Residential Buildings Fire Safety Application for iPhone / iPad Devices

This paper describes the processes followed for the creation of a fire safety application for iPhone/iPad devices, which, for educational reasons, has produced R&D and is applicable to professional practice, and is based on two, apparently unconnected points: 1. University teaching, research and the professional practice of architecture should not be unconnected activities, but the complex reality of the world of construction means that they are seen as separate. / 2. It is obvious that many technological tools such as PC tablets, smartphones… are being used by the general public in their everyday lives. With these precedents, the aim of the project was to create a software program so that a student, lecturer or professional architect could, at any time or any place, use the tool to calculate the main fire safety parameters for a residential building (number of sectors, occupation, structure resistance and dimensions of the evacuation routes) obtaining a result which, beyond regional or national regulations, assesses the appropriateness of the proposal. Thus, based on the Spanish norms, and with reference to the Performance Based Design so as to be applicable to any project, we have a simple software program which returns the mentioned parameters with the input of only six pieces of data on the building

Architectural Fire Protection Learning: the ETSAUN Case

Fire protection is a main parameter in the design of buildings, although it is often neglected in the Schools of Architecture because is being considered an “engineering thing”. In Spain, the education system provides a minimum dedication for this matter, but in the case that will be presented in the paper, it has been taken to a higher level. This is because fire protection is provided in three courses as we described in the article. This article will show the teaching itinerary in Architecture Studies Degrees explaining the dynamics of each of the three courses in which students are trained in fire protection, illustrated with real examples of work from the students themselves. We anticipate here that in the first year, students learn the theory, its impact on the Project; in the second year of learning, they relate it to the project at hand; and in the third, this time independently, consolidate learning in a complex project that takes place over two semesters. This teaching experience includes also the description from developing apps for smartphones, to the students practices of fire protection in the Laboratory. Far away from the opportunity of research and specialization that Fire Safety provides for future architects and construction engineers, it must be taken into account that Fire Safety it is not a limitation, Fire Safety becomes more real the architectural project

Architectural Fire Protection Learning: the ETSAUN Case

Fire protection is a main parameter in the design of buildings, although it is often neglected in the Schools of Architecture because is being considered an “engineering thing”. In Spain, the education system provides a minimum dedication for this matter, but in the case that will be presented in the paper, it has been taken to a higher level. This is because fire protection is provided in three courses as we described in the article. This article will show the teaching itinerary in Architecture Studies Degrees explaining the dynamics of each of the three courses in which students are trained in fire protection, illustrated with real examples of work from the students themselves. We anticipate here that in the first year, students learn the theory, its impact on the Project; in the second year of learning, they relate it to the project at hand; and in the third, this time independently, consolidate learning in a complex project that takes place over two semesters. This teaching experience includes also the description from developing apps for smartphones, to the students practices of fire protection in the Laboratory. Far away from the opportunity of research and specialization that Fire Safety provides for future architects and construction engineers, it must be taken into account that Fire Safety it is not a limitation, Fire Safety becomes more real the architectural project