Current use of supported double height terrace in Apartment buildings.

Swapnil Dayanand Gade

(Fourth year B.Arch.)

Abstract:

Terrace is an integral element that can be found in almost every residential apartment building in India. The
physical modifications made by the residents to the terrace, in order to fit their utilitarian needs, is resulting
in diminishing its original identity. Since the alterations are always done and made without proper control, the
supported double height terraces are losing their originality. For builders, the provision of double height
terraces are profitable floor areas that are promoted as a symbol of modern living; but for residents the terrace
is additional floor space that can be transformed into interior spaces. This paper tries to investigate the current
use of supported double height terraces in residential apartments and the modifications done by the users to
them for their utilitarian purposes.

Keywords:
Terrace, current use, utilitarian needs.

1. Introduction: They were extensively used throughout Greece in

In Jam-packed, vertical city where every square
foot of living space counts, apartment flats with
semi-outdoor space can be a total bonus, especially
double heighted terraces. Different from a garden
apartment, which contains a patio on ground floor
and unlike balcony, which is small overhang barely
big enough to test whether; a terrace is semi-open
outdoor space that is extended portion of an
apartment flat.
Provision of double height terrace is governed by
national building codes. According to the byelaws,
supported double height terraces are those that are
open on one side with railings attached. The terrace
need to be double heighted i.e. having a height
equal to two floors that are within the building line;
not exceeding 20% of the built-up of the same
floor, may be permitted without counting in F.S.I.
Objectives:
 To study the various uses of supported
double height terraces. (attached to the flats
in residential apartments)
 To investigate various modifications done
(by the resident) to terraces after the
occupancy.
both public and private architecture; in Roman
Empire they were built in front of monumental
structures.
Terraces need not always protrude from a building;
a flat roof area (which may or may not be
surrounded by a balustrade) used for social activity
is also known as a terrace. In Venice, Italy, for
example, the rooftop terrace (or altana) is the most
common form of terrace found. Developed around
1500 CE, it remains little-changed today and
consists of a wooden platform with small spaces
between the floorboards. The altana was originally
a place where laundry could be hung out to dry
(hence the spaces in the flooring through which
water could pass). Today, however, the altana is
used primarily for social purposes.
In traditional Thai homes (or "cluster houses"), the
dwelling is built around a central terrace, or chaan.
One or more "house cabins" (small, enclosed
rooms) are placed around the edge of the terrace,
and set about 40 centimetres (16 in) higher than the
terrace to provide built-in bench seating.

1.1History:
Terraces were often used for private residences;
they are all over the world and throughout history.
Typical plan of a Traditional thai
house with central terrace.
The terrace is often pierced in the centre by a tree,
which along with the house cabin roofs and walls
provides shade, and may be decorated with large
flat ceramic bowls of fish and water lilies or by
A setback terrace outside a 19th floor
apartment on East 57th Street in New York.
potted plants.
More recently, architect Catherine Dee noted that
‘terrace is commonly used to link the structure to
landscape and is extension of the living space.’
According to architect Sophia Psarra, the terrace is
one of the most commonly used forms of
architecture in the 21st century, along with
entrance halls, stairs, and corridors.
2. Perception & Use:
It was observed that certain things were clear about
the perseverance of the residents towards using the
terraces. The use of terrace basically depended on:
 Location of terrace in their flats.
 The orientation of terraces with respect to
climatic conditions.
 Design of the terrace with respect to the
external surroundings.
User perception varied from person to person.
Some users felt that the terrace is a zone of
vulnerable transparency that challenged his\her
sense of the boundary between public and private;
where as some found it as a secondary semi-
outdoor leisure activity space that connected them
to nature.
3. Methodology:
For our research, secondary data was collected by
conducting case studies and primary data was
collected by conducting a survey for a set of 30
people. A questionnaire was prepared and was
mailed to the potential respondents.
Survey participants provided feedback in the
following general survey areas:
 Types of flats they live in.
 Current location of terrace
 Current usage of terrace
 Reasons for enclosure of terrace
 Types of enclosure to terrace
4. Case Study:
Three Case studies were carried out in order to
investigate the various uses of terraces.
Case 1: Windsor County, Ambegaon, Pune.
• Location of Flat with respect to apartment
building: 1st floor
• Flat type: 2BHK (950 sq.ft. approx)
• Location of Terrace: attached to the living
room (85 sq.ft. approx.)
• Terrace orientation: facing east side
Currently using the terrace for utility (drying clothes)
and sometimes sit-out space.
• Current Use: sit-out and utility (semi-open)
• Reason for enclosure: Privacy (being
overlooked by above window)
Case 2: Windsor County, Ambegaon, Pune.
• Location of Flat with respect to apartment
building: 9th floor (top storey)
• Flat type: 2BHK (950 sq.ft. approx)
• Location of Terrace: attached to the living
room (85 sq.ft. approx.)
The terrace is enclosed by installing
•aluminium
Terracewindows and corrugated
orientation: facing eastG.I.
side
sheets.
sheets
 • Current Use: Utility. (enclosed room)
• Reason for enclosure: weather conditions,
safety issue of infants.
Case3: Majestic Towers, Bibwewadi, Pune.
• Location of Flat: 5th floor
• Flat type: 3BHK (1500 sq.ft. approx)
• Location of Terrace: attached to the living
room (95 sq.ft. approx.)
• Terrace orientation: facing east side
• Current Use: leisure space (uncovered)
The terrace space is currently used as a secondary
leisure space where the family members spend their
spare time.
Questionnaire:
1. Which flat type do you live in?
• 1 BHK
• 2 BHK
• 3 BHK
• Other
2. Location of terrace?
• Attached to living room
• Attached to bedroom
• Common terrace - attached to both
bedroom and living
• Separate terraces for each room
3. Current use of terrace?
• Enclosed room
• Sit-out space
• Utility - drying clothes, keeping washing
machine, etc.
• Terrace garden - ex: growing veggies at
home, laying turf grass.
• Both - terrace garden and sit-out space
4. If you have covered your terrace, what is the
reason?
• Needed more space for utility and storage.
• Noisy surroundings / very close to terrace
of next flat
• Weather problems - harsh sunlight, rains,
winds
• I haven't covered my terrace yet.
5. How have you covered your terrace?
• Op-enable roof - retractable awning
• aluminium windows and corrugated roof
• I haven't covered my terrace yet.
6. Are you aware of the fact that covering the
terrace is illegal and could charge you a fee of
Rs.1300 to Rs.1500 per sq.ft.?
• Yes, indeed.
• No.
5. Results:
Results from the survey revealed that majority of
the respondents have covered (about 72.4%) their
terrace due to various problems – weather was one
of the major reasons (37.9%) that forced them to
cover their terrace followed by utilitarian needs
(20.7%). (figure 2)
The residents covered (basically enclosed) the
terraces in two types – (figure 1)
 By installing retractable roof (28.6% -
awning)
 By installing aluminium windows and
corrugated G.I. sheets (42.9%)
Figure 2
The types of flats the residents lived in played a
major role on the usage of their double heighted
terraces. Survey conducted revealed majority of the
residents lived in 2BHK apartments (53.3%).
Along with the type of flats the location of terrace
Figure 1
also affected the usage to the terrace. The survey
revealed that majority of the terraces were attached
to their living rooms (56.7%). (refer figure 4)

Figure 4
Failure of the builder to provide proper space for
their utility needs, resulted in residents converting
their terraces into dry terraces (46.7% - mostly used
of drying clothes, keeping washing machines, etc.).
About 37% of the users had utilised it as leisure
space by incorporating terrace garden and a small
sit-out space. (refer figure 3)
References:
https://archinect.com/news/article/150062400/the-
high-rise-apartment-terrace-is-evolving
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrace_(building)
A Review of Malaysian Terraced House Design
and the Tendency of Changing -
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi
=10.1.1.1033.6542&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Enclosed balconies: Complicity between builders
and users of taipei walk-ups -
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3025700
51_Enclosed_balconies_Complicity_between_bui
lders_and_users_of_taipei_walkups

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/b
mc-demolishes-part-of-kamala-mills-owners-
flat/articleshow/66077240.cms

Figure 3

5. Conclusion:
The builder lacks to provide sufficient amount of
space for the user’s daily utilitarian needs and
storage along with improper planning (orientation)
of the terrace.
Moreover, the increase in the number of family
members overtime compelled them to opt for more
interior space. This forced the residents to enclose
their terrace and utilise them as interior spaces.
Although the act of enclosing terrace has its
positive side, it has negative impact on overall
architectural elevation of the building; not only
terrace adds to the elevation of building but it also
acts a buffer between the indoor and the outdoor
environment thereby serving as passive cooling
device. Moreover, the architect could design such
a space that fits all the utilitarian needs and does
not compel the user to convert his/her terrace to be
enclosed.