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Forum Categories BOMA 2017 - Office Buildings Question

Unenclosed Occupant Circulation at Exterior Pass-Through

Matt Ma: SteelWave; September 8, 2020

A two-story building has a 36' wide "pass-through" at the ground floor, to allow pedestrians and bicycles to travel from one exterior side of the building to the other exterior side. The pass-through is open to the exterior but it has the 2nd floor roof over it. This pass-through essentially splits the ground floor into two separate wings. Each wing has an interior corridor that exits into the exterior pass-through area.

Can this pass-through area be counted as Unenclosed Occupant Circulation? If yes, I assume only a 6' wide path can be counted from each of the two wings.

Thank you for your help,
Matt

David Fingret: Extreme Measures Inc.; September 9, 2020

Hi Matt,

Unenclosed Occupant Circulation is specifically used when primary access to Tenant Areas is located outside of the Building Enclosure, rather than from an interior corridor. Based on your description, I would be inclined to consider the Exterior Pass-Through as a Service Area under the "Partial Enclosure" Boundary Condition. I would recommend carefully reviewing this Boundary Condition within the standard, along with its associated definitions, such as "Building Enclosure" and "Partially Enclosed" to determine if the Exterior Pass Through complies with the "Partial Enclosure" Boundary Condition.

Thanks,
David