Emergency signalling: the search of a performance-based approach
Fire safety; Emergency signalling; Space Syntax; Methods of design.
Complex buildings are becoming more frequent considering the human needs of grouping, working, buying, socializing, and others. These buildings can become a problem when analysed from the point of view of the need for guidance and motion in emergency situations. It is also understood that the emergency signalling project has fundamental importance in the process of exiting a building. The discussion of this work addresses this context and discusses emergency signalling in a performance-based design approach. Discusses topics such as design process, emergency signalling regulations/standards and design methods. The main objective is to evaluate the impact of the national fire safety standards on the emergency signalling project of the building, looking for the possibility of insertion of performance parameters. The work presents a review and analysis of national and international regulations with the intention of understanding and comparing the different approaches of the regulatory instruments. An empirical evaluation of the impact of the use of emergency signalling on the building through simulations with the help of the buildingEXODUS software (version 6.3) was carried out, as well as using space syntax as a design tool to evaluate and develop signalling projects of emergency. To date, four case studies have been conducted and discussed in buildings. The result of the analysis of norms and regulations allowed us to address relevant issues not yet contemplated in the Brazilian standards, such as the area of signal visualization in the signalling project. The preliminary results of the case studies show the viability and validity of the use of the space syntax as a design tool and can also as a performance parameter of the efficiency of the emergency signalling system. It is considered as a partial result that the Brazilian standard can be added information and methods that aid the design process and allow designers to evaluate the efficiency of their propositions, improving the use and application of the standard in deepening and understanding of their function.