Issues in public assembly facility design, operation and maintenance.

We’ll be exhibiting at the Trade Show sponsored by the East Kentucky chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Bluegrass Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute.  Look for us in Booth 31 at The Crowne Plaza Campbell House in Lexington, Kentucky.  We’ll be happy to help answer the questions to Construction Jeopardy.  Our questions:

• What are four options to support and access performance lighting equipment location in front of the stage (over the audience)?
• What are the three most typical stage rigging systems currently being supplied and installed on stages, in auditoriums and churches?
• What are the two dominant lighting source technologies at present for theatrical presentation facilities (including churches)?
• What is the role of a theatre design consultant in a typical project?

(Answers later or come see us in Lexington!)

Today’s topic: the little seen, usually ignored smoke vents over the stage.  They typically are completely forgotten until they either leak or blow open…but these are a critical component of the fire safety system in the stage.  Perhaps even the most critical component.

What are they?  Smoke vents are doors or hatches above the stage that, in the event of a fire, are designed to open automatically.  They’re typically either spring actuated (if they open upward) or gravity actuated (a typically older style that falls outward).  Visualize a typical stage cut through the centerline–it bears a striking resemblance to  a fire place with the audience chamber as the hearth and the fly tower as the chimney.  Open the vents and it behaves very much like one, also.

An interesting book that touches on this subject is John Ripley Freeman’s book “On the Safeguarding of Life in Theatres.”  This book is available for reading online through Google Books.  Freeman was a mechanical engineer who did a thorough review of the Iroquois Theatre fire in 1904.  Among the many things that went wrong at the Iroquois, the smoke vents failed to operate.  It was later determined that the contractor had failed to remove nails holding them shut.  Keep in mind that cooling in theaters of this era was generally natural air movement–windows or vents low down allowed fresh air in and fans or vents at the ceiling pulled it out.  The Iroquois had vents at the very back of the uppermost balcony.  This combination of factors allowed a deadly sequence of events to unfold as the fire spread throughout the fly space into all of the hanging scenery:

• Stagehands attempted to deploy the fire curtain (“asbestos”).  It caught or jammed partway down and did not fully cover the proscenium opening.
• Theatere staff, attempting to save the lives of the performers and workers on stage, opened the large loading door to the stage.
• The sudden rush of oxygen immediately caused a massive increase in the size, heat and power of the fire.
• The open vents at the rear of the balcony provided a “chimney” for the smoke and gasses–helping to pull them into the auditorium and out of the stage rather than up and away from the audience.

In the end, the vast majority of the deaths in the auditorium itself were in the uppermost balcony.  As in most fires, the majority of these people did not burn: they were suffocated.

Freeman’s conclusion was that if the smoke vents had operated properly, almost all of the audience would have walked out of the Iroquois Theatre.

Smoke vents are only one of several fire safety devices commonly found on stages.  Coming soon: information on interesting new research into what works–and what doesn’t.

I was speaking with an architect a few weeks ago and mentioned that, as a consultant, we carry professional liability (“errors and omissions” or E&O) coverage for our design services.  We see this as a tangible benefit to our clients and potential clients.  Why?  And what does it mean to you?

In very general terms, a professional liability policy covers us–and our clients–for damages (economic or bodily injury) that are incurred as a direct result of the performance of our specific design consultation services.  Our policy is much the same as that issued to a licensed design professional–an architect or engineer.  It’s important that all of the design professionals involved in a building carry this coverage.  The major reason why is buried in our commercial insurance policy, which is likely very typical in that it excludes liability from professional design services.

One requirement of our professional liability policy that is, again, likely very typical: we are required to ensure that our design subcontractors carry their own E&O coverage.  The implication of this is that an architect or engineer that hires us as a designer should be requiring this coverage from us, as well–it’s likely to be a requirement on their policy as well as, we think, a generally good idea to protect both themselves and the end client.