High Rise Vs Low Rise

In this post I'll :

1. Describe common forms of low-rise buildings
2. Show how these forms of construction meet the following important concepts:

a. Durability
b. Stability
c. Human comfort
d. Environmental efficiency
e. Aesthetics

Before I start dealing with this I’ll describe what we mean by a high-rise or low-rise building, and after that I’ll describe the importance of the substructure and a the superstructure for the building.

We can divide all buildings in to two categories
High-rise
Low-rise

High-rise building:

I can define a high-rise building as a building 35 meters or greater in height, which is divided at regular intervals into occupiable levels. To be considered a high-rise building an edifice must be based on solid ground, and fabricated along its full height through deliberate processes (as opposed to naturally-occurring formations).

A high-rise building is distinguished from other tall man-made structures by the following guidelines:

1. It must be divided into multiple levels of at least 2 meters height;
2. If it has fewer than 12 such internal levels, then the highest undivided portion must not exceed 50% of the total height;
3. Indistinct divisions of levels such as stairways shall not be considered floors for purposes of eligibility in this definition.

Any method of structural support which is consistent with this definition is allowable, whether masonry, concrete, or metal frame. In the few cases where such a building is not structurally self-supporting (e.g. resting on a slope or braced against a cliff), it may still be considered a high-rise building but is not eligible for any height records unless the record stipulates inclusions of this type.



























Low-rise building:

A low-rise building is defined as any occupiable building which is divided at regular intervals into occupiable levels which is lower than a high-rise To be considered a low-rise building an edifice must be based on solid ground, and fabricated along its full height through deliberate processes (as opposed to naturally-occurring formations) and have at least one floor above ground.
An individual building in this category is generally defined as one with connected interior spaces. Any low-rise building with more than one disconnected interior space may only count as a single building if it was built as a single unit and if the separate parts form an architecturally integral whole. On the other hand, it is possible to consider a house with connected interior spaces as more than one building if the different parts are not intended to form a single development and do not form an architecturally integral whole.

We can defined a building as a low-rise building when it meets one of the following criteria:

• Buildings associated with major architects or other major building companies.
• Buildings which are especially prominent because of their size or position.
• Any buildings housing commercial uses.
• Buildings added at the request of a company.
• Buildings of significant historical or architectural interest



Substructure and superstructure:


Any building must have a substructure and a superstructure, Substructures can be defined as all the structure below the DPC including the ground floor construction but excluding the finishes if not an integral part of the structure.

Building substructure is:

• Foundation
• Wall below ground
• Ground floor

The Building superstructure includes the following:

• External Walls
• Internal walls
• Upper floor and stairs
• Roof
• Doors and windows
• Internal finishes

The construction on any type of building is different than any other type, i.e., TV tower, observation tower, church, temple, mosque, synagogue, stadium, airport tower, castle chimney, clock tower, colliery, silo, open-air structure, reactor building, cooling tower, ferris wheel, flagpole, guard tower, lighthouse, mast, mast (freestanding), mast (wired), monument, multi-storey building, palace, pyramid, roller coaster, subterranean building, fountain, tower, water tower, bridge, carillon and anti-aircraft tower they all different from their foundation to their roof, some of them need special design and some is very common and simple.
The main forms of low-rise buildings:
Generally speaking, there are two forms of low-rise builings and they are:
• Traditional
• Modern
Traditional construction:
I can describe traditional buildings as usual, customary, well-known, long-established, regular buildings that we get used to see in our streets and in our neighbourhoods. But technically speaking, a traditional building is a building with a traditional construction, and a traditional material, a good example for it is a loadbearing masonry brick and block building.