Storm Shelter Design for Schools and Businesses
Property Arts designs storm shelters for educational, commercial, and professional applications throughout Broken Arrow, Tulsa, and northeastern Oklahoma.
Our Goal
The 2012-2013 tornado season was more devastating than usual, forcing storm shelter design for schools to be revised. With that revision, ICC-500 has been implemented as a basic code to follow, along with FEMA P-361 as a supplementary guideline.
Property Arts Inc. has over 85 years of storm shelter design knowledge for educational, commercial, and professional applications. Our goal is to provide the client with the best possible design and solution to ensure the safety of staff and students during an emergency event.
To attest that our architects are providing the best services possible, they have undergone training in “Safe Schools 101,” created by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and FEMA.
Existing Building Audit
Property Arts will help evaluate an existing building to assist in determining the safest places to put occupants during an emergency event. This service is offered alongside the firm’s standard architectural services.
- School-specific reports, including refuge site assessment for school buildings
- Assessments of individual school buildings
Design Standards
- ICC-500 (International Code Council)
- FEMA P-361 (commercial application)
- Design wind speeds: 250 mph for Oklahoma
- Occupancy: 5 sq. ft. per standing or seated occupant, 10 sq. ft. per wheelchair occupant, 30 sq. ft. per bedridden occupant
- Sanitation facilities: toilets and hand-washing facilities are required per code, with the count determined by occupant load
- Emergency power: an inverter system is required. A backup generator with an automatic transfer switch is required if the load exceeds the inverter system requirements. Emergency lighting is also required
- Ventilation: natural and/or mechanical ventilation is required
- Special construction inspection: third-party construction inspections
Types of Shelter Structural Design
- Reinforced CMU (concrete block) walls with steel bar joists and concrete roof decks
- Tilt-up concrete walls with steel bar joists and concrete roof decks
- Monolithic dome reinforced shot-crete walls and roof
- Poured-in-place concrete walls and roof deck
- ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms): insulated foam walls around poured-in-place concrete walls, steel bar joists, and concrete roof decks
Recent Work
Property Arts has designed monolithic dome storm shelters for several different school districts including: Roland Public Schools, Kansas Public Schools, and Pawnee Public Schools.
Serving Broken Arrow and the Tulsa Metro
Property Arts designs storm shelters throughout Broken Arrow and the greater Tulsa metro, including Tulsa, Bixby, Jenks, Coweta, Owasso, Sapulpa, Wagoner, Collinsville, and Pryor. Call (918) 893-5560 or request a consultation to discuss a shelter for a business, a school, or a church.