Ernst and Peter Neufert

Architects' Data
Third Edition

Edited by

Bousmaha Baiche
DipArch, MPhil, PhD
School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University
and
Nicholas Walliman
DipArch, PhD, RIBA
School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University

b
Blackwell
Science
 ABOUT THIS BOOK
This book provides architects and designers with a concise on, for example, climate and daylight is from the perspective
source of core information needed to form a framework for of a temperate climate in the northern hemisphere. The
the detailed planning of any building project. The objective is conditions at the location of the proposed building will
to save time for building designers during their basic inves- always have to be ascertained from specific information on
tigations. The information includes the principles of the the locality. A similar situation is to be seen in the section on
design process, basic information on siting, servicing and roads, where the illustrations show traffic driving on the
constructing buildings, as well as illustrations and descrip- right-hand side of the road. Again, local conditions must be
tions of a wide range of building types. Designers need to be taken into consideration for each individual case.
well informed about the requirements for all the constituent The terminology and style of the text is UK English and this
parts of new projects in order to ensure that their designs clearly will need to be taken into account by readers accus-
satisfy the requirements of the briefs and that the buildings tomed to American English. These readers will need to be
conform to accepted standards and regulations. aware that, for example, 'lift' has been used in place of
The extended contents list shows how the book is orga- 'elevator' and 'ground floor' is used instead of 'first floor'
nised and the order of the subjects discussed. To help read- (and 'first floor' for 'second', etc.).
ers to identify relevant background information easily, the The data and examples included in the text are drawn from
Bibliography (page 589) and list of related British and inter- a wide range of sources and as a result a combination of
national standards (page 595) have been structured in a way conventions is used throughout for dimensions. The mea-
that mirrors the organisation of the main sections of the surements shown are all metric but a mixture of metres,
book. centimetres and millimetres is used and they are in the main
To avoid repetition and keep the book to a manageable not identified.
length, the different subjects are covered only once in full. Readers will also find some superscript numbers asso-
Readers should therefore refer to several sections to glean all ciated with the measurements. Where these appear by
of the information they require. For instance, a designer dimensions in metres with centimetres, for instance, they
wanting to prepare a scheme for a college will need to refer to represent the additional millimetre component of the mea-
other sections apart from that on colleges, such as - sure (e.g. 1.265 denotes 1 m, 26 cm, 5 mm). Anybody familiar
draughting guidelines; multistorey buildings; the various with the metric system will not find this troublesome and
sections on services and environmental control; restaurants those people who are less comfortable with metric units can
for the catering facilities; hotels, hostels and flats for the use the Conversion Tables given on pages 611 to 627 to
student accommodation; office buildings for details on clarify any ambiguities.
working environments; libraries; car-parks; disabled access The plans and diagrams of buildings do not have scales as
(in the housing and residential section); indoor and outdoor the purpose here is to show the general layout and express
sports facilities; gardens; as well as details on doors, windows, relationships between different spaces, making exact scaling
stairs, and the section on construction management, etc. unnecessary. However, all relevant dimensions are given on
Readers should note that the majority of the material is the detailed drawings and diagrams of installations, to assist
from European contributors and this means that the detail in the design of specific spaces and constructions.

,viii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Publishers wish to thank, in particular, Dr Bousmaha Simon Marshall, railway expert
Baiche, of the Postgraduate Research School, School of Stanley Partnership, Architects, Cheltenham
Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, for his enormous Malcom Lee, National Small-Bore Rifle Association (NSRA)
efforts and patience in overseeing the final English language British Steel Strip Products
edition. They would also like to thank his colleague, Dr Matthew Foreman, Katy Harris, Jo Olsen and members of
Nicholas Walliman, also of the Postgraduate Research staff, Foster and Partners, London
School, for his valuable contribution on questions of content Liza Kershaw and colleagues at RIBA Publications, the Royal
and terminology. Institute of the British Architects for permission to repro-
The Publishers are also especially grateful to Paul Stringer duce forms on page 48 (copyright RIBA Publications 1999)
for his efforts in managing the editorial and production work Derek Wolferdale, Principal Track and Gauge Engineer at
on the new edition and for his exceptional attention to detail. Railtrack, and members of staff of Railtrack
They would also like to thank Mark Straker of Vector for his Graeme Loudon, The Met. Office
work on the illustrations and text, Richard Moore for proof- Pam Beckley (Copyright Administrator), the Controller, and
reading, and the following for their work on the translation: members of staff of the Copyright Unit, HMSO for per-
Bantrans Services, Chris Charlesworth, Chiltern Language mission to reproduce illustrations (Fig. 1, page 541 and Fig
Services, Katharina Hesse, Jeff Howell, Keith Murray, Amy 8, page 542) from Health Building Note 36 (Crown copy-
Newland and Wordswop. right material is reproduced with the permission of the
Finally, they would like to thank the following for con- Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office)
tributing information and illustrations to this edition: Addison-Wesley Longman for permission to reproduce
illustrations (Fig. 1, page 101 and Fig. 15 page 154) from
Martin Pugh, Trevor Fish, Group Property Services, Barclays The Climate of the British Isles (Chandler & Gregory)
Bank Pie Dr Ray Ogden, Professor Mike Jenks, Margaret Ackrill,
Peter J. Clement, Group Property, NatWest Group Postgraduate Research School, School of Architecture,
Mary Heighway and members of staff, Public Relations, Oxford Brookes University
Environment Agency Chris Kendrick, School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes Uni-
Pick Everard, Graham Brown, Andrew Robinson, Pick Ever- versity.
ard (Architects, Surveyors, and Consulting Engineers) and The illustrations on pages 134-7 are reproduced from The
J. Sainsbury's Pie Building Regulations Explained and Illustrated (Powell-
Asda/WCEC Architects Smith & Billington), Blackwell Science Ltd.
Lesley Baillie, Office of Health Economics

ix
 INTRODUCTION
Throughout history man has created things to be of
service to him using measurements relating to his body.
Until relatively recent times, the limbs of humans were
the basis for all the units of measurement. Even today
many people would have a better understanding of the
size of an object if they were told that it was so many men
high, so many paces long, so many feet wider or so many
heads bigger. These are concepts we have from birth, the
sizes of which can be said to be in our nature. However,
the introduction of metric dimensions put an end to that
way of depicting our world.
Using the metric scale, architects have to try to create
a mental picture that is as accurate and as vivid as
possible. Clients are doing the same when they measure
rooms on a plan to envisage the dimensions in reality.
Architects should familiarise themselves with the size of
rooms and the objects they contain so that they can
picture and convey the real size of yet-to-be designed
furniture, rooms or buildings in each line they draw and
each dimension they measure.
We immediately have an accurate idea of the size of an
object when we see a man (real or imaginary) next to it. It
is a sign of our times that pictures of buildings and rooms
presented in our trade and professional journals are too
often shown without people present in them. From
Leonardo da Vinci: rules of proportion
pictures alone, we often obtain a false idea of the size of
these rooms and buildings and are surprised how
different they appear in reality - frequently, they seem
much smaller than expected. One of the reasons for the
failure of buildings to have cohesive relationships with book. Many questions of principle were examined,
one another is because the designers have based their developed and weighed against one another for the first
work on different arbitrary scales and not on the only true time.
scale, namely that of human beings. In the current edition up-to-date technical options are
If this is ever to be changed, architects and designers included to the fullest extent and common standards are
must be shown how these thoughtlessly accepted taken into consideration. Description is kept to the
measurements have developed and how they can be absolute minimum necessary and is augmented or
avoided. They have to understand the relationship replaced as far as possible by drawings. Creative building
between the sizes of human limbs and what space a designers can thus obtain the necessary information for
person requires in various postures and whilst moving design in an orderly, brief, and coherent form, which
around. They must also know the sizes of objects, otherwise they would have to collect together laboriously
utensils, clothing etc. in everyday use to be able to from many reference sources or obtain by detailed
determine suitable dimensions for containers and measurement of completed buildings. Importance has
furniture. been attached to giving only a summary; the fundamental
In addition, architects and designers have to know data and experiences are compared with finished
what space humans need between furniture - both in the buildings only if it is necessary to provide a suitable
home and in the workplace - as well as how the furniture example.
can best be positioned. Without this knowledge, they will By and large, apart from the requirements of pertinent
be unable to create an environment in which no space is standards, each project is different and so should be
wasted and people can comfortably perform their duties studied, approached and designed afresh by the architect.
or enjoy relaxation time. Only in this way can there be lively progress within the
Finally, architects and designers must know the spirit of the times. However, executed projects lend
dimensions for minimum space requirements for people themselves too readily to imitation, or establish
moving around in, for example, railways and vehicles. conventions from which architects of similar projects may
These minimum space requirements produce strongly find difficulty in detaching themselves. If creative
fixed impressions from which, often unconsciously, other architects are given only constituent parts, as is the
dimensions of spaces are derived. intention here, they are compelled to weave the
Man is not simply a physical being, who needs room. components together into their own imaginative and
Emotional response is no less important; the way people unified construction.
feel about any space depends crucially on how it is Finally, the component parts presented here have been
divided up, painted, lit, entered, and furnished. systematically researched from the literature to provide
Starting out from all these considerations and the data necessary for individual building tasks, checked
perceptions, Ernst Neufert began in 1926 to collect out on well-known buildings of a similar type and, where
methodically the experiences gained in a varied practice necessary, determined from models and experiments.
and teaching activities. He developed a 'theory of The objective of this is always that of saving practising
planning' based on the human being and provided a building planners from having to carry out all of these
framework for assessing the dimensions of buildings and basic investigations, thereby enabling them to devote
their constituent parts. The results were embodied in this themselves to the important creative aspects of the task.