PAOT People At One Time Formula

PAOT People At One Time Formula

To determine the capacity of a heritage site / museum / visitor centre / exhibition space, and so on you need to determine the number of "people at one time" or PAOT the space can handle at any one time.


PAOT = DL
_________
H x TR



DL = Design Load from above (see Design Load formula or DL formula) - for this example 8644
H = number of hours of operations (8 used in this example)
TR = Turnover Rate based on your Design Dwell Time calculation - for this example estimated 20 minutes length of visit with a turnover of 3 visitors per hour.

Therefore...

PAOT = 8644 = 360 people at one time at your busiest time 8x3


So What Next?

So now you can make some assumptions...

360 visitors will need 25sq.ft. of floor space each as a MINIMUM for psychological carrying capacity.

That means this facility needs an exhibit room floor space of 9,000 square feet.

You can also now plan your visitor flow parameters and design dwell time...

This also means that you will need;

XXXX number of staff on duty
XXXX number of toilets
XXXX number of burgers in the cafe
XXXX number of car parking spaces
and so on...

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