timetable The weekly tutorial day is thursday 9:30-17:30. All teaching events (tutorials, lectures) will be offered in the studio. Sign-up sheets will be pinned up in advance. Exercise 1
1. Diagrams of Escape
2
2. Architectures of Invitation
Monday
Thursday
Lecture/Tutorials Lecture / tutorials Lecture / Review
3 4
3. Empire Palace Theatre {as-existing}
5
4. Empire Palace Theatre {Parti}
Site Visit
intermezzo
Review
PART II {PARTI}
Tutorials
7
Review
5. Empire Palace Theatre {remodelled}
Tutorials
PART III {DESSIN}
Tutorials
10 11
intermission
Tutorials
6
9
PART I {ETUDES}
Tutorials
Innovative Learning Week
8
Friday
Review
Page 3 of 11
Part I
{ETUDES} Exercises
1. Diagrams of Escape 2. Architectures of Invitation
Work Style Format Information
Explore the limits imposed by specified regulation/s, preparing a series of explanatory diagrams. Use clear line drawing to clarify the variables and invariables imposed. Prepare concise notes explaining the regulation Explore the ‘invitation character’ of the regulatory limit through a series of architectural studies. Use a 3-dimensional medium to consider the experience of looking at, looking through, and moving around the proposed construction
Individually / small groups. Refer to “Drawing Style Guide”, Appendix D. Document your diagrams and studies in both sheet and booklet form. Work with the course document templates; refer to “Document Templates”, Appendix D. Refer to Appendix B: Escape; Appendix C: Invitation; “10 Invitations…”
Intermezzo Exercise Work Style Format Information
2. Empire Palace Theatre {as existing}
Work as a class to prepare a full set of ‘as-existing’ information for the Empire Palace Theatre. Prepare a brief for the Theatre remodelling, agreeing as a class which elements of the LDN 1994 remodelling to retain.
Whole Class Refer to “Drawing Style Guide”, Appendix D. Document your as-existing drawings as appropriately sized sheets and as a booklet; “Document Templates”, Appendix D. Refer to “submission guideline” Appendix D. Refer to Appendix E for Edinburgh Festival Theatre drawings.
DIAGRAMS OF ESCAPE | Tom Gibson ‘10 The geometry of a stair can have a significant effect on the ability of people to use a stair safely and conveniently. The most comfortable combination of rise and going varies between people, but in general the steepness of pitch should reduce in situations of greater public access, due to the unfamiliarity of building occupants
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Part II
{PARTI} Exercise
Work Style Format Information
3. Empire Palace Theatre {Parti}
Individually Work with the course drawing style guide; refer to “Drawing Style Guide”, Appendix D. Document your Parti in sheet format, at appropriate sizes and scales. Work with the course document templates; “Document Templates”, Appendix D. Refer to group ‘as-existing drawings’; Refer to group booklet ’10 Invitations’.
{DESSIN} Exercise
Work Style Format Further Information
Prepare a Parti for the design of a circulation system for the Empire Palace Theatre, including front-of-house facilities. Create diagrams to clarify its principles of escape. Create 3-dimensional maquettes to enjoy its invitation character.
5. Empire Palace Theatre {Re-modelling}
Part III Prepare a full set of information presenting proposals for a new frontof-house and administration wing for the Empire Palace Theatre. Create diagrams as required to clarify its principles of escape. Create 3-dimensional studies and models as required to explore its invitation character.
Individually Work with the course drawing style guide; “Drawing Style Guide”, Appendix D. Document your proposals in both sheet and booklet form. Work with the course document templates; “Document Templates”, Appendix D. Refer to group ‘as-existing drawings’; Refer to Appendix A: Empire Palace Theatre; Appendix D: Submission Guidelines.
ARCHITECTURES OF INVITATION | Tom Gibson ‘10 Stairs are an elemental way in which we modify our environment to invite activity; stairs inscribe a foothold and scale into the built environment. This project enjoys the rhythmic nature of walking, and the brick as an anthropometric scale of building, to create a building organised through subtle shifts in rhythm and opening, signify movement between public to private programmes.
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Assessment The assessment criteria for the course is the satisfactory demonstration of the specified learning outcomes. Students are required to demonstrate coherent architectural designs that demonstrate: 1) research into the implication of specified fire-safety regulations (D1 / D3) 2) research into the ‘invitation character’ of specified building elements (D1 / D3) 3) understanding of the spatial, technical and programmatic requirements of a large and complex building. 4) understanding of building technology, environmental design and construction methods and their relationship to intended design principles (TE1 / TE5). 5) command of specified drawn and modelled (analogue and digital) strategies for analysis, site analysis, architectural design and presentation (C1 / C2). 6) ability to work as part of team. Exercise Part 1: ETUDES Part 2: As Existing Drawings Part 3: DESSIN PDF Summary*
Deadline February 2nd
Percentage 15
Format Sheets, Models, Booklet
February 9th
5
Sheets, Models, Booklet
14:00 May 3rd
65
Sheets, Models
14:00 May 3rd
5
Booklet
Technical Study
TBC
10
Included in above
PDF Summary A further component for examination is the PDF Summary. The Summary should focus on your final exhibited project and offer a descriptive (both technical and qualitative) summary of the architecture. You should also incorporate your best process drawings/models and pages from your Design Diary (see below). There are three criteria for the assessment of this Submission: 1) that it fully describes your project as a piece of architecture, including its technical and qualitative aspects 2) that it clearly describes the exploratory process by which you arrived at the final result. For this you will need to incorporate material from your design diary. 3) that it is a technically well-resolved digital presentation, that is: all the images you present in the PDF file are properly photographed and/or scanned, images are carefully edited, cropped and in focus, and are supported with precise titles and succinct captions The Summary needs to be submitted as a PDF file in an electronic drop box – details will follow. The size of the presentation (the number of slides) is up to you – just be guided by the above criteria. Save your drawings at a resolution of around 300 dpi, depending on their physical dimensions. The upper limit of file size should be no more than 35 megabytes. Useful Texts (*required reference texts) Giorgio Agamben, What is an Apparatus?, Stanford, 2009 James Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception*, Cornell, 1979 Catherine Ingraham, Architecture, Animal, Human: The asymmetric condition, Routledge, 2006 Donald Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, Doubleday, 1990 The Scottish Government, The Non-Domestic Handbook*, The Stationary Office, 2011 Michel Serre, The Parasite, Minesota, 2007 Jakob van Uexkull, A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Men, Minesota, 2010 Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Biopolitics and the emergence of Modern Architecture, Princeton, 2009
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EMPIRE PALACE THEATRE
Appendix A
The fire of 1911 and the death of The Great Lafayette The Great Lafayette One of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century, The Great Lafayette was a quick change artist, magician and master illusionist, the highest paid performer of the time with his shows booked ten years ahead. Lafayette was an eccentric man who lived as a bachelor recluse with a small cross-bred terrier, named Beauty, a gift from friend and fellow illusionist Harry Houdini. His constant companion, Beauty was a beloved pampered pet who wore a gold and diamond collar and was showered with expensive gifts. Lafayette's London home and his private railway carriage had special rooms for Beauty, and by contract she would stay at the same hotels and eat from the same table. Lafayette could deny Beauty nothing, and he fed her dangerous quantities of rich foods. A sign in Lafayette’s London home read “You may drink my wine; you may eat my food; but you must respect my dog”. On 30 April 1911 Lafayette and Beauty travelled to Edinburgh in a private coach to perform a two-week season of sell out shows at the Empire Theatre on Nicolson Street. Four days later Beauty died of apoplexy, caused by over-feeding. Lafayette was griefstricken, and had the dog lain out on a silk pillow surrounded by lilies in his rooms in the Caledonian Hotel. After much negotiation he received permission from the City of Edinburgh Council to have Beauty embalmed and buried at Piershill Cemetery. It was against the laws to allow an animal to be buried in a human plot, and permission was only granted with the proviso that when the time came Lafayette would be interred there too. Unbeknown to himself, he was to meet that end whilst still in Edinburgh just over a week later. May 1911 Lafayette was known for his spectacular stage shows, but his appearance at Edinburgh's Empire Theatre in May 1911 was extraordinary even by his standards. Still distraught over the death of Beauty, he continued with the show nonetheless, and on 9 May 1911, 3000 spectators packed the Empire Theatre for that evening’s performance. Lafayette took to the stage, showcasing remarkable illusions and elaborate scenarios in which he demonstrated his habit of changing identity with his many assistants. For the finale of his show he performed his signature act ‘The Lion’s Bride’, an exotic illusion of Oriental splendour set in a Persian harem which required a real lion, and a horse. The lion paced restlessly in a cage while fire-eaters, jugglers and contortionists performed. A young woman in Oriental dress walked slowly on stage and entered the cage. When she was inside, the lion roared and reared up ready to pounce. The animal skin was then suddenly ripped away to reveal The Great Lafayette who had mysteriously changed places with the beast. The secrecy surrounding his illusions was such that he would have the doors at the back of the stage locked to stop people discovering how the tricks were performed. This was to be his downfall. Right at the end of the act, a gas lamp fell amongst the scenery which instantly caught fire. The audience, accustomed to unusual effects, were slow to recognise the danger and thinking that it was part of the act remained in their seats. The quick thinking conductor interrupted the performance by getting the orchestra to play ‘God Save the King’, which immediately had everyone on their feet. The rapidly-deployed fire curtain ensured the now panicking crowd managed to escape without harm, another fate however befell the cast. When the fire curtain was lowered the cast were trapped on stage, unable to escape through the locked doors at the back. It took three hours to bring the fire under control, and eleven people died including members of the orchestra, stage hands, a midget called Little Joe, and Alice Dale, a tiny 15-year-old girl who operated a mechanical teddy-bear. Eyewitness reports claimed Lafayette had escaped but returned in an attempt to save his black stallion, Arizona. Early the next morning a charred body, dressed in Lafayette's costume, was found in the rubble near a horse and lion and was taken to be cremated. Two days after the tragedy dumbfounded fire officers discovered another body of the Great Lafayette. It transpired that the first body had, in actual fact, been that of a body double that he used in his illusions. On 14 May 1911 the streets of Edinburgh thronged with spectators to see The Great Lafayette’s ashes moved from Morrison Street to Piershill Cemetery. The funeral was described as 'one of the most extraordinary internments of modern times'. Huge crowds packed the streets to see four Belgian horses carry his coffin, followed by a long procession of coaches. His popularity and eccentricity was such that this ‘show’ pulled a bigger crowd than the Royal visit to Edinburgh a few years earlier. This final performance was reportedly a spectacular sight to behold. Lafayette’s silver-grey Mercedes automobile carried his principle mourner, his Dalmatian hound, Mabel. Upon arrival at the Cemetery, Beauty's coffin was opened and Lafayette's ashes were carefully placed within the grave, between the paws of the preserved body of his dear pet. Lafayette’s grave, with memorial stones to Beauty and The Great Lafayette, can be seen to this day on a grassy mound just inside the Portobello Road entrance to Piershill Cemetery. Courtesy Edinburgh Festival Theatre
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ESCAPE – Scottish Technical Standard 2.9
Appendix B
Introduction to standard 2.9 and Escape Principles 2.9 Mandatory Standard Every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire within the building, the occupants, once alerted to the outbreak of the fire, are provided with the opportunity to escape from the building, before being affected by fire or smoke. 2.9.0 Introduction While the number of deaths from fires in non-domestic buildings is less than domestic buildings the potential for significant life loss and injuries is far greater. This is due to the large occupancy capacities that may be involved and the complexity of occupant behaviour including the potential for delay in occupant evacuation following the outbreak of fire. Occupants in buildings do not normally perceive themselves to be at risk from fire and are not fully aware of the speed that fire can spread. Everyone within a building should be provided with at least one means of escape from fire that offers a safe passage to a place of safety outside the building. This should allow for them to escape from the building before being affected by fire or smoke. In certain circumstances, for example, where the travel distance is excessive, a second means of escape should be provided. This will allow the occupants to turn away from the fire and make their escape in the other direction. There may be up to four stages in the process of escape: • escape from the room of fire origin or escape from the fire where only one direction is possible; • escape from the compartment of fire origin or until the safety of a fire resisting wall is reached; • escape from the floor of fire origin to protected zones and escape stairs; and • escape from the building to a place of safety at ground level. 2.9.1 Escape principles The occupants should be able to leave the building or part of the building in relative safety during the outbreak of a fire without assistance from the fire and rescue service. Designers generally achieve this by providing independent routes of escape either directly to a place of safety, or through an adjacent compartment or protected zone. The time available to leave a room or compartment of fire origin before being overcome by fire or smoke is dependant on a number of key factors: • the number and mobility of occupants in the compartment or room of fire origin; • the containment measures of the room or compartment of fire origin; • the geometry of the room or compartment; • means of early warning of fire; • the fire dynamics (e.g. the fire load and the rate of fire growth); • the distance to reach a place of safety, a protected zone or another compartment; and • the number and width of exits. There are many options available to designers when considering escape from buildings to a place of safety. However these options can be subdivided into 3 broad categories: • direct escape; • internal escape; • external escape. Direct escape means that occupants can escape from a building directly to a place of safety by way of a final exit door without using an internal or external escape route. Whilst direct escape to a place of safety is preferable, this is not always possible or convenient, for example, in multi-storey buildings with many floors high above the ground. Internal escape Internal escape is perhaps the most common method of escape from buildings. Occupants escape from fire using enclosed corridors and stairs inside the building to reach a final exit door from the building, which leads to a place of safety. External escape routes are wholly or partially open to the external air therefore the risk of smoke logging is reduced compared with enclosed escape routes inside the building. External escape routes include external escape stairs, access decks and flat roofs. In certain circumstances, an escape route from a building may be by way of a flat roof or an access deck. Refer to: The Scottish Government, The Non-Domestic Handbook, The Stationary Office, 2011
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INVITATION – James Gibson’s Theory of Affordances
Appendix C Extracts from The Theory Of Affordances, in Gibson’s ‘The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception’ The Theory of Affordances The affordances [ ‘Aufforderungscharakter’, or ‘Invitation Character’] of the environment are what it offers to the animal, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, but the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment. Let us consider an example of an [‘invitation’] If a terrestrial surface is nearly horizontal (instead of slanted), nearly flat (instead of convex or concave), and sufficiently extended (relative to the size of the animal) and its substance is rigid (relative to the weight of the animal) then the surface [invites] support. It is a surface of support, and we call it a substratum, ground, or floor. It is stand-on-able, permitting an upright posture for quadrupeds and bipeds. It is therefore walk-onable and run-over-able. It is not sink-in-able like the surface of water or a swamp, that is, for heavy terrestrial animals. Support for water bugs is different. Note that the four properties listed – horizontal, flat, extended, and rigid – would be physical properties of a surface if they were measured with the scales and standard units used in physics. As an [invitation] of support for a species of animal, however, they have to be measured relative to that animal. They are unique to that animal. They are not just abstract physical properties. They have unity relative to the posture and behavior of the animal being considered. So an affordance cannot be measured as we measure in physics. Terrestrial surfaces, of course, are also climb-on-able or fall-off-able or get-under-able or bump-into-able relative to the animal. Different layouts [invite] different behaviours for different animals, and different mechanical encounters. The human species in some cultures has the habit of sitting as distinguished from kneeling or squatting. If a surface of support with the four properties is also knee-high above the ground, it [invites] sitting on. We call it a seat in general, or a stool, bench, chair, and so on, in particular. It may be natural like a ledge or artificial like a couch. Knee-high for a child is not the same as knee-high for an adult, so the [invitation] is relative to the size of the individual. But if the surface is horizontal, flat, extended, rigid, and knee-high relative to a perceiver, it can in fact be sat upon. If it can be discriminated as having these four properties, it should look sit-on-able. If it does, the [invitation character] is perceived visually (pp 127128). An important fact about affordances of the environment is that they are in a sense objective, real, physical, unlike values and meanings, which are often supposed to be subjective, phenomenal and mental. But, actually, an affordance is neither an objective property nor a subjective property; or its both if you like. An affordance cuts across the dichotomy of subjective-objective and helps us understand its inadequacy. It is equally a fact of the environment and a fact of behavior. It is both physical and psychical, yet neither. An affordance points both ways, to the environment and to the observer (p. 129). [A] postbox “invites” the mailing of a letter, a handle “wants to be grasped”, and things “tell us what to do with them”… [t]he meaning or the value of a thing seems to be perceived just as immediately as its colour. The value is clear on the face of it, as we say, and thus it has a physiognomic quality in the way that the emotions of a man appear on his face (p. 138). Refer to: James Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Cornell, 1979
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STYLE GUIDE
Appendix D Adopt following style conventions, templates and file-naming protocol to allow for the collaborative production of information: Line
Cut Elevation Hidden Virtual Grid Dimensions
Text
Title Sub-title Body
Fill
Highlight (obscured)
Solid line Solid line Dashed line Dotted Dot-Dash Dimension / extension / tick
0.25 mm 0.13 mm 0.13 mm 0.13 mm 0.13 mm 0.13 mm
Arial Arial Arial
Bold / Bold-Italic Regular Regular / Italic
12 pt 10 pt 8 pt
Red (RGB 255-0-0 @ 50% opacity) Pale Red (As above, overlaid RGB 0-0-0 @ 50% opacity)
TEMPLATES & FILENAMES Sheets
A3
Complete title-box included. Use ‘notes’ column as required.
D02_U3_A3STemp.indd
A1
Complete title-box included. Use ‘notes’ column as required.
D02_U3_A1STemp.indd
Other
Use other ISO ‘A series’ sheet sizes / orientations as required. Include title-box as above.
N/A
2 up saddle stapled (print to A3 paper, double sided, pages in multiples of 4)
D02_U3_10Inv_A4BTemp.indd
Booklets
Filenames
A4
10 Invitations Empire Palace Theatre
D02_U3_EPT_A4BTemp.indd
D02_U3_{invitationnumber}_{drawingnumber} D02_U3_{invitationnumber}_A4Booklet D02_U3_{studentinitial}_{projecttitle}_{drawingnumber} D02_U3_{studentinitial}_{projecttitle}_A4Booklet
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Consider the following guidelines when preparing as-existing and presentation drawings: Empire Palace Theatre
Context
Plan (Ground Floor) Section/s Context Model Exploded Axonometric Exterior Visualisations
1:500 1:500 1:500 1:500 N/A
Layout
Diagrams Floor Plans Sections Building Model Exploded Axonometric Interior Visualisations
As Required 1:200 1:200 1:200 1:200 N/A
Partial Section* Detail* Detail Model
1:50 1:5 1:50
Assembly * Required by AD02 Technical Study
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EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE – Plan & Section
Appendix E Front of House and Administrative section highlighted. Additional CAD drawings available on WebCT
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1 STUDENT Principle Regulation Related Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
1: FLOOR 2.9.3 2.9.7 2.9.9
Travel distance Number of exits Direction of escape The further occupants need to travel within a building to reach a protected door the greater the risk from the effects of fire. Therefore, to provide for safe evacuation of the occupants, it is necessary to have limitations on travel distance within a building. Plan geometry invites movement [Gibson, 1979, p. 121 ‘The Specifying of Locomotion’]; exits invite passage from scene to scene [p. 229, ‘What specifies an obstacle or opening’]
Floor Plan Diagram, MAXXI, Zaha Hadid Architects
1-2 STUDENTS Principle Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
4: FIXTURES 2.9.11 4.2.10
Fixed obstructions / furnishings Fixed counter installations In a building with fixed seating, fixed tables, counters or other floor fixtures, there should be access to an exit by way of a gangway, seatway, or circulation area directly to an exit. Fixed seats, tables or counters should be accessible to a person of any stature, or a wheelchair user. An obstacle prevents locomotion, a path invites locomotion between obstacles [Gibson, 1979, p. 36 ‘Terrain features’]. The form of objects and texture of surfaces invite touching and use [p. 133, ‘The objects’].
Fixed Seating Diagram, Berlin Philharmonie, Hans Scharoun
1-2 STUDENTS Principle Regulations Related Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
5: ENCLOSURE 2.9.23 2.9.24 2.9.25 4.2.4
Protected lobbies Protected zones Enclosure of escape stair Lobbies To protect occupants from fire and smoke when evacuating a building, an escape stair should be within a protected zone, except in certain situations. A protected zone may or may not contain an escape stair and is intended to protect occupants during their evacuation to a place of safety. A protected lobby is designed to inhibit the movement of fire and smoke from an adjoining room into the escape stair. Enclosures invite concealment [Gibson, 1979, p. 136 ‘Places and hiding places’]; concealment invites imagination as to what might be revealed [p. 195 ‘What is seen at this moment from this position does not comprise what is seen’, and p. 253, ‘The false dichotomy between present and past experience]
Room Diagram, Villa Shodan, Le Corbusier
1-2 STUDENTS Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
6: DOORS 2.9.16 4.2.5 4.1.7
Direction of door openings Internal Doors Vision panels Within a building, doors should present as little restriction to passage as possible and be constructed in a manner that does not present a hazard or a potential barrier to access or escae. To ensure that doors on an escape route do not delay escape they should generally open in the direction of escape. Clear glazed vision panels should be provided to doors, to guard against collisions. Doors invite passage from scene to scene [Gibson, 1979, p. 229, ‘What specifies an obstacle or opening’]; Doors afford hiding as well as peeking [p. 201, ‘Hiding, Peeking and Privacy’]; the perceiving of ‘eye level’ invites proprioception and exteroception [p. 159, ‘Experiments with ground as a background’].
Door and Window Diagram, Higgins Hall, Steven Holl Architects
1 STUDENT Principle Regulations Related Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
3: CORRIDORS 2.9.8 2.9.5 4.2.2
Escape route widths Headroom Corridors Escape routes should be wide enough to allow occupants to escape safely. The width of an escape routes from a room should relate to the occupancy capacity of the room. An escape route should not narrow in the direction of escape. Changes in vista invite movement [Gibson, 1979, p. 198, ‘The problem of orientation’]; Corridors invite passage from scene to scene [p. 229, ‘What specifies an obstacle or opening’];
Corridor Diagram, Maison de Verre, Pierre Chareau
1 STUDENT Principle Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
2: VOIDS 2.9.3
Openings in floors Smoke and flames rising through an opening in a floor may impede evacuees from leaving the building. In a building where there is an opening in a floor an escape route should not be near the opening unless the direction of travel is away from the opening, or the opening is screened. Changes in vista invite movement [Gibson, 1979, p. 198, ‘The problem of orientation’].
Stair Void Diagram, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Preston Scott Cohen
3-4 STUDENTS Principle Regulations Related Regulations
7: STAIRS 4.3.2 2.9.31 4.3.4 4.3.5 4.3.6 4.3.15 4.3.3 4.3.8 4.3.9
ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
Stair Diagram, Villla Muller, Adolf Loos
Rise, going, tread and pitch of stairs Escape stair widths Number of rises in a flight Risers and treads Stair landings Headroom on stairs and ramps Width of stair flights and landings Stair flights consisting of both straight and tapered treads Stair flights consisting of solely tapered treads The geometry of a stair flight can have a significant effect on the ability of people to use a stair safely and conveniently and limits should be placed on the rise and going of a stair, its steepness of pitch, its length of flight, and its provision of landings. The width of an escape stair depends on the number of occupants who will access them on each storey. The escape stair should not narrow in the direction of escape, but can narrow as it rises up the building. The end of support invites stepping or falling [Gibson, 1979, p. 132, ‘Surfaces and their layouts / p. 156, ‘Experiments on the perception of the surface of support’].
1 STUDENT Principle Regulations Related Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
8: RAMPS 4.3.10 4.3.11 4.3.12
Pedestrian ramps Width of ramps flights Ramp landings Gradients of 1 in 20 to not more than 1 in 12 are considered to be ramps and recommendations are made to ensure their safety and amenity. The steeper the gradient of a ramp, the shorter the flight should be. The width of a ramp should relate to the intensity of use. Landings should be to allow people to move between a flight and an adjacent level surface safely. Inclined surfaces invite movement [Gibson, 1979, p. 132, ‘Surfaces and their layouts]; inclined surfaces invite the perception of the horizon [p. 164, ‘Experiments on the perception of the surface of support’].
Ramp and Floor Diagram, Jussieau Library [project], OMA
1-2 STUDENTS Principle Regulations Related Regulations ESCAPE
INVITATION CHARACTER
9: BARRIERS 4.4 4.3.13 4.3.14 4.8.2
Pedestrian Protective Barriers Handrails to stairs and ramps Height of handrails Collisions with glazing Protective barriers are necessary to prevent people in and around buildings from an accidental fall at a change of level. Protective barriers should not be large enough to permit a child to pass through. Handrails should provide support and assist safe passage. The change in slope of the handrail and its return into a wall signal the start or finish of a flight. The end of support invites falling [Gibson, 1979, p. 132, ‘Surfaces and their layouts / p. 156, ‘Experiments on the perception of the surface of support’]. Glass invites a misperception of safe passage [p. 142 ‘Misinformation for affordances].
Stair, Barrier and Envelope Diagram, New Museum [project], Reiser and Umemota
1 STUDENT Principle Regulations ESCAPE INVITATION CHARACTER
10: MATERIALS 2.9.35
Construction of escape stairs An escape stair (including landings) should be constructed of non-combustible material, except for handrails, balustrades and floor finishes. Solid substances invite combustion or non-combustion [Gibson, 1979, p. 131, ‘The substances’]. The form of objects and texture of surfaces invite touching and grasping [p. 133, ‘The objects’].
Handrail, Balustrade and Floor Details, Royal Festival Hall, LCC Architects [Leslie Martin]