Principles of Building Planning

Building Bye–laws and Regulations

Planning of Residential Buildings
 Syllabus
Principles of Building Planning: Introduction – Selection
of site – Aspect, prospect, furniture requirements,
roominess, grouping, circulation, privacy, sanitation,
elegance, economy, flexibility and practical considerations
Building Bye–laws and Regulations: Introduction –
Objectives of building bye-laws – Principles underlying
building bye-laws – Terminology – Floor area ratio (FAR),
Floor space index (FSI) – Classification of buildings –
Open space requirements – Built up area limitations –
Height of the buildings – Wall thickness – Lighting and
ventilation requirements.
 Syllabus
Planning of Residential Buildings: Introduction –
Minimum standards for various parts of the buildings –
Requirements of different rooms and their grouping –
Verandah – Drawing room – Bed room – Kitchen –
Dining room – Store room – Bath room – Water closet
– Staircase – Garrage.
Principles of Building
Planning
 Introduction
Plan of a building is the assembling or grouping and arranging
of its component parts in a systematic manner and proper order
so as to form a meaningful wholesome and homogeneous body
with a comprehensive look out to meet its functional purpose.
Planning of the building depends on:
1. Its functional object and requirements
2. Its component parts, their sizes and the relationship between
the different rooms
3. (i) Shape of the plot - Regular or Irregular
(ii) Topography - Levelled
- Plain plan
- Steepy sloping
- Split level plan
 Introduction
4. Climatic conditions of the place
- Open as with extended arms
- Closed and compact
5. Its location and neighbourhood
6. (i) Whether single storeyed or multi-storeyed
(ii) Detached, semi-detached or row houses
 Site Selection
Selection of site for any building is a very important and should be
done very carefully by an experienced engineer.
The requirements of site for buildings with different occupancies
are different.
The site which is suitable for residential building may not be
suitable for other purpose buildings.
So all the buildings proposed for different purposes have different
requirements and thus different considerations for their site
selection.
Considerations applicable for site selection of residential buildings
have been listed in this chapter. It is almost impossible to find such
an ideal site fulfiling all the conditions.
However, these considerations will remind of all the desirable
things at a glance and it is for the individual to discriminate those
points only on which greater stress is to be given.
 Site Selection
If available, a free hold plot is the best of all. If it is lease-hold
plot, the period of the lease should be at least 99 years.
The site should be in fully developed area or in the area which
has potential of development.
There should be good transport facilities such as railway, bus
service, for going to office, college, market, etc.
Civic services such as water supply main, drainage sewers,
electric lines, telephone lines etc, should be very near to the
selected site so as to obtain their services with no extra cost.
Soil at the site should not be of low soil bearing capacity . The
buildings constructed over such soils normally undergo
differential settlement and sometimes, become the cause of
collapse. Cracks in buildings in such conditions, are quite
common.
 Site Selection
Building site if choosed in depression causes drainage problem.
The selected site should be large enough, both to ensure the
building abundant light and air and to prevent any over
dominance by the neighbouring buildings.
If the site is sloping, it should be rising towards the back and not
towards the front.
The ground water table at the site should not be very high.
Nearness of schools, hospitals, railway station, market etc. are
considered good for residential house site but these facilities do
not carry any significance in the selection of site for other public
buildings.
Good foundation soil should be available at reasonable depths.
This aspect saves quite a bit in the cost of the buildings.
 Site Selection
Residential house sites should be located away from the
busy commercial roads.
Residential houses should not be located near workshops,
factories because such locations are subjected to
continuous noise.
Avoid a site in the neighbourhood of quarries, brick kilns
lime kilns, dirty nallas etc. which are not kept clean.
Area of the plot should be enough for your present
requirements with sufficient provision for future enhanced
Don't make hurry in buying.
Orientation of the site also has some bearing on its
selection.
 Site Selection
Always try to acquire plot on that side of the city which has
better prospectus of development.
While making site selection for any building it is better to
go through the master plan of the city once. This will give
you an idea as to which side there are better prospectus of
development.
In the end it can be said in short that site selection
involves considerations in following five heads :
1. Physical conditions
2. Type of soil
3. Sanitary requirements
4. Civic facilities
5. Climate conditions such as sun, wind etc.
 Principles of Building
Planning
The factors or principles which govern the theory of planning
are explained in detail as shown below:
 Aspect
Prospect
Privacy
Furniture requirement
Roominess
Grouping
Circulation
Sanitation
Flexibility
Elegance
Economy
Practical considerations.
 Aspect
Aspect is a very important consideration in the
planning of a building. It influences the appearance of
a building.
A building must be designed to suit the site with all its
varying aspects.
Aspects not only provide comfort, but are a requisite
from the hygienic point of view as well.
Each room of a residential building should have a
particular aspect because certain rooms need morning
sun and other rooms need less light.
 Aspect
The arrangement of doors and windows in external
walls of a building will allow the occupants to receive
and enjoy nature's gifts as sunshine, breeze and scenic
beauty of landscape and at the same time protecting the
inmates from their ill effects.
The manner of arrangement of rooms or peculiarity of
arrangement of the doors and windows in the external
walls of the building to draw maximum advantage
from sun and wind is termed as aspect.
A room which receives light and air from a particular
direction is said to have aspect of that direction.
 Aspect
Room Recommended Influencing Factor
Aspect
Bed NW-W-SW To receive plentiful of breeze
in summer.
Kitchen E and SE To receive morning sun
which is germicidal. It
purifies the air. It should be
well illuminated and cool in
afternoon.

Dining SE-S-SW Proximity of kitchen. It

should be cool.
 Aspect
Room Recommended Influencing Factor
Aspect
Drawing SE-S-SW-W Adequate natural lighting
during winter and Avoid the
sun during summer.

Reading N-NW Light from north being

diffused and evenly
distributed and cool.

Store NW-N-NE Dark and cool.

 Prospect
It is to enrich the outside view i.e., elevation or end-view
created by prominently exposing the better constructed
and better looking portions and at the same time
concealing from the view any undesirable ones.
Prospect must not only make outer appearance attractive,
but also maintain qualities such as comfort, cheerfulness,
security, labour-saving and up-to-date ness.
It must also prove a good investment.
The outside appearance can be improved by attractive
planning, providing bay windows and utilization of good
landscape or seascape.
Prospect
Prospect
 Furniture Requirement
One of the most important requirements of a building
planner, is to know how much space is needed by each
function in a particular building.
The room sizes for a particular function can be
completed on the basis of permanent furniture to be
used in that room as the furniture dimensions are
standardized.
How much space is required for performing a
particular activity is known through anthropometric
science.
Hence, arranging furniture in that particular room
keeping clearance for circulation, dimensions of
furniture can be finalized.
 Furniture Requirement
Hence, while planning a building, furniture
arrangement must be shown to justify the size of a
room.
Room areas are not related only to furniture sizes, but
also to their arrangement.
A different layout if arranged in the same space may
not be equally efficient.
Hence, planning of a room depends on the number of
users and on its furniture and equipment.
 Grouping
Grouping is the planning of two or more related rooms
in proximity of each other.
It minimises the circulation and at the same time
improves the comfort, privacy and convenience of the
inmates of the house.
Grouping varies according to the type of a building.
All public buildings should be designed taking into
consideration the movement of persons from one unit to
another without causing disturbance to the other units.
The shape of a building depends upon grouping of
various individual units.
 Grouping
The following points are to be considered while planning
residential buildings:
Verandah adjacent to the drawing room has its own advantage.
When the visitors are more in number they can be
accommodated on the verandah. The furniture from the
drawing room should be disturbed through the minimum
length.
The dining room close to the kitchen permits an easy serving
of dishes in the desirable state i.e., hot or cold.
The bed room, toilet and dressing room may be grouped
together for better privacy.
The bath room and water closet should be nearer to each other.
This saves the length of the water supply pipe.
 Grouping
• Kitchen should be nearer to the backyard and the doors and
windows are so located that the housewife can have a free
unobstructed sight of the children playing in the open space
or in the drawing room.
• If more than one bedroom is provided, they should have an
easy access to the drawing and dining-rooms.
• Staircase should be centrally located and easily accessible
from all the rooms.
• The water-closet should be away from dining-room and
this is mainly to get privacy of sound and the psychological
feeling of being away from the insanitary place.
 Flexibility
Flexibility means that a room which is planned for one
function be used for other, if so required.
It is the ease with which a room designated for a
particular activity can accommodate more load
temporarily or sometimes may have to supplement the
activity of another room as the drawing room being
used as a bed room for guests, kitchen as an additional
dining room etc.
If the rooms are big enough (more than 15 sq m) and
have a minimum width of then they are more flexible
and even the activities of various rooms can be
exchanged.
 Flexibility
A bigger drawing room, a number of rooms and
verandahs, offer better flexibility.
Independent access to bath and toilet is a basic feature
of flexibility.
Flexible planning is very important for public and
commercial buildings.
If a particular building is designed for a school, it can
be used for a bank when school running is not a
success.
 Elegance
Elegance is the grand appearance of a building attained
mainly owing to the elevation which in turn depends on the
plan.
Selection of site for the building greatly affects the elegance.
A building located in a depression will always give depressed
elegance, whereas that located on an elevated spot gives
impressive appearance.
Without elegance even a best-planned building may not have
beauty whilst a poorly planned building, if given a slight
consideration on front portion may produce good elegance.
Also elegance depends on architecture, neighbourhood,
conformity with nature, nativity, adjoining buildings and their
relative placement which governs the contrast.
 Elegance
A type of architecture which created a sensational feeling at one place
may be a miserable failure at another place because of lack of
conformity with neighbourhood, environment and natural background.
A better elegance can be obtained by
1. Selecting superior building materials for facing such as polished
stone-granite, marble or mosaic.
Glass - either transparent or opaque, coloured or plain.
Timber - polished teak or sun-glass.
Paints and varnishes with proper contrast
2. Providing projections like sunshades, balconies, canopies, porch with
or without pergola openings.
3. Providing bay windows, corner windows etc.
Aesthetics, utility and easy maintenance are to be considered while
planning elevation. Dark pockets, dusty areas and elements depriving of
privacy are to be avoided.
 Economy
The building should have minimum floor area with
maximum utility.
It will reduce cost of construction and hence will be
economical.
Economy should not be achieved at the cost of strength,
otherwise the useful life of a building will reduce.
Only with proper planning and utility of space being
maximized (passage being minimized), it should be
achieved. Hence, economy may not be a principle of
planning but it is definitely a factor which affects planning.
Economy restricts the liberties of an architect on aesthetic
development upto certain extent.
 Economy
Economy can be achieved by implementing the following
measures without affecting the utility and strength of the
structure.
Providing simple elevation.
Dispensing of porches, lobbies and balconies.
Reducing the storey height.
Reducing the number of steps of stairs by giving more rise to
the steps.
By standardization of sizes of various components and
materials.
The present trend of construction is towards simplicity.
Simplicity and effect of lasting beauty and stability to a building.
 Privacy
Privacy is the screening provided for the individuals from the
others.
It is different from seclusion(being private).
It is one of the important principle in the planning of
buildings of all types in general and residential buildings in
particular.
If they lack in respect of privacy, it is a shocking bad fault
which cannot be compensated even by a host of other merits.
Privacy can be a privacy of sight as needed in bath rooms,
water closets and urinals etc. or privacy of sound as needed
in confidential discussions and in study room, or both
privacy of sight and sound as required in a bed room.
Privacy
 Privacy
Privacy is broadly classified as:
(1) Internal privacy
(2) External privacy.
Internal privacy: Internal privacy is the privacy
within the building. It cane easily achieved by
Proper grouping of rooms as bed, dressing and toilet,
kitchen and dining.
Careful planning of entrance and circulation space.
Better disposition of doors and windows and mode of
their hangings.
 Privacy
External privacy: Privacy of the whole building with
reference to the surrounding buildings and roads. External
privacy can be achieved by:
i. Having a compound wall to a height of 1.35 m to 1.5 m.
ii. Planting trees along the compound walls which acts as sound
barriers and sight barriers as well.
iii. Providing ground glass windows and ventilators. Venetians
have the advantage of offering privacy as well as air
circulation.
iv. Providing screen walls, curtain walls and dwarf wall on
verandah.
v. Planting creepers along the boundary fencing or growing
shrubs.
 Circulation
Circulation is the access into or out of a room.
It is the internal movement inside a building and the area
earmarked for it.
It is the space used for getting comfortable communication
from one room to another or from one floor to another.
The position of doors states that the area of circulation
which in turn controls privacy, comfort and convenience.
Circulation inside a house should be simple, systematic
and short.
The sequential operations like the movements from kitchen
to dining and bed to toilet control the provisions for
circulation.
 Circulation
Circulation area should be straight, short, bright,
lighted both day and night and well ventilated.
Circulation should neither affect the privacy of a room
nor interfere with the utility space.
Circulation in a building is of two types:
1) Horizontal circulation
2) Vertical circulation.
When the circulation is within the same floor, it is
called horizontal circulation and when it is between
different floors it is called vertical circulation.
 Roominess
It is the general feeling created after a room is well-furnished
with all the permanent furniture (as the beds inside a bed
room) as a spacious and well-planned.
The room dimensions should be such that the maximum use of
a room having minimum possible dimensions can be made. It
means the accomplishment of economy of space, at the same
time avoiding cramping of the plan.
Some rooms may create the impression of being
crammed(completely filled) with furniture, where as some
others may create a tunnel-like feeling as we enter.
A square room has no advantage and a rectangular room of the
same floor area gives a better outlook. A simple illustration
can be given of comparing square room with a rectangular
room.
 Roominess

 Roominess
Similarly height also plays an important role. A large room
with less ceiling height will give very bad impression, and a
small room with large ceiling height will produce an shape
effect. Hence, room should have all proportional dimensions.
The utility of space in a room can be increased by providing
built in cupboards to accommodate furniture, especially
furniture of an easy-folding nature.
Position of doors, circulation space, cupboards, lofts and
their relative levels control the roominess.
Light colours create the effect of more space, whereas dark
colours make the room look smaller. Hence, a combination
of light and dark colour for different walls of the same room
will apparently reduce the effect of less width and more
length.
 Sanitation
It is the provision and upkeep of the various
components of a house to keep the inmates cheerful
and free from disease.
The factors influencing sanitation are
1. Lighting
2. Ventilation
3. Cleanliness.
 Cleanliness
Dust harbours bacteria.
Besides rendering the surface dull, it creates health
problems.
Hence, the floor which receives most of the dust should
be smooth, impervious, non-absorbing and uniformly
sloping so that it collects less dust and is easily cleaned.
Dampness is the root cause of infection. Hence, walls and
floors should be damp-proof.
 Sanitary conveniences such as bath and water-closet
should be so designed that the wastewater drains off as
quickly as possible.
 Cleanliness
Their flooring should be smooth, impervious, non-
absorbent, non-slippery and given proper slope for the
quick drainage.
Also their walls are to be finished with glazed tiles to a
height of one metre above the floor level.
The corners are preferably rounded off and this is for
the quick drainage.
Similarly wastewater generated in the kitchen must
find a way out in hygienic manner.
 Practical Considerations
Besides all the principles of planning discussed, the
following practical points should be kept in mind in the
planning of a residential building.
Strength and stability coupled with convenience and comfort
of the occupants should be the first consideration in planning.
The elements of the building should be strong and capable of
with standing the adverse effects of environmental factors
that are likely to arise.
As far as possible, sizes of rooms should be kept large. Larger
rooms can be shortened by providing movable partitions, but
smaller rooms cannot be enlarged.
 Practical Considerations
Life period of a building should be at least 50 years.
Money should not be spent unnecessarily for elaborate
architectural purpose like balconies, arches etc.
Use prefabricated elements for lintels, chajjas, steps
etc. This measure is useful in effecting economy.
If all bedrooms are in the first floor, lifts should be
provided for sick and old, at least one bedroom should
be provided in the ground floor for them.
The number of doors and windows should be a
minimum from the safety and strength point of view.