Affecting height of buildings:
Type of construction
Use group
Fire suppression in the building
Zoning code
Not affecting: occupancy load and egress means
Why does use group affect and occupancy load doesn’t?
1 Like
Hi Mary, and welcome to the ARE Community!
Let’s check in with @cat.heard9 and maybe she can provide some insight.
Hey @Lara (and @mary)! Mary and I were able to speak earlier today about some of these questions. I’m going to look into this, but I’m hoping some of our other experts, @heatherrivera, can jump in with some more knowledge. Mary is prepping for an upcoming exam, so we want to make sure she gets her answers stat!
1 Like
Hey Mary,
Can you expand a bit on your question here, please? If time is of the essence, please check out IBC 2015 Chapter 5. Table 504.3 is a great place to start. It’s going to give you allowable building heights based on occupancies. The presence of a fire suppression system (sprinklers) is going allow you to increase your building size. Also, your type of construction is going to have an allowable building size; and again, sprinklers will allow you to build bigger.
Zoning Ordinance is a completely separate document and will change for each jurisdiction. Usually, the most stringent constraint will reign.
Hope that helps!
1 Like