How to choose an elevator for an office building based on people flow

Office elevators must be able to handle the building’s daily traffic. Before choosing an elevator system, a traffic analysis should be carried out. It is also important to identify the times when demand is highest.

The most important factors to assess include:

• Number of employees and regular users

The number of people using the building is the starting point. An office with twenty people does not have the same requirements as a tower housing several companies. This figure can be used to estimate how many trips the system needs to handle and the capacity required for each cabin. Visitors, suppliers and external personnel must also be taken into account.

• Number of floors

The height of the building directly affects the duration of each trip. Each additional floor increases the distance traveled. Stops also add seconds to the total journey time. In taller buildings, these times can add up and increase waiting times for people who need to reach the upper floors.

In an office building with only a few floors, travel distances are shorter. A moderate speed may be sufficient to provide an efficient service. Taller buildings, however, require faster elevators. This reduces travel times and prevents waiting times from building up.

• Distribution of users by floor

Not all floors experience the same level of traffic. A reception area concentrates the arrival of visitors and suppliers. A meeting room can generate several trips within a few minutes. In contrast, an office area usually maintains a more consistent flow throughout the working day.

This difference affects how office elevators are used. If many people travel to the same floor during specific periods, the system must be able to handle that volume without significantly increasing waiting times.

• Entry, exit and peak hours

Work schedules completely change the pattern of vertical traffic. Early in the day, many people travel upward from the entrance to their workplaces. At the end of the afternoon, this flow is reversed.

Peak periods are not always limited to these two times. They can occur before a meeting, during the lunch break or at the end of an event. Identifying these peaks helps to determine the appropriate capacity for office elevators.

• Inter-floor traffic

In some buildings, users frequently move between departments. This occurs, for example, when meeting areas are located on a different floor from their workspaces.

Inter-floor traffic should be analyzed separately. An elevator designed only for travel to and from the entrance may not be sufficient. The installation must accommodate the usual travel patterns within the building.

• Cabin capacity and number of elevators

The cabin should be sized according to the type of building, its use and its traffic requirements. A small cabin may work well in a building with low traffic. In a busy office building, however, the same cabin could lead to queues.

The number of elevators is also a key factor. Two office elevators can distribute traffic more effectively than a single unit. They also provide an alternative when one of the elevators is undergoing maintenance.

• Elevator speed

Speed affects the duration of each journey. In an office building with only a few floors, a moderate speed can provide an efficient service. However, in taller buildings, journeys are longer and each stop adds to the total travel time.

In these cases, a faster elevator helps reduce journey times, allowing it to return sooner to the floors with the highest demand and preventing waiting times from building up.

• Average waiting time

Waiting time begins when a person presses the call button and ends when the elevator doors open.

When waiting times are frequently long, people gather in front of the elevator, creating queues and delaying their arrival at their workstations, meetings or other areas of the building. Measuring waiting times helps determine whether the elevator system is adequately handling the volume of users.

• Travel time

Travel time begins when the user enters the elevator cabin. It includes the journey to their floor and any stops made along the way.

This figure does not always correspond directly to elevator speed. A fast elevator may take longer if it has to stop at several floors. Therefore, travel time provides a better indication of how the system performs during actual building use.