There is often a trade-off between airport design proposals and safety standards, and modern simulation techniques play a key role.
Nowadays, society considers travelling as a kind of habit or routine. Because of this, there are more and more connections between cities all over the world.The airport's operations will be considerably increased.
This means that an airport eventually becomes a predominant point of presence of people, both those directly related to the main mission of an airport, travelling, as well as those indirectly related, e.g. family or friends to welcome the passenger.
From an economic or business point of view, because of the large number of people who are present for a certain period of time, an airport is influenced by a familiar concept: consumerism.. Es decir, tanto los aeropuertos tradicionales que se están remodelando como los aeropuertos más recientes, están convirtiéndose en una especie de centro comercial donde están disponibles los mejores negocios, relacionados normalmente con moda y restauración.
This concept is transforming airports in terms of their architecture: the interior space is completely open plan. This is directly related to the concept of consumerism because, as a passenger, it is a more "useful" way to see the offer and product at that airport if there is no obstacle blocking the view, as well as that the airport obtains a better assessment according to aesthetics.
In Europe, the majority of airports were adapted to a more traditional architectural format and, as a result, there has been a gradual adaptation in the successive refurbishments to the concept of open-plan space. Sin embargo, y aunque económicamente puede ser viable, a nivel de seguridad, especialmente en caso de incendio, no es un asunto que merezca ser desatendido.
This transformation is not only being observed in Europe, but is a global trend.
The teams of engineers and architects who design airport spaces are used to being governed practically by compliance with the specific regulations applicable in each country. In the case of Spain, the most common is the Technical Building Code (CTE), which is basically a set of documents that must be complied with in order to build a building correctly, always depending on the type of use and activity. This regulation arose after Law 38/1999, which is known as the Law on Building Management.
Así como en España se dispone de una regulación detallada para tener un nivel mínimo de seguridad en caso de incendio en todos los edificios, a nivel europeo también existen disposiciones a cumplir, siempre dependiendo del país. Debido a la diferencia entre países, pero teniendo en cuenta la figura de la Unión Europea, actualmente existe un official body that acts as a commissioner to unify criteria and standards in relation to fire safetyknown as the Confederation of European Fire Protection Associations (CFPA Europe).
Although officially there is no common criterion on this matter at the European level, the European Committee for Standardisationknown as CEN, does issue standardisation norms (EN-UNE norms) that establish a common minimum control, in this case, in elements and installations of great importance in terms of security and fire protection.
Comparando la situación europea con la americana, en el segundo caso existe más uniformidad en relación con esta materia. Aunque, al igual que en Europa, los países americanos tienen sus propias legislaciones y normativas, todas ellas se basan siempre en la implementation of minimum requirements which are set out in the regulations drawn up by the prestigious National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
In other words, although each country may be predisposed to compliance depending on certain criteria, In principle, all buildings in Europe will have to meet certain minimum standards, including airports. y, al menos, las instalaciones dedicadas a tal protección estarán correctamente adecuadas independientemente del país.
Continuing with the purpose of this post, it is mainly not only a problematic view at the country level, but a global one because, although each country has its own regulations, there will be airports that will present certain problems when it comes to combining their design with the minimum requirements for safety and fire protection.
Según lo anterior y fijándonos en el caso concreto de España, ¿cuál es uno de los problemas principales en la relación entre espacios diáfanos y el cumplimiento del CTE? Básicamente, son dos criterios muy diferentes. Mientras que el deseo principal es que el aeropuerto sea una gran superficie diáfana introduciendo toda aquella actividad comercial posible e intentando que su apariencia sea agraciada, el CTE limita los espacios para una mayor seguridad en caso de incendio, con una gran cantidad de instalaciones de protección contra incendios. Esa limitación es conocida como “sectorización” y, en términos básicos, consiste en dividir espacios para que las personas puedan estar seguras en caso de una situación de emergencia, estando cada uno de estos con unas protecciones pasivas y activas adecuadas a la situación existente.
Entonces, ¿la solución es no realizar espacios tan amplios o no cumplir con el CTE o aquella normativa de aplicación según el país? Ninguna de las dos respuestas anteriores es la más conveniente dependiendo de si lo que tenemos en cuenta es el punto de vista empresarial o el técnico. Aunque a nivel empresarial se prefieren unas condiciones que permitan un beneficio económico, el nivel técnico garantiza seguridad a las personas (algo más importante que el dinero).
What could we do in such a situation? As one of the most suitable solutions, there are what are known as "Fire Dynamics Simulators" and "An Agent-Bassed Egress Simulators" which, in an understandable way, consist of world-renowned modelling techniques capable of realising dynamic simulations of the evolution of fires in buildings of all types of buildings and evacuation simulations when such emergency situations arise.
Although these techniques are still not as common as would be desirable, in certain European countries their application is common, as well as in the American continent due to its more "performance" culture. However, there is a growing trend in the use of these methodologies in projects.
Is the ideal solution only to carry out such performance studies? The answer is no. Although such studies may justify unique architectural designs, siempre habrá que complementarlos con la normativa de aplicaciónThe study can be considered a "combined" or "hybrid" solution at first glance. To this must be added the experience and skills of the technicians, as not all of them are adequately prepared to carry out a study of this type, or a review of the data and calculations obtained by the person or group that verifies and/or considers the solution to be adequate.
