Abstract:
The development of multi-storey office buildings in their present form only became possible with the development of safe passenger elevators and successive advances in elevator technology and efficiency. Almost all office buildings require a different elevator solution to provide efficient vertical transportation, and it is the task of the architect to achieve the optimising elevator solution as part of the overall design solution for the whole building. Until recently elevatoring, which is vital for the feasibility of multi-storey buildings has been an area of design which has been essentially abrogated by most architects. This abrogation can only be to the detriment of the decision-making process.
Architects have a duty to their clients and their profession to be better informed about elevator design - a service which provides vertical transportation for millions of building occupants worldwide every working day. This overview does not propose ideal solutions to the challenges of elevatoring but rather provides an informative explanation and discussion of elevator basics and design options in relation to the process of elevator design.
