FIRE SAFETY
In the event of a fire, pupils and teachers have to be able to leave the building as quickly as possible. Normally the escape route would take them out of the classroom along a necessary corridor to the necessary stairs. But this was not possible at Schmuttertal Grammar School due to the open-plan learning environments and all the furniture, which acts as a fire load. The planners had to prove that they had provided compensation for this deviation from the regulations. The most obvious solution with emergency exit balconies and fire escapes on the outside of the building was out of the question because this would have interfered with the barn-like appearance that the architects wanted to give the buildings. It would also have been a very costly solution. Instead, they took another approach: in the upper storeys, the first and second escape route from the classrooms goes along the corridor of the open-plan learning environment which just acts as a circulation route; at either end of the corridor the escape route leads to a necessary staircase which fulfils the requirements of the state building code. The crucial aspect is the third escape route to compensate for the corridor which is a problem in terms of fire safety: a connecting door between the classrooms lets pupils and teachers escape directly into a staircase, regardless of the open-plan learning environments. The fire safety concept naturally also includes fire alarms, automatic smoke extraction openings in the roof and much more besides. The combination of structural, technical and organisational fire safety achieved a level equivalent to that in conventional school buildings.
First floor floor plan of a class tract
29
Äquivalenz
60.000.000
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