Book 1 - City of St. Petersburg

for the Pier (during special events such as New Years Eve or 4th
of July) has been calculated in the region of 9,000 people. It is
to be noted however, that while this maximum occupant load
will be used for the Pier’s egress calculations, it is expected that
‘normal-day’ occupancy would be significantly lower than this
number.
Performance Based Egress Design Approach
While the Building Code places no limitation on distances
of travel in open-air assembly structures, the St. Petersburg
Building & Fire Departments have requested that the egress
time of the Pier be assessed in order to establish an overall
‘safe’ evacuation time for the structure at times of maximum
occupation. As part of this evacuation time calculation, a
performance-based design approach will be adopted in order to
assess the following:
1. The DISTANCE required for an occupant to move away from
a fire location such that the occupant is considered ‘safe’
2. The TIME taken for occupants to move away from a fire
incident to a ‘safe’ location
3. The TIME taken to COMPLETELY evacuate the Pier
This is seen as an appropriate approach on the basis that;
• As an outdoor space, there will be no smoke
accumulation on the Pier (smoke will dissipate into the
atmosphere)
• Occupants will have sufficient distance/space to relocate
to an area of relative safety, remote from a fire incident,
while still remaining on the Pier
A fire analysis/radiation study will be performed to determine
the effects on occupants from a single design fire scenario on
the Pier. Occupant safety, and hence the determination of a ‘safe
distance’, will be measured against the radiation (heat transfer)
that the fire emits to a defined zone on the Pier. A maximum
radiative heat flux and temperature, based on research, will be
selected for the acceptance criteria. Due to smoke’s ability to
dissipate into the atmosphere, visibility through smoke, and
other effects related to smoke will not be accounted for as part
of the pass/fail criteria.
In addition to this radiation study, an egress analysis will be
completed to evaluate the time taken for occupants to reach a
safe distance from a fire incident as well as to evacuate the Pier
in its entirety. The software used for this study assigns a series
of characteristics to the occupants based on available research
and data. Among others, these characteristics include travel/
movement speeds, available paths based on the Pier’s geometry,
and the ability for people to utilize egress elements due to their
widths.
MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTURE, INC. 3 - 123