Fire Safety Engineering – Towards New Design Horizons

On February 27, at the ESA engineering offices in Milan, the talk entitled “Fire Safety Engineering – Towards New Design Horizons”, sponsored by Danfoss, took place. The event was moderated by Marco Luraschi, Managing Director of Il Quotidiano Immobiliare, and offered a look at Fire Safety Engineering: on the pros and cons of the engineering approach, on the scenarios that make the latter a fundamental tool, as on the design cases in which this methodology could prove to be one ingredient too many.

Talking about the current state of the art and offering their point of view on the topic were:

What is meant by engineering approach? What are the objectives?

Luca Nassi and Gian Pietro Cenderello introduced those present to the fundamental concepts of Fire Safety Engineering, highlighting the natural comparison with classic prescriptive regulations. The latter provide rigid indications based on general standards, while the engineering approach stands out for its flexibility and ability to adapt to individual situations. This tailor-made methodology is based on a detailed analysis of the specific characteristics of each building. The strategy does not start from a series of underlying standards, but is articulated through the analysis of the project in its uniqueness and proceeds through the definition of the most burdensome scenario, the consequences of which are promptly analysed.

Gian Pietro Cenderello delved into the approach adopted by ESA, highlighting the growing use of Fire Safety Engineering since 2017. Initially limited to selected projects, the application of the engineering approach has increased significantly over time, involving a wide range of intended uses, with particular attention to office buildings. This sector, in fact, by its nature increasingly oriented towards customized and flexible solutions, has seen a significant adoption of the engineering approach. Overall, the largest percentage of applications concern existing buildings, often subject to regulatory or historical constraints, for which the engineering approach represents an effective solution to overcome such design limitations.

The main purposes of the design using Fire Safety Engineering were highlighted below, including: the study of evacuation, fundamental for the safety of occupants and rescuers, the evaluation of the fire resistance of the structures (especially in listed buildings) , compartmentalization and spread of fires.

What are the advantages of the Engineering Approach?

Giulia Randazzo, Marco Siciliano and Michele Alberti spoke about the numerous advantages of the engineering approach, including faster times with a positive impact on design timing, cost optimization, greater flexibility of choice on the project. The fire safety project thus created, thanks to the “tailor-made” methodology, aims to achieve different desired goals.

Marco Siciliano underlined how this approach allows for greater architectural creativity, overcoming prescriptive limits: “On historical interventions or post-industrial architecture it allows us to imagine a range of much more reasonable interventions while respecting pre-existing architecture. On new buildings, however, it represents an alternative opportunity to the exemption process. Managing the tailor-made suit can allow you to think about the most suitable solutions, which allow you to obtain an equal level of safety with less effort, also in terms of budget”

What are the problems related to its use?

The engineering approach represents a perspective that can be advantageous but is not always appropriate. The speakers reflected on this theme, explaining how, an initial freedom linked to the possibility of imagining different solutions is followed by greater subsequent complexity which must be understood, managed and shared by the many actors involved up to the marketing phase of the building.

Michele Alberti underlined how the solutions developed with this approach already arise in a very preliminary phase of the project. Consequently, for them to be effective, it is necessary to highlight as much as possible all the consequences that these choices will have on the building and the constraints connected to them. Furthermore, it is essential to maximize communication between all the actors involved (involving, where possible, not only those who will market the building, but also the various tenants).

The engineering approach, in fact, brings with it constraints that can be monitored during the project process, but also consequences of a management-operational nature that can influence marketing.

How to make the engineering approach an opportunity and not a constraint?

To make simulation systems an opportunity and not a constraint, the correct mediation must be found, the objectives and the flexibility window that you want to guarantee at the end must be clarified. Some projects can accept greater constraints as they are not linked to transformation prospects, while other orders must guarantee a much higher window of flexibility.

The engineering approach puts the fire at the centre, not just the interpretation of a standard. Its growing use reflects the evolution of design that is becoming increasingly integrated. The logic linked to Fire Safety Engineering reflects and encourages the participation of fire prevention professionals in the project from its early stages and not after choices have already been made. Thanks to a desirable effort, the evolution of fire prevention design sees the figures involved meeting and collaborating from the beginning, with an exchange of inputs, needs, constraints, arriving at a shared solution.

BIM design will also increasingly connect with the software used in terms of the fire engineering approach.

And artificial intelligence? In a few years it will definitely help. However, fluid dynamics or modeling represents no more than 30% of the work. There must always be a deep and precise analysis of the project themes upstream, highlighting the critical points and objectives.