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Expanded L.A. Convention Center
Is Big User Of Exit Devices
Los Angeles
If official records were kept
on the number of door exit devices used in convention
centers around the U.S., the Los Angeles Convention
Center would probably win the door prize. Close
to 1,000 Von Duprin exit devices provide security
and life safety for the crowds that will be attending
events at the newly expanded center.
The large number of doors are needed to handle crowds
at the 4 million sq. ft. complex, recently expanded
in a $296 million project that doubled its size.
A new South Exhibit Hall building was added to the
existing Yorty Exhibit Hall, with the two exhibition
complexes linked by a meeting room concourse. Two
towering glass and steel pavilions welcome visitors
to the expanded facility, which offers 685,000 sq.
ft. of exhibit space and 65 meeting rooms, including
a 26,500 sq. ft. special events hall.
Spacious lobbies set an open, airy theme but also
provide a means of egress for the crowds that are
expected. All this traffic requires a large number
of doors, and life safety concerns increased this
number even more. While the fire department usually
requires a 50% egress capacity out the front and
the back of this type of building, stricter standards
were applied here because the front exits into a
glass lobby tower. This caused the fire department
to require 100% egress capacity out the back, which
necessitated adding doors.
Fronting the new exhibit hall is a 155-ft. tall
glass-clad space-frame supported lobby tower. In
keeping with its open, airy feeling, the lobby doors
are equipped with Von Duprin 55 Series exit devices.
New South Exhibit Hall features
a unique "door within a door" design that
incorporates several pair of conventional metal
doors into much larger sliding doors. Construction
photos illustrate the concept, with finishing work
yet to be done. Von
Duprin 88 Series exit devices are used on the
built-in doors.
A unique development in the
South Exhibit Hall are several "door within
a door" arrangements that incorporate either
four pair of insulated hollow metal doors into a
telescoping biparting freight door that can open
to almost 40 ft. wide or two pairs of doors into
a 20-ft. wide biparting freight door. This was done
to provide the number of access doors required by
local code without losing wall space. It permits
the normal passage of visitors through the doors
during events while also allowing sections of the
wall to be opened so equipment and displays can
be moved in or out. The 24-ft. high Ferguson biparting
doors are electrically operated, with a manual override.
Exit devices on the pairs of metal doors had to
be totally contained within the panels, and Von
Duprin 88 Series concealed vertical rod devices
were recommended by the project's hardware consultant
for their durability. These give a more traditional
appearance and provide safe egress for people attending
events at the Center. Von Duprin worked with the
architects to supply an exit device that would be
acceptable for use with the 9-ft. high hollow metal
doors.
Architects for the project were Gruen Associates,
Los Angeles, with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners,
New York. The general contractor was a joint venture
of The George Hyman Construction Co., Bethesda,
Maryland, and M.A. Mortenson Co., Minneapolis.
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