Maximum building height

In Turkish zoning, Hmax is the abbreviation for the maximum building height a plot allows. Some plans express the limit as a number of storeys, some as a height in metres marked Hmax, and some use both. The value is set in the zoning plan and its notes and is shown on the plot’s zoning certificate.

Where height is measured from

The regulations define which level the height is measured from and up to which point. The starting level is usually tied to natural ground or street levels. On sloping sites, corner plots or plots facing more than one street, separate rules decide how that level is set. How roofs, attics and lift overruns are counted is also defined in the regulation and the plan notes. So Hmax is best read not just as a figure but as a measuring rule.

What it means for design

Hmax feeds straight into floor-to-floor height decisions. The same limit can hold fewer storeys with generous ceilings or more storeys with lower ones, and the floor area ratio and plan notes narrow that choice further. That is why the section matters early on: the Hmax line is drawn on it, and slab depths and roof details are worked out to stay beneath it. In massing images, the building’s height against its neighbours only reads truthfully when that line is set up correctly.