A true challange - who's ready?

[Availor]

Here's a simple task that does not requier being an artist, but as simple as it seems, it really has a catch. The idea is if you can understand it (it is from an article I've read from a professional design site).


Can anyone make a control panel for a lift for a building with 23 floors?

[Availor]

Here's a simple task that does not requier being an artist, but as simple as it seems, it really has a catch. The idea is if you can understand it (it is from an article I've read from a professional design site).


Can anyone make a control panel for a lift for a building with 23 floors?

[John Rayner]

Remember there is no floor 13...

[Ross Macintosh]

Here's my control panel...

[Soquili]

Is this an American or European control panel? Maybe since you used the word 'Lift', that indicates it should be European. Is that 23 total floors, or is it a building with a 23rd floor?

John, most highrise buildings have a 13th floor now. Guess the designers got over their trisadekaphobia. That's the fear of the number 13, regardless of how many websites inaccurately say it is the fear of Friday the 13th.

[Ross Macintosh]

My button above lifts the building 23 floors into the air. Please make sure the building is well secured to the crane, and that the crane has the required capacity, before pressing the button.

Re-reading the original question I'm now wondering if you are only talking about the controls you'd find in an elevator cab serving a 23 storey building. In my work (architect) I have specified elevators before. There is nothing unusual about a 23 storey building unless you have wacky ideas about what is or isn't a storey. Technically a 23 storey building wouldn't neccessarily have 23 elevator stops.

[Availor]

It is a building that has 23 floors, and there is 13th floor... you can call it 12a and 12b if you like that does not matter. Just a simple control panel for an elevator or lift (I don't know what the Americans pronounce - lift is more like Russian which is my native language

Anyway the catch is in the design

[Soquili]

Two options. One with Ground level then 1st floor. One with 1st floor as ground level.

Was there something I didn't understand? I don't really see a challenge here.

[Ross Macintosh]

Bill if your elevator control is in the United States each of the buttons requires Braille to be ADA compliant as is required by laws.

I note that what has been stated is the building is 23 stories. Stories are something you typically count from the exterior of the building and does not necessarily mean there are 23 floors. For instance it is possible to have a two-storey high lobby that although it is two stories it is just one floor. A more likely twist to this 'challenge' is the fact that in many buildings the elevator does not serve the top-most storey. Elevators in 23 storey buildings typically have a hoist at the top of the shaft and that hoist takes up a storey. (On shorter buildings you can use hydraulic elevators which have lesser requirements at the top of the shaft). So it would be very typical that the elevator controls for our 23 storey building would at most be numbered to "22". And as per Bill's first example, if the numbering started with "G" (or "L" for Lobby) with the floor above as "1" then the numbering would only go to "21". By-the-way it is fairly typical for the top-most floor to be occupied only by a mechanical room containing things like air handling units and cooling towers. These mechanical spaces are accessed by stair from the floor below.

Regards, Ross

[Soquili]

Hi Ross,

I'm not fluent in Braille, so I skipped that for a quick drawing done during a break at work. I do appreciate your providing the information.

As you are our resident Architectural expert, may I ask a few questions?

Can the Braille be within the button or must it be on a separate plate beside the button? Many of the elevators in my area were retrofitted with the Braille, but even the newer buildings have it on separate plates.

Many of the buildings here cover an entire city block and the elevator hoists are in a 'room' on top of the roof and not visible from ground level. Are these hoist 'rooms' considered a storey?

Many of the countries I was fortunate to live in or visit when I was in the Air Force always called the floor above ground level the 1st floor. If you were designing a building for one of those countries, how do you annotate your drawings?

Thanks for any information you may provide.

Architectually challenged