To what extent do prescriptive fire safety regulations influence the aesthetic and functional characteristics of the spaces in which we live and work?
What happens when fire safety regulation becomes the INSPIRATION for a design, rather than a DETRACTOR from the desired aesthetic?
Check out this fascinating look at the outcomes of a recent collaborative effort by our colleague Liam Ross in the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), entitled "Invitation & Escape: The Architecture of Fire Safety Regulation," in which prescriptive fire safety requirements are turned on their heads and used as inspiration in an architectural design studio.
If you are an engineer... this will almost certainly push you outside your comfort zone.
I recommend it.
The Invitation & Escape project can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2I0XCL77YSMQk11NDBBS3JlaXM/edit?pli=1
Liam Ross' other research can be viewed here:
https://sites.ace.ed.ac.uk/liamross/research/
