| Summary: | Staircases have become one of the essential means of escape in high-rise buildings. The number and the balance of occupant distribution towards the staircases determine the efficiency of an evacuation process. Nowadays, having singlestaircases in high-rise buildings proves insufficient as once it catches on fire, there are simply no other means to transportthe occupant to safety. Thus, this paper evaluates the occupant time and travel distance in different staircase scenarios. Pathfinder software is used as a tool for building simulation where three staircase condition in a linear residential layout is tested. Other variables are also considered, such as (i) the effect on the occupancies, (ii) the slow-moving residents representing the elderly, and (iii) the width of the staircase. Results show that the equal distribution of occupants in every staircase significantly contributes to evacuation efficiency. As for the size of the staircase, although the increased size improves the occupancy evacuation time, it substantially increases the distance travelled by the occupant in the building. © 2023 Author(s).
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