Toronto | One Bloor West | 308.6m | 85s | Tridel | Foster + Partners | Page 1191

Bibi L · Aug 3, 2024

nodrogdlanod said:
Not everyone will agree, but the # of floors in a skyscraper is/are often not a true representation of how many 'storeys' are in a building, the traditional storey generally measuring 10' per floor...er, storey. Using the JP Morgan Chase tower in NYC as an example, it is only 70 'floors'. Seventy floors is a significant figure for any building, but dive a little deeper and one discovers the tower is 1388', an astonishing 20' / floor. Convert JPMC tower to storeys and it is a breathtaking 139 storeys compared to 70 floors. Back to 1 Bloor: The ground floor atrium is, in effect, 4 conventional storeys even though it is identified as 1 floor which seems a frivolous determinant. The next 4 'floors' are, in effect, 2 storeys each. There are 3 mechanical section 'floors' thus far, each of them equivalent to 3 storeys. Therefore, using the conventional standard of 10' / floor by which a storey is measured, the top of the 3rd mechanical section by my count is equivalent to 68 storeys. Using this measurement, it would appear the 75th or 76th 'storey' elevator shaft core has been poured, again a very respectable figure. Pinnacle One Yonge was approved for a height increase to 345 metres by the city's Planning Dept in November 2023, a height of 1131'. Converted to 'floors' Pinnacle One is projected to reach 105 floors, 10.77' / floor, 113 storeys based on a 10' yardstick / floor. While some may suggest everything I have written is merely semantics, the evidence suggests otherwise: a single 'floor' is often a useless and wildly inaccurate basis upon which to calculate a building's true height and or number of storeys. To floor or to storey? That is the question.

I don’t think we should say a buildings height just based on the average floor to ceiling height. Floors alone aren’t a reliable measure because ceiling heights can vary widely, typically ranging from 8 to 12 feet. Additionally, mechanical floors and penthouses, while adding to a building’s height, aren’t considered part of the floor count since they’re not always accessible by elevator or useable space.

We could say the equivalent floor compared to another building, but it’s probably just better to go with metres/feet.
Remember, floors vary widely. Some buildings could be the same height but have a big difference in floors.

For example, a building with 40 floors and 8-foot ceilings is actually 320 feet tall. (This is not including the height added from floor slabs, which are usually 1.5 feet, or mechanical levels.) If the same building had 10-foot ceilings, its height would be 400 feet, even though the floor count remains the same. Now if a building has 8-foot ceilings, and has 40 floors, that would mean if we go with the average (10-foot ceilings), it would actually be considered “32 floors”. Which is obviously not correct. The building doesn’t just lose 8 floors. However, it would be equivalent to 32 standard floors.

Same thing with ground levels. Buildings usually have much taller ceiling heights on the ground. Let’s say it’s 20 feet tall. That doesn’t mean it magically has a second floor. It’s not accessible and it doesn’t even exist. That’s why it’s not considered a floor, as it doesn’t even exist. That’s why buildings don’t add floors that don’t even exist, as you cannot access them! The actual second floor would be the next usable floor that is accessible.

Now this does make sense if we are just going with equivalent floors. But I’d probably just use metres/feet as a more reliable measurement.
So yeah, if we are going with “equivalent floors”, the actual floor count would be different.