I recently went on a field trip to an elementary school with Greg Thomson (Allegion specwriter) and a group of our specwriter apprentices, and we saw a couple of interesting applications in the courtyard.  The courtyard is fully enclosed so a means of egress is required at each end, with one of the egress paths leading back into the school and then out to the exterior.  Portions of the school are only one story which could be a security problem if someone is able to climb over the roof to the courtyard and use the egress door to access the school.

Here’s the egress route at the upper level of the courtyard:

Courtyard 3

I’m not a fan of the closers on the exterior (they were not specified that way), but the Von Duprin 55 series crossbar devices were chosen because of their ability to withstand the effects of the weather.

Courtyard 1

To ensure security, these doors lead to a corridor with locked doors on either side, so someone entering the school from the courtyard can only exit to the exterior (the red Xs indicate the key side of each door):

Plan

This is the other end of the courtyard:

Courtyard 2

The egress door here is a swinging door that latches into a sliding panel:

Courtyard Slilder 1

Before sliding the panel, the swinging door must be opened and hooked in place (this photo is taken from the outside):

Courtyard Slider 5

The continuous hinge is mounted “inside-out” with one leaf attached to the face of the door and one leaf attached to an angle beside the door.  Unfortunately, it was incorrectly installed the first time so the first set of holes is visible on the door edge:

Courtyard Slider 3  Courtyard Slider 4

Courtyard Slider 2

What do you think?

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