Increasing urban density and diminishing land availability are forcing city planners, architects and developers to deliver open spaces in creative ways that often conflict with the Building Code requirements. In cities throughout North America, urban parks and community outdoor living and recreation spaces are no longer relegated to traditional street level parks and instead are being placed in the "sky". The increased value of land, the economics of development and the desire for greener cities, has led to buildings that incorporate rooftop parks, outdoor living and gathering spaces and recreation spaces.
Some of the challenges that arise with providing rooftop gardens and "skydecks" on buildings include:
- occupant loads greater than 49 people require the rooftop area to be classified as an Assembly Use which are prohibited from being located above the fourth story of a Type IIIA building or third story of a Type VA building.
- elevated amenity courtyards create firefighting and rescue challenges for the fire department (e.g., difficulties reaching rescue windows that dwelling units facing an elevated courtyard and setback from the fire access roadway).
- large occupant load amenity decks can trigger the need for large main exits, additional exit stair enclosures and wider exit stairways.
YCI has helped Clients solve various code challenges associated rooftop amenity spaces using both alternate means and methods and creative code compliant solutions, such as:
- modifications to allow rooftop deck areas above the building story limit by providing multiple rooftop decks or pods, each area containing less than 50 occupants.
- identifying strategic locations for fire department hand-ladder access to elevated courtyards to facilitate fire fighting and rescue operations.
- applying available building code exceptions to reduce the required egress width for exit stairways and doors in order to accommodate greater occupant loads on rooftop amenity areas in all types of buildings - low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise buildings.
Let YCI help you maximize your project's open space requirements while achieving code compliance.
