6.3 Suspended Ceiling Design Process - Bilkent University

Elevator design process begins with studying the feasibility of elevators
in building. This involves participation of the client and the architect. If
elevators are required, the next step is planning them. The planning of
an elevator system is a very involved subject. Although the basic
calculations are relatively simple, the results obtained need to be
tempered with a great deal of working experience of existing buildings
in order to ensure satisfactory design results.
At the beginning of the planning phase, a traffic analysis is undertaken
to determine the traffic that the elevator will carry and to establish the
quality of elevator service in terms of the speed of elevators and waiting
time for service. The architect provides detailed information about the
building, including the parameters such as number of stops, interfloor
distance, building population, etc. Traffic analysis is often made by the
engineer responsible for elevator design. Some elevator providers also
offer such a service. The traffic information obtained from the analysis
can then be used as input to the downstream processes of deciding
access and evacuation strategy and selecting elevator type.
Deciding access and evacuation strategy includes decisions on
parameters such as the number of elevator cars, the number of doors
for each car and car door width. Fire fighting and disabled access
requirements are influential on determining the access strategy.
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