N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 27-358: § 27-358 Occupant load.

The number of occupants for whom exit facilities shall be provided shall be established either (1) by the actual number of occupants for whom each occupied space, floor, or building, as the case may be, is designed, or (2) by using the appropriate occupant-area ratios from table 6-2, whichever is larger. The occupant load of any space shall include the occupant load of all spaces that discharge through it in order to gain access to an exit.

TABLE 6-2 Occupant Load Requirements Net Area Table

Occupancy

Net Floor Area per Occupant (sq. ft.)

Billiard rooms

50

Bowling alleys

50

Classrooms

20

Dance floors

10

Dining spaces (nonresidential)

12

Exhibition spaces

10

Garages and open parking structures

250

Gymnasiums

15

Habitable rooms

140

Industrial shops

200

In schools

30

Institutional sleeping rooms

Adults

75

Children (except as listed below)

50

Day Care

a. under 6 mos.

50

b. 6 mos. 2 yrs.

40

c. 2 yrs. 6 yrs.

30

Institutional staff, all

30

Kindergartens

35

Kitchens (nonresidential)

200

Laboratories

50

Preparation rooms

100

Libraries

25

Locker rooms

12

Offices

100

Passenger terminals or platforms

1.5xC

Sales areas (retail)

1st floor or basement

25

All other floors

50

Seating areas (audience) in all places of assembly

Fixed seats

D

Moveable seats

10

Skating rinks

15

Stages (See subchapter eight)

Standing room (audience) in all places of assembly

4

Storage rooms

200

Notes: C – capacity of all passenger vehicles that can be unloaded simultaneously. D – designed number of seats or occupants.

(a) Unlisted occupancies. Where data regarding the sq. ft. per person for an occupancy is not listed in table 6-2, the occupant load shall be established by an architect or engineer, subject to the approval of the commissioner.

(b) Modifications.

(1) When the actual occupant load of any space will be significantly lower than that listed in table 6-2, the commissioner may establish a lower basis for the determination of the occupant load.

(2) When a building existing on December sixth, nineteen hundred sixty-eight is altered or changed in occupancy or use so as to require enlarged exit facilities, the commissioner may authorize the alteration or change in occupancy or use without an enlargement of exit facilities, provided the occupant load is limited to that accommodated by the existing exit facilities as determined by the provisions of this code, and the building or space is posted accordingly with a sign. Such signs shall be at least twelve inches in width and sixteen inches in height. The lettering shall be red on a white background. The letters shall be not less than one inch high and the numerals not less than one and one-quarter inches high.

(c) Nonsimultaneous occupancy. The occupant load of toilets, locker rooms, meeting rooms, storage rooms, employee cafeterias, and similar rooms or spaces that are not occupied at the same time as other rooms or spaces on the same floor of a building, may be omitted from the occupant load calculation of the floor on which they are located to the extent that such spaces serve occupied rooms on the same floor.