Physical characteristics of a site may impose limitations on a building program ; therefore an early analysis of site data and conditions should be undertaken by the architect in order to ascertain and evaluate such limitations . Borings and samples taken at the site will provide information regarding location and extent of rock, bearing capacity of the subsurface strata at various levels, and the level of a water table.
A survey indicating boundaries, contours, or spot elevations is necessary and, in the case of difficult sites, such a survey may indicate terrain and other conditions which will strongly influence design decisions. Limitations imposed by difficult terrain‐in addition to those imposed by local laws or ordinances may limit such items as location of driveways and parking entrances.
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2.2 Utilities
Availability, adequacy, and location of site utilities enter into basic decision making.
A building or buildings may be located so as to minimize expensive service runs. Inadequacy or unavailability of certain services may require on‐site generation or disposal facilities.
2.3 Site Elements
The below diagrams possible relationships among site layout elements which normally occur in apartment development. As suggested by the diagram, it is desirable to limit cross traffic among circulation elements such as vehicular access and pedestrian access and to maintain proximity or easy access among activity elements
such as the dwelling unit, recreation, and parking. The relationships may be horizontally or vertically arranged, depending on density or tightness of a site. Emphasis on the importance of certain relationships may vary with the program; however, the basic elements and relationships remain. Building Access Figure 7 diagrams various means of building access and internal circulation, each with different advantages and degrees of suitability to specific design solutions.
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2.4 Building Orientation
Building orientation may be influenced by a number of factors such as site, view (desirable or undesirable), sun, and prevailing winds. Closely interrelated to building orientation is the question of internal circulation and floor layout of the building. Figure 8 indicates how different layouts lend themselves to solutions of site problems.
2.5 Apartment Layout
Form Plan Characteristics Merits Demerits
Centra
l
Has a doubleloaded corridor
More
accommodation
Less privacy and more noise
Open central corridor
Has a single loaded corridor, one side opening
Well lighted and ventilated
Tower Central access to
flats around
compact plan usually symmetric &
max floor area
Cross plan Shape cross with
central access
Circular Circular Compact central
access
Odd shape of dwelling units
Free
form
Can be any formsuitable to site
More design flexibility
Irregular shaped dwelling units Terraced
form
Has a stepped external form
Open to sky terraces, good lightening and ventilation
L
2.6 Open spaces and semi open spaces in apartments
Outdoor spaces used for a variety of activities are very important in the individual context. Very often these spaces are sacrificed to accommodate a large number of flats.
Whenever open spaces are provided they are not appropriately designed to soil, the needs of the people. These lacks of open spaces discourage the social, cultural and economic activities which can take place anywhere.
· Courtyards, setbacks, corridors, staircases, parking lots are usually the various interpretations of open/semi open spaces at back level.
· Open/semi open spaces are interpreted in the form of balconies and terraces in apartments at the unit level.
· Due to certain inevitabilities like space constraints and the buildings attitude purely open spaces are hard to achieve. Hence the balconies semi‐open spaces become the object of focus.
· In apartment, the balcony serves as the sole nexus between the inhabitants and the surrounding environment, which is a crucial factor in the life of a man. Hence the optimum location of physical space and the right interpretation of a balcony would enhance the following activities.
· The physical, visual and psychological links between the balcony and the closed spaces is an important factor determines its usage. Apart form the usual design consideration specific aspects like visual access in and out of degree of enclosure affects the balcony to some extent.
2.7 Circulation
They are basically in two ways vertical and horizontal. Staircase, ramps, lifts come under vertical circulation. Corridor, lobby, open spaces come under horizontal circulation.
· Staircases: a well placed and designed stair should be provided as easy quick and safe mode of communication between various floors. It should be located so that sufficient height and ventilation is ensured in the stairway. Width of the staircase varies with the situations, the purpose, no of people using the means.
· Ramps: ramps with a slope not more than one in a ten may be substituted for stairways the maximum width of ramps in residential shall be 2m.
· Elevators: for above 15m high building lifts has to be provided. Capacity of lifts preferred for apartments is 08‐13 numbers of persons. Minimum dimensions are 8’x5’.
· Horizontal circulation: aisle width is 1980mm, subsidiary aisle is 990mm.
· Width of lobby having: lifts on one side – 1.8 m– 3.7 m Lifts on two sides – 3m 0 3.6 m
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2.8 Earthquakes
The earthquake shocks because a movement of ground this movement causes the structure to vibrate. The predominant direction of vibration is horizontal. The effect of the vertical force is practically negligible compared to the horizontal force.
For the purpose of determine seismic forces the country is divided into 5 zones. Zone one is the least affected area and covers most of the deccan trap area and portion of
Rajasthan and Orissa. The most severe zones cover Assam, Kashmir and part of Bihar and Kutch. Hyderabad comes under zone one and its basic horizontal coefficient is o.o1
2.9 Wind loads
The wind pressure results in the horizontal thrust on building. Higher the building more is the effect of wind. The basic wind pressure in India varies dorm 60kg. Sq.mt up to a height of 30m. The east coast of the country comes under the highest category. The
pressure on west coast varies from 100‐150kg.sq.mt. the influence of a severe storm after striking the cost does not exceeded beyond 65‐75km and thus practically all the interior parts of the country fall under 60kq.sq.mt category. The effect of wind on a tall structure is show in the figure, if h is less than 2a the stability calculations can be ignored for wind pressure.