old style fire escapes will not pass code but if it's, in effect, an exterior stair built to contemporary codes, sure, why not?

I'm not sure as to which Code Steve is looking at or which one you might be looking at. So I toss this information to you as only viable for where I'm located:

NFPA 101 LIFE SAFETY CODE
5-2-8 Fire Escape Stairs

"5-2.8.1.1 Fire Escapes stairs shall comply with the provisions of 5-2.8

Exception: Existing non complying fire escapes shall be permitted whe approved by the authority having jurisdiction.

5-2.8.1.2 Fire escapes stairs shall not constitute any of the required means of egress

Exception #1 Fire escape stairs shall be permitted on existing buildings as permitted in Chapter 8 through Chapter 32 but shall
not constitute more than 50 percent of the required means of egress.

Exception #2 Fire escape stairs shall be permitted t be erected on exisitng buildings only where the authority having jursidiction has determined tha outside stairs are impractical (see 5-2.2) New fire excape stairs shall not incorporate ladders or access windows, regardless of occupancy classification or occupant load served."

The rest of this section gives the required details for how it is to be designed to confrom to the Life Safety Code. So I would say you might have a shot at using a fire escape on a building, if you design it such that it works on an EXISTING BUILDING.

BOMA commercial standards (the method by which commercial buildings are typically measured in order to assign square footage to a tenant) do not allow for the counting and assigning of exterior balconies. These stairs would technically fall in that category and therefore the developer 'eats' the cost.

My oppinion about fire ecapes are that interious stairs are a most serious fire hassard --- the vaccum build up in many storeage buildings are surprisingly strong. Fire ontop heating up the volumes of air ,the compression and the fire's attemt to level and ecape made it difficult for me to understand, why these instalations were justified . Emagine a feminin elderly gay being prepared to use a rope to ecape, case fire feached his 4's the floor flat --- but that were the options in all these elderly houses still not replaced with better and nicer houses.
I liive in one where I studied the forces of an internal backdoor ecape stair ,ant they are frightening. --- Did I mention that hackers are among the most covardy of coverds ? --- Anyway while some of us try make a better not a more smelly world , I advise heavy restrictions upon in particular , the ones that is a build on "Stair tower" as in old brick buildings ; this unikum in architecture tear the fragile brick morter apart ,crack the very building core, and shuld all be removed, as they assemble all or nearly everything, that made bad architecture bind with cheap engineering, today, millions and millions are spend doing just maintainment in stacks of these renter owned houses ,are asking expenses each 30' year --- a main building part ,new windows, new bath, a concept that often mean living in an aincient fire trap and paying way to much for the ones who need one, --- Exteriour fire ecapes yes, but realy it would be better spending that, on the main entrance. Ofcaurse you could remove the old brick "stairs towers" --- well most often I think they _shuld , as it could today, be replaced with a building core acting, as both that expensive kitchen, the bath ,toilet and other gadges possible by more area in each department, best of all ofcaurse would be, to replace all that maintainment expensiv crap with modern good houses -- and decent fire ecape it's possible just grab it, it's name are 3-DH.
Please let me add that I alway's advised people living high up, have the right tools ready ,case they had to run from a fire ; a huge Hammer one with realy long sharft and an adge , placed the right places and a bit knowleage about architecture could tell you, where to drive your way free, --- Forget the rope.
So where I live I continue to say "just spend the next 80 mill knowing in 20 years another many millions must be feed into this hell place made from bricks. Kill The Brick .

as i study for my licensing exam in july, i can't help but take notice of this particular thread (yes, anything relevant to fire codes, professional code of conduct, building by laws, contract administration, blah blah :) ). Although my building laws here in south east asia may not be applicable to where you are but you may find it interesting to note that in our uniform building by laws:

by laws 190 states -

"any permanently installed external staircase is acceptable as a required exit under the same condition as an internal staircase:

provided that such staircase shall comply with all the requirements for internal staircase. External staircases shall be separated from the interior of the building by walls and fire door of the same fire resistance rating as required for internal staircases."

the next by laws 191 also states:

"(1) no openings shall be permitted to be formed in the walls adjacent to any external staircase within a distance of 2 metres measured horizontally and 9 metres vertically below the staircase.

(2) ventilation openings to toilets or other protected areas are however exempted from this restriction.

(3) where windows or other glazed openings are required within these dimensions, they shall be fitted with wired glass and be kept in permanently closed position."

hmmm, i wonder whether it works in your american context?

sometimes i can't even read vin's post...its like gremlins in the brain. What's he on about now? Kill the Brick?

Kill the Brick....least it didn't have 3dh.....smile.

i like translating vindpust's posts...i've done it in a couple of threads.

you just have to get used to his choice of words aside from the spelling...he says things like:

"munk cells"...what he means is "monastery"

I still think it is better to focus on the main entrance ; establish a few options to ecape and simply jettison the internal stairs , maybe replace them with modern lattrice and toilets in Titanium replacable as a unit, a new owner can replace with more trendy colors of what it would cost case this was still a brick tower. Kill The Tower. Replace it with lattrice.

---- And ; trust me , I alway's thought americans had a good touch of the english language. See this as a compliment.

dammson.....so what does KILL THE BRICK translate to?

"They will not send bricklayers to the Moon"

Did you ever se this 3D-H ;

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1711/89d9jpggrwpk8.jpg

a code thread with 3dh, i've seen it mall!

can i see a 3dh submarine?

I want to learn this Program....3dh....I wanta learn this program.

"can i see a 3dh submarine?"

Not yet , but submarines are made for thousand times stronger , than what would be apropiate in space --- A minus one Atm. think about it ; the efford building submarines what they can restand and how little forces have to be met, in space. If what you want is not deep sea vessels but surface vessels there are examples. Submarines are proberly better build as a number of seperate but interconnected volumes ,but I guess 3D-H would perform well with shallow water submarines. Still space....

vind....I once did a rafting boat trip down the Colorado River with a structural engineer who worked for NASA, and I would beg to differ.
The Stresses on a space capsule are alot larger than those a submarine is subjected to. Space Capsules are constructed with a double skined chamber which is then put under extreme pressure to offset the pressure being applied to it from exterior forces....therefore
canceling out the forces. Which I found was a very interesting way to
build light and strong.

Recently there was a project I don't know why it was not continued, but it was something about delivering a super strong ballon into space, said to host living quarters or ment as a prototype for such by form fitting the internal preasure --- I would emagine a space shuttle , would be a dead-end in more than one perception ,the extensive use of petrochemical resins , thought to be the best, reinforced by specialised materials a continous design concept that specialise so much, that with this perception it realy are the best --- but as you said building light and strong requier a compleatly different mindset and produce rather different designs than when you are bound to add materials to protect others and that, in itself lead to tonneage issues. Still both submarines, planes and space shuttles share in common , design features that will be found in lapstrake row boats. The rib-stringer concept ,that far to often are a bad substitude, for a honeycomb structure . Fact is that you can emagine a space shuttle in micro welded Titanium, bases on a 3D-H structural system that will act as a cooling element, if that's what you want. Realy the ring after ring ,rib system you see in all aircrafts --- a system that still leave it to the paneling the skin, to enhance the forces. Instead of having a homogen honeycomb structure where each "ring" or frame overlap a number of others as in 3D-H ,and that way distribuate the twisting forces othervise to be handled by a fragine outher skin with to few ribs and stringers placed by chance --- the description of a wooden rowboat.

"kill the brick" is metaphorical...but more importantly, "kill the brick" means use 3DH!

to answer the original post,

1. the steel fire-escape stairways will need to cover with intumiscent fireproof paint and would be very expensive.

2. or build the fire-escape stairways in concrete which u can find everywhere mostly factory/institutional building.

3. not practical for residential, offices buidling in which the window view is very precious.