Hi all,
We are performing a LEED 2009 NC assessment for a 42-story high rise residential building. Each apartment has several balconies. Can we consider all these private balconies to be "open space" when satisfying LEED 2009 SS Cr 5.2 - Site Development - Maximize Open Space ?
Many thanks.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11477 thumbs up
May 5, 2010 - 9:21 am
What would the logic for counting them as open space? In general, the credit language calls for "vegetated open space." If you are also earning SSc2, then that requirement broadens to include vegetated roofs or pedestrian-oriented hardscape. Private balconies don't seem to qualify under any of these descriptions.
Michael Kros
ArchitectDLR Group
33 thumbs up
July 30, 2010 - 12:48 pm
We are doing a project that deals with a private balcony as well. Would the area underneath the balcony (at street level) count as pedestrian oriented hardscape if we are earning SSc2?
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11477 thumbs up
August 3, 2010 - 12:48 pm
I don't see why not, if it's in your LEED boundary. Some of the open space must be vegetated, per the requirements described in the tabs above.
Nicole Michel
11 thumbs up
March 9, 2011 - 10:48 am
What about interior courtyards? We have a similar issue, where we are working on an urban project earning SSc2 that includes 2 small interior patios within the building. The patios are on the ground floor of a 4-story building (located above the underground garage). They are vegetated and open to the sky, but enclosed on all 4 sides by glass walls. Could they be counted as vegetated open space?
Susann Geithner
PrincipalEmerald Built Environments
1297 thumbs up
March 9, 2011 - 11:08 am
We had a LEED CS V3 project with exactly the same situation and counted the area of the courtyards towards the open space and vegetated space. Both courtyards are accessible by all building occupants.The requirements under LEED NC for this credit are the same as for LEED CS. So I think you can do that.