Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008 - (Page 33)

Neither the owners nor the emergency responders want to alarm the contiguous facility simultaneously. Many of us are familiar with alarming the floor of origin, as well as the adjacent floors above and below. To reduce the need to discharge the entire site simultaneously, horizontal alarm zones have also been incorporated. These consist of minimally 2-hour fire-resistive walls with 1.5-hour opening protection that subdivide portions of the facility similar to the horizontal exit con- no means the end of the complexity and extent of cities under one roof. One may say that this is only the beginning. Where do we go from here? We are all familiar with cruise liners that are nothing short of floating cities. Many can accommodate thousands of people and provide all necessary amenities. What about cities beyond Earth? This is not as absurd an idea as you might think. Occupying the moon as a laboratory and Large, complex facilities cannot be easily evacuated. It’s up to the fire protection engineer to ensure occupants’ safety. cept addressed in codes. Some of these alarm zones are used as horizontal exits, some are actually constructed as separate buildings (with fire walls/area separation walls/MFL walls), and some have been included only to limit the necessity of alarming substantial portions of the facility simultaneously. Complex facilities like this cannot meet all prescriptive code requirements, however. Performance-based approaches are invariably necessary. The Alternate Methods Provisions of the codes allow the use of performance approaches provided they are able to demonstrate equivalency. To date, more than 50 alternates are approved for Project CityCenter. These range from mundane exiting issues to others that are substantially complex. They all substantiate mitigating measures that provide the level of protection the code intends. A facility as large and complicated as this would not come together to provide a holistic approach to fire protection without all pertinent aspects being clearly documented and agreed upon upfront. The FPR fulfills this role. Such cities under one roof are presently being constructed in other locations throughout the world, such as Macao, Singapore, and Dubai. Some of the largest buildings in the world exist in these locations, or are under construction. This is by launching pad for further space exploration has been proposed for years. An outpost on Mars also is being considered. In order to travel between these outposts, at some point spaceships that can accommodate any number of occupants will be necessary. All these cities have several aspects in common. One is that they cannot easily be evacuated. As such, fire protection must be incorporated to allow a defend-in-place strategy and create structures that constitute a holistic fire protection system. The system to help develop a fire protection strategy for these futuristic cities is already in place and need only address the respective challenges for the specific situation. The future of fire protection engineering is limited only to the vision of those involved. Evans, fire protection engineer, has been with Clark County Building Division for more than 16 years. Evans has an understanding of most fire protection aspects, with a specialization in coordinating fire protection aspects for major facilities, smoke-management systems, and unique interiors. He is a member of the NFPA and a Fellow of the SFPE. He serves on several professional committees and is licensed as a Fire Protection Engineer in California and Nevada. This One Will! Introducing by System Sensor The only duct smoke detector that adjusts to ﬁt any application! Available Now! Find out more. Visit systemsensor.com/ﬂex. Consulting-Specifying Engineer • OCTOBER 2008 33 Input #222 at csemag.com/quickResponse http://www.systemsensor.com http://www.systemsensor.com http://www.csemag.com/quickResponse

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Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008 Contents Viewpoint Letters News M/E Roundtable Cities Under One Roof Eight Design Tips for Integration Is 'Green' Really New? Down the Drain Product of the Year Awards Codes & Standards Case Study New Products Equipment Lifecycles Advertiser Index Green Space

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008

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