For our project, the canteen was designed with an area that would give an occupancy of 1400 people if we were to follow the default ASHRAE 62.1 occupancy, which is very high given the fact that about 2000 occupants are expected in the whole building. As for the lobbies, the expected number of occupants is also much lower than the values given by the default occupancy of ASHRAE 62.1.

I think I read some comments that the design value needs to be within 10% of the value given by ASHRAE 62.1 in terms of occupancy, isn't it possible to do without this requirement?

Thanks.