Assessing the Influence of Building Geometry on Active Shooter Event Outcomes

Current building standards for protective design focus on a “fortress” approach that does not effectively protect against contemporary attack vectors such as active shooters. Furthermore, these standards provide little guidance to private building owners whose facilities are increasingly targeted by “active shooters.” This study combines the NetLogo agent-based modeling platform with the Autodesk Revit building design software to test key building geometry configurations for their impact on active shooter event casualties. The findings show that overall building geometry has an effect on active shooter casualties and that modifications to interior door alignment and the addition of direct exit doors can reduce the casualties in active shooter events. This research provides guidance to building designers who want to mitigate the risk of active shooter events with their building designs.

Author

• Dane, Kristopher

Language

• en

Keyword

• Security Design
• Risk Mitigation
• Active Shooter
• Building Security
• Agent-Based Modeling

Date created

• 2018

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Engineering Management

Degree

• D.Engr.

Advisor

• Jarvandi, Ali
• Tozer III, Bentz

Committee Member(s)

• Malalla, Ebrahim
• Miyamoto, Inez
• Etemadi, Amir

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/ws859f90d