The project that I intend to make for my final presentation is a scale model of the evacuation system I invented back in 2005 (Spain Patent of invention P200500765). I will try to incorporate as many of the real devices and elements that the complete system has into the prototype. I will now show you the system and the way it works:

What if?

I guess we all remember this image. We also remember the people that were trapped in the highest floors and how they were unable to get to the ground before the towers collapsed. This event pointed out that the evacuation of skyscrapers has been principally understood as an extension of the procedures used in regular buildings: a stacking of staircases that reach the highest part of the building. This has two main problems. The first one is that if continuity is broken it cannot be recovered (as we saw during 9-11). The second one is that staircases will behave as a funnel in the case of emergency. But, what if we understood skyscrapers as boats? Maybe the relation we have with the ground when we are 300 meters high is more similar to the one we have in a boat 3 miles away from the coastline than the one have in a regular building that is only 30 meters away from the ground level. Maybe we should use dinghies to evacuate high rise buildings.

The systems have two main positions of work while connected to the building:

     

    The system can also adapt from rectilinear façade contours to curvilinear ones :

    Detail of type 1 dinghy (total capacity: arround 30 people):

    Detail of type 1 dinghy (total capacity: arround 60 people):

    Detail of the façade of a building with the evacuation system (pasive mode):

    One of the first sketches (initial design):

    Copy of the patent of invention :

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I would greatly enjoy being able to fabricate a prototype of the system as my final project. I hope I will.