Moving through
Emergency exit
schoolhospitaloffice buildingtheaterapartment building
It is the protected route of doors, corridors and stairs that allows people to leave the building to a safe place during a fire, an earthquake or another emergency.
What it solves
It gives each person a short, clear and lit way out even when the lights fail or there is smoke. In a seismic country it also organizes the exit after a strong tremor.
Today
Design at least two separate exit routes, with doors that open in the direction of escape, illuminated signs and clear stairs. Also think about how wheelchair users will get out.
Common mistake
Using the exit route as storage or padlocking it, an oversight that has cost lives.
Tomorrow
With more extreme rain and fires, the exit is thought of as a complete route to a safe assembly point in the street. Schools that practice evacuation with the children discover jammed doors and narrow corridors in time.
Fact After the 1942 fire in a Boston nightclub, the United States required the exits of large buildings to open outward.
Where it comes from
- 1Victoria Hall Sunderland, England, 1883
183 children died at a bolted door at the foot of a stair. The tragedy drove the panic bar, patented in 1892. - 2Exterior iron stair United States, since 1887
The modern fire escape was patented. After the 1960s it gave way to protected interior stairs and sprinklers. - 3Running man sign Japan, around 1980
The figure running toward a door was created there and adopted as an international standard in 2003.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Moving through
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.