Design of Residential Building
• Largest single investment
• Residential building - building used for
dwelling
• RB can be divided into three major
areas.
1. Living area
2. Sleeping area
3. Service area
Requirements of different purpose rooms
and their grouping
• RB consists of various rooms for
different purposes.
• Convenient, comfortable to its inmates.
• A sense of invitation
• Designing a good house in a small
limited space plot is the real test of an
architect.
Rooms in a residential building.
1. VERANDAH:
Purpose:
2. Keeping cycles, scooters etc.
3. Waiting room
4. Serves as a passage
5. Sitting in the evenings
6. Protects the walls
• On the south and west
• 120 m wide – if used simply for passage
• ≥ 1.8 m wide – if used as a sitting room
or a waiting-room
• > 4 m wide - uneconomical.
2. LIVING ROOM
• Main area of contact with visitors
• Near the entrance verandah.
• Some times called drawing room,
drawing hall, a main living room or a
lounge.
Purposes:
1. Lounge for relaxing.
2. Reception room.
3. For holding social functions.
4. On special occasions - dinning-room.
5. Accommodate occasional guests.
6. On occasions of some religious
discourse - congregation room.
Light & ventilation:
Size:
• Normal size - 4m x 5m.
• Should be determined by the kind of
furniture needed.
• Depends upon the living standard of
the family
Furniture:
Location:
• Best if located near the entrance
verandah.
• Should not provide direct
passage/access to the bedroom and
W.C. or bathroom
• Should be adjacent to the dinning room.
• Should- Accommodate furniture
- allow proper circulation area
• Should be sufficiently lighted and offer
an attractive view of the surrounding
landscape, garden, etc.
• Should have a southern and, northern
aspect
• The room should be well ventilated and
lighted with large windows preferably
starting from the floor level.
• Glare of lights should be avoided in
living room
3. BED-ROOM:
• One spends more than one-third of his
life at rest, in sleep here.
• Two persons - supposed to occupy one
room
• A suitable allowance - for every piece of
furniture
• Quantity and quality of ventilation – than
the floor area.
Size:
4. DRESSING-ROOM:
• 4m x 3m - a good size for a bed room
• An oblong room - convenient
particularly than a square one
Location:
• Better if on the west , North-West or
South-west
• A bath room combined with a
dressing room attached to bed room
Ventilation:
• The position of the bed with respect
to the windows - cross air current
• The position of door - bed will be
screened when open rather than
exposed.
• A single leafed door
• Children of different sexes above ten -
different bed rooms
Furniture:
• Bed, chair, cupboard, small table, etc.
• Should be attached to the bed-room.
• Furniture: - cupboard, dressing-table
with a mirror and a chair.
• There should be ample light.
 Lights the body and not the
mirror
 If - electric - should not cause a
glare
5. KITCHEN:
“Architects should not be allowed to
design kitchen unless they know how to
cook.”
• Health, comfort and happiness
• May be adjacent to the dinning room or
separate
Location:
• Eastern or N.E. Corner
Equipment:
• Cabinets for storage, sink, stove,
working table, refrigerator, and garbage
bin
Lighting and ventilation:
• Light should enter the kitchen from
two directions.
• At least 15% of the floor area
• Too many doors should be avoided.
- two doors
• Outlook - should provide a cheerful
view.
Floor and wall surface:
• A smooth , grease proof, - proper slope
• Lower 1m height of the wall should also
have a smooth, tiled finishing.
Storage space:
• Space above the level of the table,
cabinets
• The space below the table
6. DINNING ROOM:
• Used mainly for dinning purposes
• May be a separate, allocated in kitchen
or attached with living room
• Providing a separate dinning room is a
luxury and wasteful
• A combined living & dinning room is the
latest trend
• Better to make the division by means of
removable or folding partition
 • If separate, it should be located near
kitchen as possible
– Kitchen - should be screened
• Service window may be provided
• Should be provided with cup boards and
a wash basin in a corner
• Size - depends on type of furniture and
the number of people to be served
– Minimum width - 3m.
7. STORE ROOM:
• A place where things can be stored
• For articles which are stored for long
time
• Should be close to kitchen and garage
8. BATH ROOM AND W.C.:
• Should be provided with natural light and
ventilation
–Windows - exterior wall
• Should be approachable from all the
rooms
• Should not be directly over or under
any room other, than another W.C.,
Washing place, bath or terrace unless it
has a water tight floor
• Wall or partition - smooth material to a
height of not less than 1m above the
floor.
• Should not be open directly into any
kitchen or cooking space by a door,
window or other opening
Size:
• Bath room - not less than 1.5 x 1.2m
or 1.8m2
• W.C. - Minimum - 1.1m2
• Combined - not be less than 3m2 with
a minimum width of 1.5m.
• Height - not less than 22 m
 Equipments:
• Bath tab , W.C. ,Wash basin, overhead
showers ,towel rail, hook hangers, a
looking mirror, and space for keeping
soap, tooth brushes etc
• Door - not be less than 65 cm
• Should not have doors opening into
10. GUEST ROOM:
different rooms
• The door - when open it would screen
the actual place of bath or W.C. Pot
• At least one common bath room should
be provided
• No bath should need to cross the
entrance hall from bed rooms
9. STAIRCASE:
• Provide inter- communication between
the floors
Location:
• Should be located in a place easily
accessible to all the members of the
family
• Should be well lighted and ventilated
• Minimum clear head room - 22m.
• Minimum clear width - should not be
less than 1m
• Maximum rise and width of tread shall
be 15cm & 30cm respectively.
• A spare room is welcome even in a
small house
• Can be used for other purposes. For
example - library
• Should have a small verandah and
bath room or at least a toilet attached
to it.
• As far as possible be, independent of
other rooms except the drawing-room
and front verandah
• Should have an independent access to
the general bath-room and W.C
11. CHILDREN’S ROOM OR NURSERY:
• Middle class families cannot afford to
allocate a separate room for the
nursery
• Should be under the eye of the mother
working in the kitchen
• In small houses, a room or even a
verandah adjoining the kitchen would
be very suitable for this purpose
• Should have cross ventilation without
causing a perceptible draught.
• Sufficient but not such as would cause
a glare.
• Should have a sunny aspect with large
low windows
12. GARAGE:
• Advantages of garage built as parts of the
house:
• No need to walk over rain to reach
garage
• Quite close and handy to look over
car
• Ease transport of goods from garage
to kitchen
• Width - 2.5m to 3m & length - 5m to 6m.
• Approach - at least 2.5m wide and as far
as possible, it would be straight
• There should be at least a window
provided for admitting light
• Door - rolling shutter
 Basic room Sizes
Space type Sizes
Living room 4.00 x 5.00 m
Dining room 3.50 x 4.00 m
Kitchen 3.00 x 3.50 m
Bath room 1.50 x 2.50 m
Bed room, master 3.50 x 4.50 m
Bed room 3.00 x 4.00 m
Entrance hall 2.00x 2.50 m
Utility 2.50 x 3.50 m
Hall width, Corridor 1.00 to 1.20 m
Stairs width 0.90 m
Garage, single 3.50 x 6.00 m
Garage, double 6.00 x 6.00 m
Basic door Sizes
Type of door Size
Front door 1.20 x 2.10

Back/side door 0.90 x 2.10

Interior room doors 0.70- 0.90 x 2.10

Single garage door 2.50 - 3.00 w x 2.10 h

Double garage door 5.00 w x 2.10 h