MASENO UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ART AND DESIGN

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE & SPACE PLANNING & DESIGN 2 (ADI 302)

TUTOR: MARILYN APELLA

TASK: RESEARCH ON TYPES OF BUILDINGS: RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL,

INDUSTRIAL

MWACHAZE LISA WANJALA

BA/00865/011

12TH February, 2014

BUILDINGS

A building refers to any structure with a roof and walls

that stands in a certain place whether temporarily or

permanently. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and

function; through the years, buildings have been adapted

differently by the choice building materials, weather

conditions, land prices, specific uses and aesthetic

reasons. A building serves a number of reasons: provides

shelter; security, living space, privacy, to store

belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as

a shelter represents a physical division of the human

habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a

place that at times may be harsh and harmful).

Types of buildings

1. Residential buildings

These are any structures in which people dwell including

apartment complexes, houses, condominiums, duplexes,

mansions, dormitories, palaces, villas, bungalows,

nursing homes, public housing projects and many more. The

most common ones are houses and apartment complexes. All

these buildings, no matter how simple or complex; they do

have common division of spaces. Commonly referred to as a

house/home, a residential building has: living areas,

bedrooms, a kitchen, dining areas, washrooms, some have

lounge areas and laundry rooms. Circulation areas do

exist as they allow for easy movement throughout the

building. Zones in the building are considered during the

planning to ensure that the particular rooms are

functionally connected. During the initial stages of

planning, these work zones are referred to as bubble

diagrams; normally they give a guide on how spatial

planning of the interior space is to be and how the flow

of work will be.

It is almost natural to find inbuilt furniture in any

interior space. In the living areas, there is the wall

units, shelves, storage areas; the kitchen has inbuilt

kitchen cabinets, work tops, wine cellars, pantries;

bedrooms, wardrobes, dressers; washrooms, the vanity

tops, and storage cabinets.

A residential building can assume any type of floor plan,

from rectangular, to square, to circular, to open, to a

closed plan. The most common is the rectangular plan

since it is easy to maneuver and construct; the open plan

is also preferred since it is simple and easy to

construct too.

Service installation

In homes today, there are a variety of services that are

required for smooth running of a home and for comfort.

They are: plumbing; electrical wiring; intercom; HVACs

(heating, ventilation and air conditioning); security

systems such as fire alarms, smoke detectors; and

elevators in apartment complexes and condominiums. All

these services ensure that the very basic needs in a home

are met. Water, electricity, air conditioning; all are

present once these installations have been done.

Considering how fast the world is growing

technologically, intercoms have become also become very

common in homes. Telephone and internet services all fall

under this category.

Residential flat buildings

This term represents a particular group of residential

building types:

big house apartments

row apartments

courtyard apartments

stepped apartments

slab (block) apartments

tower apartments

A big house apartment

A big house apartment is a residential flat building,

which has the proportion and scale of a large detached

dwelling. It is a freestanding building in a landscape

setting. The big house can range in size from one to

three dwelling units per floor and is typically two or

three storey high. The big house can also be an

existing large house, internally subdivided into

separate apartments. This building type is best used

when:

the context is detached dwellings or similar

architectural forms, which are likely to remain

the character of the street, in terms of

consistent building form and front gardens, needs

to be maintained

rear landscape areas and mature tree plantings

are desired

there are existing large heritage houses on the

street

large houses, often heritage listed, are

available to be internally subdivided.

Row apartment

Row apartments are suited to a range of lot size because

they can be limited to four units around a central stair

or can be extruded along a street to allow multiple

collective entries and longer street-edge development.

Row apartments can be limited in height as a walk-up or

can be up to six storeys high. They can also be street-

edge aligned or set back within a landscape.

This building type is best used when:

limiting building height is a consideration

smaller flat building footprints are desirable

street-edge infill sites are being redeveloped

a larger development site requires a long block edge

building

rear landscape areas and mature tree plantings are

desired

a perimeter block is intended; row apartments can be

a component of a perimeter block

a vertical rhythm is desired to reinforce an

existing subdivision pattern or building pattern

mixed use is desired; row apartments can be street-

edge aligned and made suitable for commercial/retail

uses on the ground floor level or live/work

apartment layouts.

Courtyard apartments

A courtyard apartment is a residential flat building

which wraps around and defines an open space (courtyard)

or multiple open spaces on a site. The open spaces are

generally communal and provide a high quality landscaped

environment and outlook. Courtyard buildings are often

limited in height to four storeys to ensure adequate

daylight access to the open space and apartments.

This building type is best used when:

limiting building height is a consideration

the context is other residential flat buildings

corner sites, wide shallow sites, or sites with two

or more frontages are being developed

a landscape refuge is desired

sufficient building separation between adjacent lots

can be achieved

a building/open space/building rhythm is desired

along a street

a perimeter block is intended; L-shaped courtyard

buildings can be a component of a perimeter block.

2. Commercial buildings

Commercial buildings are buildings that generate a

profit, whether it be through capital gain or rental

income. Most buildings other than government facilities,

churches and residential homes fall under the category of

commercial property. Without commercial buildings, you

wouldn’t have access to many of the places you go and

services you utilize on a regular basis. These are any

structures used for business and can include:

skyscrapers, malls, shopping centers, gas stations,

hotels, supermarkets, coffee houses, night clubs,

brothels, warehouses.

Commercial buildings are located in areas that are mostly

set aside for commerce in a town. In most urban areas,

commercial buildings combine both functions such as

offices from the 2- 6 floor as the mezzanine floor is

left for retail use.

The most popular types of commercial buildings are:

Restaurants

Restaurants bring in their profit from diners, so

their income is based on capital gain rather than

rental income. The restaurant owners may or may not

own the building the restaurant is housed in. In

many cases, restaurant owners lease their buildings.

Regardless of whether a restaurant owner owns or

leases the building, it is still considered

commercial.

Spatial planning

Basic planning:

The cooking circle consists of; goods inwards (food

supplies), storage, processing (preparing, cooking,

serving, equipment cleaning) and goods outward (waste

disposal).

The server circle, all crockery and cutlery has to be

processed, even if it is disposable; goods inward

(supplies purchased), storage, processing (serving, moved

to table, returned from the table, storage for re-use)

and goods outward (disposal of breakages).

The customer circle; customers inward (parking,

reception, cloakroom), storage (bar, waiting area),

processing (food moved from circle two, drinks provided,

billing and payment) and customers outwards (coats

returned).

Public areas:

Seating area and table arrangement; differences in

seating area depends on:

Types of customers; price level, expectation

Types of establishment; self-service, waited

service, counter seating

Grouping; table sharing, flexibility of arrangement

Room characteristics; shape, obstructions, windows.

Furniture falls into four categories:

Fitted counters or bars

Fixed tables

Movable tables with legs or pedestals

Stackable tables.

Kitchen area:

Size and type, Staff accommodation, Safety and

security, Goods access, Storage area, Preparation

area, Cooking equipment, and Dishwashing.

Retail stores

Retail stores come in many shapes, sizes and

specialties. From grocery and department stores to

pet supply and book shops, retail stores are as

diverse as restaurants in terms of the sheer volume

of types that exist. Retail stores may be privately

owned, franchised or part of a corporate entity.

Their profit also comes from capital gain rather

than rental income.

Retail operations: independent, shops and stores operated

by individuals or sole trader with less than ten

branches; multiple, joint stock companies with ten or

more branches operated as a chain of stores including

large space users. Goods maybe own-branded products;

cooperative societies; concessions, granted right to use

land or premises to carry on a business such as catering

operations; franchises, contractual relationships between

two parties for the distribution of goods and services in

which the franchise sells a product designed , supplied

and controlled by the franchisor.

Spatial planning in retail buildings will depend on the

whether the premises are a market, shops or stores,

supermarkets, and shopping centers. In retail building,

circulation areas have to be adequate, food courts are

present and parking areas are built.

Offices

Lawyers, real estate agents, photographers,

accounting firms, event planners and a host of other

professionals need an office to conduct their

business, making office buildings a popular type of

commercial property. Offices are unique in that they

often house professionals from many different fields

and industries, with each professional renting their

own space in the building. Because of this, it could

be said that offices make their profit from both

capital gains and rental income.

Warehouse space (industrial commercial space)

Garages, distribution centers and a variety of other

establishments fall under the category of an

industrial commercial building. Industrial property

and warehouses are also considered to be industrial

commercial buildings.

Spatial planning

Storage area: mostly has a pitch-roof because; the column

pitch can be wide, are more adaptable to change of use or

changes dictated by new processes and they are more

suitable for installation of services such as cooled air.

Order picking and assembly: space demanded will vary

depending with the type of business involved and the

method of order assembly, in turn generated by the method

of dispatch and transport. Example is a breweries

warehouse that will dispatch whole pallet loads while a

pharmaceutical warehouse may handle and assemble and

assemble a large number of small items hence it may need

a large are for order assembly.

Loading bay and load accumulation area: loading bay is

the key link between the storage and distribution system.

Combines both inward and dispatch movements. It must

therefore provide enough space for: incoming goods to be

checked off, empty unit load devices to be removed and,

dispatch loads to be accumulated.

Office and amenity area: a large warehouse would mean

more staff for order picking during each shift. Washing

and changing facilities will also be required; a resting

area is also required.

Equipment maintenance areas: mechanical handling

equipment for internal use is battery-powered electric.

Batteries need to be changed after shifts of about 12hrs.

Maintenance areas require:

i. A distilled water supply

ii. 1 tone hoisting tackle for removing batteries

iii. Fume extraction and

iv. Acid resistant floor.

Health care

From your family practitioner’s office to large

hospitals in major cities, all healthcare facilities

are considered commercial buildings. Because people

are always in need of medical services, this remains

a popular form of commercial property. Nursing

homes, diagnostic centers, optometrist offices,

dental offices and all other types of medical

centers fall under the category of being a

healthcare-related commercial building.

Spatial planning

Choices to consider in the conceptual plan:

Air conditioning and energy consumption

Communication patterns

Differential fabric life and space standards;

equipment, mechanical services and internal layout

will need changes so many times before the

structural fabric decays, it should then be designed

to accommodate alterations and extensions without

jeopardizing the integrity of the structure.

Hospital areas: hospital entrances, out-patient section,

in-patient section, maternity ward, accommodation for the

elderly, accommodation for the elderly, accident n

emergency departments, operating department, x-ray

department, pathology department, rehabilitation

department, pharmacy department and many more.

3. Industrial buildings

These are structures in which raw material are converted

into finished products for human use including

manufactured goods, petroleum products and electricity.

They include: factories, breweries, foundries, mills

(wind mills, horse mills, water mills, and tide mills),

refineries and power plants. Industrial buildings contain

specialized equipment and machinery for processing of raw

materials to finished products. Industries can be

classified as:

a. Light industries include;

High precision work in a laboratory-like conditions

Small-scale craft workshops as are now being

encouraged in urban and rural areas.

b. Medium industries

There is need for great and careful thought in designs

in this field. Here industries can be subdivided into:

Light – medium small scale engineering and

assembly, clothing factories, paint shops

General – medium batch production of components

for other factories, medium – sized printing

Heavy – medium industries requiring intensive use

of buildings and services as in mass production.

c. Heavy industries

Examples; steel-making and ship-building require

space designed around the work or mechanical plant.

Spatial planning

Structural layout of an industrial building.

Industrial buildings have frames spanning in width

direction. The horizontal and vertical

bracings, employed in single and multi-storey buildings are

also trusses used primarily to

resist wind and other lateral loads.

These bracings minimize the differential deflection between

the different frames

due to crane surge in industrial buildings. They also

provide lateral support to

columns in small and tall buildings, thus increasing the

buckling strength.

Floors: Different types of floor are required in any factory

from their use

consideration such as production, workshop, stores,

amenities, and

administration. The service condition will vary widely in

these areas, so different

floors types are required. Industrial floors shall have

sufficient resistance to

abrasion, impact, acid action and temperatures depending on

the type of activity

carried out. High strength and high performance concretes

can satisfy most of

these requirements economically and is the most common

material used.

Foundation for vibrating machinery (such as reciprocating

and high speed

rotating machinery) should be placed upon rock or firm

ground and it should be

separated from adjacent floor to avoid vibrations.

Roofing and lighting: While planning a roof, designer should

look for following quality lightness, strength, water proof,

insulation, fire resistance, cost, durability and low

maintenance charges. Industrial operations can be carried on

most efficiently when adequate illumination is provided. The

requirement s of good lighting are its intensity and

uniformity. Since natural light is free, it is economical

and wise to use daylight

most satisfactorily for illumination in industrial plants

whenever practicable.

Ventilation: is important in an industrial building since it

removes heat and lets in fresh air, eliminates dust and

emissions. This can be done through natural means or by

mechanical means of using fans. The large height of the roof

may be used

advantageously by providing low level in lets and high level

outlets for air

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings.

The castings are made from molten metal according to

a client's specifications. This is done using a

furnace to melt the metals and then pouring them

into molds.

Wood, wax or sand is used to make patterns in the

shape of the desired part. Once the metal is

solidified, it is removed from the mold and goes

through a finishing process of grinding and sanding

to achieve the desired look.

Castings are widely used around the world in the

automotive industry as well as for ships and

airlines and in household goods such as

refrigerators and freezers.

Brewery

A brewery is a building dedicated to making beer.

Although beer can be made at home, breweries are

large industrial buildings with greater resources

than the average person. Their use of specialized

techniques and machinery enables breweries to

produce enormous amounts of beer.

There are various stages to brewing beer, from the

process of mixing the grains with water through

fermenting, conditioning and filtering. Although

much of this is performed by automated machinery,

brewery workers are required to monitor computers

and temperatures of water and liquids used in the

process.

Once the process is completed, beer is poured into

containers that eventually will be delivered to

bars, clubs and shops around the world.

Power plant

Power plants or power stations are huge industrial

facilities that burn fossil fuels such as coal, gas

or oil and convert it into electrical energy. At the

heart of every power station is a huge generator

that extracts energy from the fuel. Nuclear power

stations split atoms, usually of uranium, to produce

energy. The heat produced from the fuel is used to

turn water into steam, which in turn powers a

turbine that is connected to the generator. This

process goes through several stages before the

electricity is generated. Transformers boost the

electricity to extremely high voltage as it leaves

the plant and huge pylons carry the electricity to

wherever it is needed.

Conclusion

Buildings are in many types and spatial planning of

buildings cannot be exhausted as new ways will always come

up depending on one’s desire. Spatial planning is however

necessary to give guidance on the function of each interior

space. Control of traffic and activities in an interior

becomes easy.

References

Metric handbook planning and design data by David Adler

Design of Steel Structures by Prof. S. R Satish Kumar and

Prof. A. R Santha Kumar

Ezinarticles.com

www.ehow.com

quintewest.ca