3
INTRODUCTION TO BUILDINGS
A building is a structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place,
such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes and functions, and have
been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available,
to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons.
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).
Different types of buildings
Buildings are classified based upon its occupancy and structure
• Residential Building
• Educational Building
• Institutional Building
• Assembly building
• Business buildings
• Mercantile buildings
• Industrial Buildings
• Storage buildings
• Hazardous buildings
• Residential Building: Buildings in which sleeping arrangements are provided with or without
cooking arrangement. It includes single or multifamily dwelling, apartments, lodgings,
restaurants, hostels, dormitories and hotels
• Educational building: These Include any building used for school, college, education
purposes.
• Institutional Building: these buildings used for different purposes, such as medical or other
treatment. They include hospitals, sanatorium, jails, and asylum
• Assembly Buildings: These are the buildings where group of peoples meet or gather for
amusement, social, religious, political, civil, travel and similar purposes. E.g. theatres, motion
pictures, houses, assembly halls, restaurants assembly halls.
• Business buildings: These buildings are used for transactions of business, for keeping accounts
and for similar other purposes.
• Mercantile building: These building are used as shops, stores, market for display and sale of
merchandise either wholesale or retail, office, shops, and storage services.