Franklin Institute and the Emergency Egress
Sounds like something from the minds of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay…
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. They are currently hosting the Titanic Artifact Exhibition – and they are putting a new addition onto the side of the building. This is where Superior Scaffold comes in.
The needed an emergency egress – to put it simply, an emergency exit stairwell from the second floor down to the ground. Sounds simple, right? Of course not. Why? Because the ground beneath the proposed emergency stairwell is being excavated. Something about spy tunnels from the old Manhattan project that run from the basement of the Franklin Institute across the street into the basement of another building. Now, this is just conjecture offered up from some unnamed sources on the job. But just think about it. How cool would that be?
Since I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations we can only assume that Oppenheimer and his crew were shuttling top secret plans back and forth while developing the world’s most destructive weapons. Or it just could be that something beneath the ground needs to be removed or updated for structural reasons. Stairs, water pipes, electrical, who knows? You make the call??? Maybe Jerry Bruckheimer should make a movie. Superior Scaffold stars in: Ha.
Either way, the egress could not be built straight from the second floor down to the ground. This is where the creative chaps at Superior Scaffold come in and design a scaffold that spans the 36’ area that’s being excavated and then takes you down to ground level. Since they had to span the gap – they designed a free standing 4′ X 5′ X14′ high unit that sits 40’ away from the exit of the building.
You can see where Superior engineer Bob Robinson called for a thru-bolted channel on the side of the building to carry the giant 40’ steel beams. Then on top of those beams they constructed a 5’ wide walkway that takes people out and over the excavation below.
So when you look out of the second floor about to exit you will see a walkway that spans the excavation below, completely covered and hand railed. On the other side of the deck are the stairs that take you down. Problem solved.
And since it was free standing, the guys put a roof on it, added hand rails and debris netting around the sides to knock down the elements. It’s quite a lovely emergency egress.
You see, it’s the simple things in life that make people happy. Superior is the best at coming up with functional solutions that make clients happy.
http://www.visitphilly.com/museums-attractions/philadelphia/the-franklin-institute/