Articles

Articles Transgressions in Fire Protection – User Behaviour

The owner invests, the designer designs, the tester tests, the authorities approve and the contractor builds – and the user? As the last participant in the construction value added chain, the user does not always use everything as intended, planned and constructed. This article highlights some of the problems and discusses user concerns that are often not fully taken into account.

Articles Fire Protection looks to distant Galaxies

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) planned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is set to become the largest telescope in the world from 2024. The designers faced new challenges due to the lack of fire defences in the Atacama Desert (Chile). This article focuses on evacuation calculations, emergency routes and flow behaviour.

Articles Human Behaviour in Smoke

People often underestimate the risks posed by smoke. They do not evacuate rooms or locations filled with heavy smoke or do not do so with the required speed, or they even consciously choose to go through the smoke. This article explains why many people behave in this manner.

Articles Complex Conversion made possible through Fire Engineering

The conversion of a historic Department Store building in London into a modern HQ office for architectural practice Squire and Partners was a complex and challenging project. However, the fire engineering team found innovative solutions to achieve exactly what was required.

Articles Events for Preventive Fire Protection Professionals in 2019

Here you can find a list of events on preventive fire protection in 2019 and 2020.

Articles Enhanced Building Safety using modern Door Communication

Automatic doors generally fulfil various functions in building construction. This article will focus on how they can be controlled and monitored centrally and what possibilities are offered by modern building automation that incorporates all different disciplines.

Articles Fire Protection 4.0 – Opportunities and Risks due to Digitalisation

Digitalisation – with its multitude of implications – represents one of the most radical changes in the cultural history of humankind. There is hardly any area of life that it does not impact. Profound and at the same time rapid changes are taking place in many economic sectors. What developments stand out in the area of preventive fire protection? And what opportunities and risks do they provide for planners, manufacturers and installers?

Articles Highly inclined: the Learning and Library Center

The new University of Economics and Business in Vienna was previously located in a building in need of renovation from the 1970s, which gave those in charge of the university the opportunity to build a new campus. The new Library and Learning Center is the heart of this facility. It was designed by the renowned architect Zaha Hadid and presented those involved in its realisation with some construction challenges. One of these was fire prevention.

Articles Elbe ­Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg: Nothing disturbs the Acoustics in the Great Hall

Air sampling smoke detectors disappear into the ‘white skin’ and form part of the comprehensive fire protection concept at the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg. 

Articles Crowd Simulation: adding the Human Factor to reliable Planning

Modern simulation methods can be used to help develop and verify evacuation concepts. Read more about how this works and what added value is offered by simulations here.