Types of Buildings

“All buildings are structure but all structures aren’t building.”

• Building can be described as “a structure with roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place.”
• The purpose of constructing buildings is to live and work comfortably by ensuring following terms –
  • Shelter people, goods or animal from weathering effect.
  • Providing privacy
  • Providing safety.

Types of Buildings:

To fulfil various purposes, buildings are divided as following types –

Let’s see one by one:

Types of building	Description
Assembly Buildings	1. In this type of buildings people gather for some reason. 2. These reasons can be any types such as social purpose, religious purpose, patriotic purpose or simply recreation purpose. 3. For example- Restaurant Theatre Gymnasium Swimming pool Prayer hall, etc.
Business Building	1. These shall include any building or part of a building which is used for business transactions, keeping records of accounts. 2. For Example- Bank Dispensaries Libraries Fire station Police station, town halls court housesetc.
Educational Buildings	1. This type of buildings are constructed for various activities in primary, secondary or college level educational system. 2. Example of this type of buildings are – School College Training institute, Day care centre, etc.
Factory Buildings	1. This type of buildings are mainly used for manufacturing purposes. 2. Here products or materials of all kinds and properties are fabricated, assembled or processed. 3. For example – Gas plant Power plant Refineries Dairies Laundries etc.
Religious Buildings	1. These are the buildings for religious purposes, with a large open interior or other monumental qualities. 2. For example- Church Temple, etc.
Transport Buildings	1. This is a structural building which consists of the means of equipment necessary for the movement of passengers or goods on land, water, and air ways. 2. For example- Airport Railway station, etc.
Hazardous Buildings	1. These buildings include any building which is used for storage, handling, manufacture or processing of highly combustible explosive materials or products. 2. These products are liable to burn with extreme rapidly which may produce poisonous fumes. 3. Such as Fireworks, Hydrogen peroxide, Cyanide, etc.
Institutional Buildings	1. Although this type of buildings provide facility of sleeping accommodation these are not included in residential buildings. 2. Institutional buildings are those where people are physically unable to leave without assistance. 3. Followings are the institutional buildings – Hospitals Infants care homes Old homes Nursing homes Prisons, etc.
Mercantile Buildings	1. In this type of buildings goods or materials are displayed or sold. 2. These shall include those buildings which are used for soap, market, stores, wholesale or retail. 3. Following are this type of buildings – Shopping mall Grocery Store Departmental store, etc
Residential Buildings	1. All those buildings with sleeping accommodation facility are called residential buildings. 2. Following are example of residential buildings – Apartments Flats Hostels Private Houses Cottage Bungalows, Duplex, etc
Storage Buildings	1. This type of buildings is used for storing goods, animals or vehicles. 2. The storage materials should not be hazardous. Such types of buildings are – Garage Warehouse Cold storage Transit sheds Perking’s, etc

Interesting Facts:

• Around 20000 workers helped build the Taj Mahal, a famous mausoleum and landmark in Agra, India, that attracts millions of visitors every year.
• The roofs of the Sydney Opera House are covered in a total of 1056006 tiles.
• Tall buildings need fast elevators, recent developments have led to elevators that can travel up to, and sometimes over, 1000 metres a minute.
• The world’s largest office building by floor size is the Pentagon in Virginia, USA.
• The Empire State Building in New York was the first building to have over 100 floors and was the tallest building in the world from 1931 until 1972.