PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING PLANNING

Planning of a building depends upon various factors like bye-laws, requirements of the owner, location of the site, climatic conditions, etc. These are only the guidelines and not the rules.

IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING

1. Aspect
2. Prospect
3. Privacy
4. Circulation
5. Roominess
6. Grouping
7. Elegance
8. Sanitation
9. Flexibility
10. Economy
11. Practical considerations 

ASPECT:

Ø  Different rooms of a building should be located as per their function of utility keeping in view of the direction of the sun and wind.

Ø  Rooms must get maximum advantages of these natural sources. 

Ø  A room that receives light and air from the particular direction is said to have an aspect of that direction.

Ø  The arrangement of verandah and gallery also provides a good aspect by projecting the building from the hot afternoon sun.

Type of Room	Aspect
Kitchen	East, NE
Dining room	South, SE
Drawing room	South, SE
Bedroom	SW, NW
Study room	North
Store	North
Bath. W.C.	N, NE

PROSPECT:

Ø  Prospect of the building is the desired view from the windows and doors located in the outer wall.

Ø  It also covered the placement of opening in the front wall to give the aesthetic appearance and on the other hand should cover some desirable views.

Ø  Doors and windows should be so placed that pleasant and notable features are revealed and desirable views covered.

PRIVACY:

Ø  This is one of the essential and important principles of planning. There should be privacy in the individual room as apart from other room and a building as a whole from other buildings.

Ø  In a residential building, the rooms should be planned that privacy is maintained in all the rooms.

Ø  In case of residential buildings, privacy can be secured by carefully planning the entrance, the proper grouping of all the rooms in their co-relation and by providing verandah, corridors, or passages suitably.

Ø  Study rooms need privacy in the form of isolation so that no disturbance.

Ø  In a residential building for bedrooms privacy must be maintained.

Types:

(1) External Privacy of all components of building with reference to all surrounding buildings, roads, etc.  Can be achieved by growing plants, trees, etc. and also possible by providing high windows with respect to roads, grounds, etc.

(2) Internal Privacy of one room from another room can be achieved by carefully positioning of doors & windows 

  CIRCULATION:

ØIt is nothing but the movement. This is two types of circulation

1)               Horizontal Circulation

2)              Vertical Circulation

Ø  Horizontal Circulation: this is the circulation for a similar floor i.e. it may be between rooms. e.g.- These are passage, corridor, halls and lobbies and linking of various blocks of apartment. The Area of horizontal circulation may be included of 20% - 25% of the total building area.

Ø  Vertical circulation: It is nothing but the movement of air in an upward and downward direction. There is normally a staircase for vertical circulation.  In multi-story buildings electric lifts, Staircase, lift ramp. Escalators etc. are provided for the proper vertical air circulation.  The area of vertical circulation is about 8% to 10 % of the total area.

ROOMINESS:

Ø  Roominess means getting maximum benefits from the minimum dimensions of the room.

Ø  The effect of roominess depends on the relative dimensions of length, width, and height of a room.

Ø  Of course square room costs minimum but it also has a minimum usable area whereas a rectangular room will give the more usable area

Ø  The height also plays a significant role in developing the desired effect of roominess. A small room with more height looks awkward while a large room with less ceiling height will give a very bad impression.

Ø  Hence, the room should have all dimensions proportional.

Ø  length to width ratio of 1.2 to 1.5 is desirable.

GROUPING:

Ø  The planning of various rooms or units of a structure in the proper correlation of their function and in due proximity with each other is known as a grouping.

Ø  E.g. in a residential building dining room should be close to the kitchen, at the same time the kitchen should be kept away from the main living room to avoid smoke and smell.

Ø  Main a bedroom should be so located that there is an independent and separate access from each room.

Ø  It is observed that because of grouping we can able to save unnecessary movements, perfect correlation, easy effective control, and the overall economy.

ELEGANCE:

Ø  Elegance is related to the effect produced by elevation, which depends upon the proportion of width and height, positions of doors and windows as also the choice of material

Ø  The term elegance is used to indicate the architectural effect produced by elevation.

Ø  The visualization of building elevation should always be kept in mind while preparing plans for any building.

SANITATION:

Ø  It includes providing light, ventilation, cleanliness, water supply and sanitary amenities.

Ø  Ventilation means the supply of outside air in the building.

Ø  It is achieved by proper positioning of doors, windows, and ventilators.

Ø  The sanitary units should be provided with non-absorbent flooring materials with proper slopes, dado on walls, continuous water supply, and proper ventilation.

FLEXIBILITY:

Ø  Present and future requirements of  a family change as the family expands.

Ø  It means room should be planned for one function that even if required it can be used for others.

Ø  Flexibility means planning the room in such a way which through originally designed for a the specific purpose may be used for other purposes also as and when desired.

Ø  In the residential building also many times to arrange a large gathering of people; small rooms are converted to a big hall by shifting wooden partition

ECONOMY:

Ø  The economy may not be a principle of planning but definitely, a factor affecting it

Ø  The building should have a minimum floor area with maximum utility

Ø  It will reduce the cost and hence will be economical

Ø  Economy should not be achieved at the cost of strength otherwise the useful life of a building will reduce

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Ø  Provisions for the future extensions without dismantling should be made while planning.

Ø  Elevations should be simple but attractive.

Ø  As far as possible sizes of rooms should be kept large