The table below can be used as a guide to required area (square metre or square feet) per person inside
some typical buildings and rooms. The values can be used to calculate human sensible and latent heat load.
Type of Building
Type of Room
Area per Person
(m2)
Apartments
Assembly building
(ft2)
100 - 400
Lecture room
0.6
Library
5
Cinema
0.6
Concert hall
0.6
Theater
0.6
Banks
50 - 150
Bars
15 - 50
Cafeterias
10 - 50
Churches
5 - 20
Clubhouses
15 - 50
Cocktail Lounges
15 - 50
Computer Rooms
80 - 150
Court Houses
50 - 150
Dental Centers
Clinic and Offices
50 - 150
Department Stores
15 - 75
Dining Halls
10 - 50
Drug Store
15 - 50
Factories
Assembly hall
2-5
Factories
Light manufacturing
10 - 20
Factories
Heavy manufacturing
20 - 30
Fire Stations
Hotels
Hospitals
100 - 500
Rooms
5
Lobby
0.6
Assembly room
1.5
General Areas
50 - 150
Patient Rooms
80 - 150
Kindergarten
2-3
Kitchens
50 - 150
Libraries
30 - 100
Luncheonettes
10 - 50
Lunch Rooms
10 - 50
Malls
50 - 100
Medical Centers
Clinic and Offices
50 - 150
Public Spaces
Motels, Dormitories
100 - 200
Guest Rooms,
100 - 200
Dormitories
Municipal Buildings
50 - 150
Museums
30 - 100
Nightclubs
15 - 50
Nursing Home Patient Rooms
80 - 150
Offices
Single office
10
Meeting room
1.5
Police Stations
100 - 500
Post Offices
100 - 500
Precision Manufacturing
100 - 300
Residential
200 - 600
Restaurant
With service
1.5
Without service
1
Retail Stores
Schools
Shops
Sports
15 - 75
Lecture rooms
0.6
Class rooms
2
Corridors
2
Laboratory
3
Retail
2
Supermarkets
2
Gymnasium
1.5
Swimming pools
4
Supermarkets
50 - 100
Taverns
15 - 50
Town Halls
50 - 150

1 m2 = 10.764 ft2

1 ft2 = 0.0929 m2
Note! - be aware of local restrictions, codes and their minimum values. They may diverge considerably from
the numbers above.