Improvement Methods of Horizontal Evacuation for Officetel Buildings considering Architectural Planning

Recently, officetel building fires are continuously occuring as the number of single-person households is increased. Since officetel buildings are designed with a focus on economics and sales, it is difficult to evacuate for occupants during fire events. Therefore, architectural plans are needed for evacuation of occupants in officetel buildings. This study aimed to propose improvement methods for horizontal evacuation in officetel buildings based on analysis results of domestic and international egress codes. Fire risk and horizontal evacuation performance were quantitatively evaluated using simulation models by comprehensively considering building materials, rooms, occupants, and fire characteristics of officetel. Architectural plans included width of corridor, width of exit door, and arrangement of exit based on building and egress regulations. Available safe egress time (ASET) was increased when corridor and exit door were wider and required safe egress time (RSET) was decreased due to elimination of bottlenecks. However, to ensure safe evacuation performance for occupants, widths of corridor and exit door need to be improved beyond building regulations. The central spaced arrangement was appropriate for center core type officetel buildings. The central spaced arrangement had a constant distance from all rooms, causing fewer bottlenecks than other arrangements.