Author: haroonkhan

Substructure is the lowest portion of a building which is usually considered to be located below the ground level. The function of the substructure is to transmit the load of superstructure to the soil. The substructure is nothing but the foundation which is provided to give stability to the building and to distribute the load…

Parts of a building fall under two broad categories, viz., substructure and superstructure and all components of a building fall in any one of these categories.

This is a horizontal projection facing the open area including a handrail or balustrade to serve as passage or sitting out place.

The minimum floor area shall not be less than 1.1 m2 and height 2.2 m. This does not include a bathroom. Privacy is needed with arrangement for flushing the pan with water.

The size shall not be less than 1.5 m × 1.2 m or 1.8 m2 and height shall not be less than 2.2 m. If it is combined with a water closet, the area shall not be less than 2.8 m2 with a minimum width of 1.2 m.

Any room which is occupied or designed for occupancy by one person or more persons for the conventional usage is called as habitable room. The minimum height of these rooms should not be less than 2.74 m. Area of habitable room shall not be less than 9.5 m2 with a minimum width of 2.4 m, if…

It is the clear vertical distance from the finished floor surface to the finished ceiling surface. In case there is no finished ceiling surface, the underside of the joints or beams or tie beams shall determine the upper point of measurement.

The height of a building is its height above the ground level. For a flat roof construction adjoining a street, the height is defined as the vertical distance from the highest point of the roof of the building to the average level of the centre line of the adjoining street. For a sloped roof without…

This is the usable area of a building. In a residential building, it will exclude verandah, bathrooms, staircases, etc., and is about 50–65% of the total area.

It is the plinth area minus the area occupied by wall, door, openings, etc. Floor area ratio (FAR) is also known as floor space index (FSI) which is given as An FSI of 1.5 is now-a-days allowed for flats in most cities.