The document provides guidelines for residential building design and planning. It discusses factors like strength, stability, convenience, and accommodating future extensions. Larger room sizes are preferable to allow for flexibility. Plot sizes are categorized by income groups, with dimensions and coverage percentages specified. Building lines and setbacks are outlined to allow for parking, landscaping, and reducing fire risk. Maximum heights are provided for single-family and multi-unit dwellings. Plot relationships discuss breaks in continuous rows for visual interest and infrastructure access.
2. • Besides all the fundamentals of planning discussed, the following practical points
should be additionally considered:
• Strength, stability, convenience and comfort of the occupants of the building,
should be considered first.
• Provisions for future extensions without dismantling should be made in the
planning.
• The building should be strong and capable to withstand the likely adverse effects
of natural agencies (earthquake, flood, storm etc.)
• Elevation should be simply yet attractive. Too many porches may give good
elevation for some time, but in the end, simple designs fit better for generations.
• Larger size of the room should always be considered as far as possible as it can be
shortened by providing partitions, but smaller rooms cannot be enlarged easily.
3. Standard Size Of Building Components For Single Dwelling
Table no:1 Plot category by income group
Income group Plot categories* Sq. m Area:
appx.eq.sq.yds
High A B** 500
312
600
375
Middle C D 250
160
300
190
Low E F 105
72
125
85
4. *In privet housing scheme, no plot should exceed 1000 sq. m
**Plot category “A” may also be 420 sq. m (500 sq. yds.)
Standard dimension:
Front-depth ratios in the ranges of 1:2 to 1:2:5 are generally
recommended to minimize lengths of services runs. However, plot
dimension need to be considered in relation to climatic zone,
topography, permissible building area and stipulated building lines.
Source: NRM book
5. Standard Plot Dimension For
Single Dwelling With
Variants For Climate And
Topography
Table no:2 plot dimension
for single dwelling
Plot dimension Front x
Depth (meters)
Plot
category
Size
sq.m
Standard In extra dry hot warm
composite and island
maritime climate*
Hill side
plots**
A 500 15.50x32.25 15.50x32.25 32.2515.50
A1 420 14 x 30 14 x 30 30 x 14
B 312 12 x 26 12 x 26 26 x 12
C 250 10 x 25 10 x 25 25 x 10
D 160 8 x 20 10 x 16 20 x 8
E 105 7 x 15 10 x 10.5 15 x 7
F 72 6 x 12 8 x 9 12 x 6
6. *Large plots governed by services length minimization criterion, small plots by
internal courtyard criterion.
**High percentage of hill side plots maybe irregular owing to topography.
Maximum Coverage of Plot Size:
Maximum percentage of coverage of plot is related to plot size.
small plot necessitates a higher percentage coverage area to meet minimum indoor
space requirement.
on large plot, maximum covered area may be restricted to 65% in order to achieve
lower densities in keeping with higher income residential zone to allow space for
outdoor activity, landscaping, gardening and outside vehicle park.
Source: NRM Book
7. Table no:3
maximum
coverage of plot
Category Sq.m Most
prevailing by-
laws (%)
Recommended
maximum
ground coverage
(%)
Recommended
maximum
aggregated floor
area (%)
A 500 50-60 60-65 125
A1 420 50-60 65 130
B 312 60 65 130
C 250 60 65 130
D 160 70 70 140
E 105 70 75 150
F 72 70 75 150
8. Building Line and Space Around Building:
• Spaces around the buildings are used to achieve the following objectives:
• All the building can be erected along a common line thus improving the
general vista of the road.
• The space can be used for parking and/or gardening.
• The fire risk can be reduced by stipulating distance between neighboring
buildings.
• The indoor light and air circulation etc. Can be increased when desired.
• Street noise and dust can be reduced.
9. Building Line in General:
1. In case of plot A and B, a front space of 3m, a rare space of 3m and a single side
space is 1.5m are recommended. For category C, the front rarer and single side
should be 3m, 1.5m and 1.5m respectively.
2. In maritime climate zone, large front rear spaces are required. The depth of one
of these spaces should be 4.5m (15’) and other 1.5m (5’) for plot category A and
B. For category C either front or rear space 4.5m (15’) deep should be stipulated
3. In cool/cold composite and extra dry cool zone, only south facing spaces are
required in order to invite sun rays into house. The space should be 3m (10’)
deep in case of plot categories A and B 1.5m (5’) in case of category C.
10. Multi-Unit-
Dwelling
• Set back from plot line = height of
the building divided by tan60
• For example, if height = 15m then
setback from plot line = 15 divided
by 1.732 = 8.66m appx.
• The standard composition of plot is
given below:
• Table no:4 Composition of Plot
Category Area (sq.m) Percentage of
plot required
A/A1 500/420 5%
B 312 5%
C 250 20%
D 160 20%
E 105 75%
F 72 75%
11. Building Height:
Minimum clear floor ceiling heights shall be 3.0m (9’–10”)
Minimum floor to ceiling height of out-house, store and bathroom shall be 2.3m (7’- 6”)
Maximum floor to floor height of a single story should not exceed 4.25m (14’)
Two story dwelling should not exceed 7.6m (25’)
and three-story dwelling should not exceed 11.6m (38’) including parapet wall.
Plot Relationship:
As a guide, continues row of plots should not be exceeding 150m because of monotony and
blockading effects. Beyond 100m, a break cross walk is desirable. There may be cases where these
guidelines cannot have achieved.
As a guide, straight row of a plot should not be less than 75m as this increase the number of sewer
man-holes unnecessarily.
