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Forum Categories BOMA 2010 - Office Buildings Question

External Circulation

Sopheap Hille: Burgess Design, Inc.; March 13, 2013

Hi there,
My question is regarding an office building in downtown seattle, WA. It's 47 story with 6 floors of parking. The area that I have a question on is on the 2nd floor, which is also at street level since the building is on a slope. There are two retail space (Suite 12, Pita Express and Suite 3, Sounds Soups) that is set outside of the building, but still on the property of the building. The space does not have any covered awning protruding out, but the only way to get to the space is walking outside. Can I apply the external circulation rule to this and give a 5' wide walking pathway and designated that as building common in my BOMA calculation? I am new to the forum, and if you need to see the floor plan in question let me know how I can submit that to you. I will upload a pdf of the plan in my 'Planmine' file for now.

thank you,
Sopheap Hille

David Fingret: Extreme Measures Inc.; March 13, 2013

Hi Sopheap,

This is not the intention of External Circulation. External Circulation should only be used when there is no primary internal corridor to provide access and egress to occupant areas.

The standalone buildings you describe should be treated separately under the BOMA Retail Standard.