Terraces - Balcony Balustrades

Architecturally speaking, a terrace is normally an external area guarded with a balustrade. You’ll usually find it located within the communal parts of a property development, traditionally being integrated into the podium, rooftop or garden areas.

Terraces in architectural terms are elevated flat outdoor areas in either a landscape or around a building, for instance a podium or roof terrace. Their use as a residential balcony is most common where there are a number of apartment entrances, joining into one communal walkway. Where the architecture of the building steps back from the façade line of the lower floors, this forms a roof top above the internal areas below. These roof tops are commonly used as a terrace for the floor above instead of a balcony.

Most penthouses are set at the top part of the building and commonly will have a roof terrace instead of a balcony. Such terraces are normally more spacious that other types of balconies, and are therefore often landscaped with the use of planters etc to give the feel of a garden.

In terms of their use as a balcony, they are typically long runs integrated into the building structure, but often subdivided by privacy screens or fins which form part of the building facade’s architectural voice.