Today, the design of life safety systems for a facility, including active and passive fire and smoke control systems, requires a collaborative effort between many design professionals. Gone are the days of independent design when the architect simply designated the rated walls, the mechanical engineer located fire and smoke dampers, and the electrical engineer designed the fire alarm system. The complexity of design and the need for mixed-use facilities dictates an effort from other key consultants in the design of the fire and smoke control systems.
Given the current environment, it is necessary to have a collaborative effort for today's fire/smoke design. In addition to the traditional professionals such as architects and mechanical and electrical engineers, other design team members include an independent code consultant/specialist, fire protection consultant/specialist, and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) engineer/analyst, and of course, the AHJ. Many of today's fire and smoke control issues and team member roles for collaborative design are changing and growing.