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This module offers an introduction to the role that fire has played in shaping our buildings and cities. It will contextualise the evolution of fire as a hazard in the built environment, setting the scene for the programme, in which fire safety is both a national and international concern resulting from recent fatal events and the drive towards zero carbon. The module outlines the ethical imperative to improve and innovate the built environment, making it safer for occupants, alongside the necessity to do this in line with our commitment to build sustainably. The physics and chemistry of fire will be framed in the context of the creation of a fire safety strategy. The module will also include reference to the social impact of fire, the way that legislation in this area has developed over time, the administration of legislation, and the role that procurement strategies play in fire safe construction. Assessment will be a paper based on case studies.Ìý

Learning OutcomesÌý

On successfully completing the module, you will demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

1. Synthesise historical precedence and moral impetus of fire safe design.

2. Analyse the components of a fire safety strategy including the role of fire protection, the concept of fire resistance and its relevance to structural performance, the role of property protection and insurance, and the role and responsibility of the compliance authority and the fire brigade.Ìý

3. Analyse the role of the architect as a function of the regulatory framework and the fire safety strategy.

4. Evaluate the importance of material selection in fire dynamics in the fire safety strategy.

Reading List:Ìý

Bachelard, G. Fragments of a Poetics of Fire. academia.edu, 1990. https://www.academia.edu/download/58030259/Fragments_of_A_Poetics_of_Fire_full_text.pdf.

Bachelard, G. Psychoanalysis of Fire. New edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1977.

Bobbette, A. ‘A Forensics of the Future: Fire Insurance Underwriting, Contingency, and Early 20th Century Materials’. Journal of Architectural Education 67, no. 2 (3 July 2013): 285–87.Ìý

Cleveland, K., S. G. Knowles, and R. Shineha. Legacies of Fukashima: 3.11 in Context. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021.Ìý

Eigen, E., and R. Martin. On Accident: Episodes in Architecture and Landscape. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2018.

Fernández, G., and L. Fernández-Galiano. Fire and Memory: On Architecture and Energy. MIT Press, 2000.

Frierson, C. A. All Russia Is Burning!: A Cultural History of Fire and Arson in Late Imperial Russia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.

Goudsblom, J. Fire And Civilization. London: Penguin, 1994.

Knowles, S. The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.Ìý

Knowles, C. C., and P. H. Pitt. The History of Building Regulation in London 1189-1972. London: Architectural Press, 1972.Ìý

Massey, J. ‘Risk Design’, 4 October 2013. http://www.we-aggregate.org/piece/risk-design.

Medvedkova, O., and P. Malgouyres. ‘4 In the Beginning, There Was Fire: Vitruvius and the Origin of the City’, 75–99, 2015.Ìý

Miller, R. American Apocalypse: The Great Fire and the Myth of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Pyne, S. World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997.

Rosen, C. M. The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America. Cambridge Cambridgeshire; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Ross, L. ‘Creative Uncertainty: Arup Associates, Fire Safety and the Metaengineering of Government’. In Neoliberalism on the Ground: Architecture and Transformation from the 1960s to the Present, 270–93. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020.

Ross, L. ‘On the Materiality of Law: Spatial and Legal Appropriations of the Lagos Set-Back’. Architectural Theory Review 20, no. 2 (4 May 2015): 247–65.Ìý

Ross, L. Pyrotechnic Cities: Architecture, Fire-Safety and Standardisation. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2022.

Ross, L. ‘Regulatory Spaces, Physical and Metaphorical: On the Legal and Spatial Occupation of Fire-Safety Legislation’. In Industries of Architecture, edited by T. Amhoff, N. Beech, and K. L. Thomas. London: Routledge, 2015.

Ross, L. ‘Spectres of Edo Castle’. In Grand Gestures: Gta Papers 4: Volume 4, 64–85. Zürich: gta Verlag / eth Zürich, 2020. Zografos, S. Architecture and Fire. London: ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Press, 2019.Ìý

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Plus these periodicals:

BSOL British Standards Online BSI. https://bsol.bsigroup.com/.

Fire Safety Journal – E-journal from 1977

Fire Technology – E-journal from 1965Ìý

Fire and Materials - E-journal from 1976Ìý

International Journal of High-Rise Buildings: http://ctbuh-korea.org/ijhrb/

Journal of the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat – E-journal from 2014Ìý