ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING EGRESS

The events of September 2001, 2001, plus the events' technical and political aftermath have helped to identify an unfortunate lack of research into building evacuation. The relative dearth of research is ironic given evacuation's central role in mitigation for a range of emergencies and its prominence in environmental design requirements in building codes and standards. The field of human factors has much to offer, for example, in a philosophical or strategic focus on human-centered design as well in more-prosaic issues such as exit stair width and handrail provision. Much of the available research addresses fairly low-level ergonomic issues such as exit stair width in relation to egress capacity and the impact on evacuation time. in addition to more-sophisticated research into the relatively simple issues, ahead lies more-difficult research relating to strategic issues and the provision of information to building occupants in emergencies, occupants' situational awareness generally, and the many social in...