INTRODUCTION TO BUILDINGS
Building is a relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining or manufacturing.
Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes and functions. Buildings serve several needs of society-primarily as shelter from weather, 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).
1.2 Classification of Building Based on Occupancy The national building code of India (NBC) classifies the buildings into following nine groups,
based on the occupancy (type of use) of the building.
(i) Group A Residential Buildings
(ii) Group B - Educational Buildings (iii) Group C - Institutional Buildings
(iv) Group D - Assembly Buildings
(v) Group E-Business Buildings (vi) Group F - Mercantile Buildings
(vii)Group G- Industrial Buildings
(viii) Group H - Storage Buildings (ix) Group I - Hazardous Buildings
Group A-Residential Buildings
All those buildings in which sleeping accommodation is provided for residing permanently or temporarily with or without cooking or dinning or both facilities are termed as residential buildings. E.g. Apartments, Flats, Bungalows, Dormitories, Private Houses. Hotels, Hostels, Cottages, Holiday Campus, clubs etc. These buildings are further sub-divided into 5 groups, namely:
A-1 Lodging Houses
A-2 Family Private Dwellings
A-3 Dormitories
A-4 Flats
A-5 Hotels etc.
