B004 Atrium fire safety

Fire safety in a modern atrium: site visit and visual inspection

Brief:

A modern atrium of good appearance was found in the city centre of Melbourne, Australia. This atrium is located in a mall with a big departmental store. It is of open design where various shopping levels are opened to the atrium. There is a historical building inside the atrium. The atrium is of cylindrical shape with a hollow glass cone placed above it. Very present environment was resulted and so many people were attracted to stay in the atrium. Interest lies on the fire safety design provided in the atrium. A visual inspection was made while touring around the space. Fire protection systems which can be seen were recorded. The potential fire hazard was assessed by identifying different scenarios. It must be pointed out that those identifications come from observation as a shopper, rather than from the views of a fire engineer as no fire safety strategy nor fire protection systems details were obtained. The points raised come from general views of the public, but attempted to answer in a scientific manner.

Further information:

Chow WK, Wong LT, 1998. Fire safety in a modern atrium: site visit and visual inspection, Proceedings of The 3rd Asia-Oceania Symposium on Fire Science and Technology, Singapore, June 10-12, pp. 575-582.