015 - Global view on the fire safety from a starchitect perpective with Benjamin Ralph

Have you ever wondered who truly has the most power over the fire safety of a building? In my opinion, the answer is very simple - the Architect. This is due to two reasons. First is that the architect can affect the building shape, size, compartmentation, location of the openings in the building - things that are fundamental to the compartment fire dynamics. The second reason is that they make the decisions at the most infant stage of the building construction. When everything is reversible, and when some of the most prominent decisions are taken.

Creating a fire-safe architecture, especially when you are a global company, is not easy. This is why I have invited Benjamin Ralph - the head of fire safety at the Forster+Partners architectural office, one of the "STARchitect" offices designing the most interesting buildings in the world. In the episode, we  talk about the challenges related to working in a global village, the drivers of fire safety and the role of fire safety and other competing objectives in shaping the modern buildings.