Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

• Mojtaba Pour Ahmadi ¹
• Reza Sedighi ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Art, University of Guilan. Rasht, Iran.

² MA. Student, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Art, University of Guilan. Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Today, for various reasons, often a small and unsuitable area of apartment housing in Iran is allocated to private semi-open spaces which leads to a significant reduction in the usability of these spaces. The result is that the potential of the space to accommodate the daily presence and use by the residents is almost lost. The present study tries to look at this issue specifically from the perspective of the building control system and to consider the role of building regulations to ensure the minimum acceptable usability of these spaces. In this research, in the first step, a number of international examples of building codes related to the minimum dimensions of balconies in a number of developed countries of the world are studied and an attempt is made to identify the logic of calculating these values. In the second step, a review of building codes related to the minimum dimensions and area of semi-open private spaces in the current building control system of Iran and specifically the city of Rasht is performed. In the following, an attempt is made to provide a definition of the "usable minimal balcony" for the city of Rasht and to calculate its required area and dimensions. In the next step, an attempt is made to make a comparison between the minimal balcony defined in the present study and the existing balconies in Rasht. In order to do this, the apartment housing plans approved by the plans control department of the Iran Construction Engineering Organization (IRCEO) of Rasht City in the period of three months from February 2016 to April 1400 were examined. It consists 340 apartment units with a total of 401 balconies. The paper concludes with a final analysis and recommendations.

Keywords

• Building Regulations
• Private Semi-Open Spaces
• Apartment Housing
• Space Usability
• Iran Construction Engineering Organization
• Rasht

Main Subjects

• Architecture