What Is OTS In House | Open To Sky In House Purpose In House

Mike Mahajan
3 min readAug 17, 2022
What Is OTS In House | Open To Sky In House Purpose In House

What Is OTS In House?

OTS is full form is Open To Sky. It is an area in a house plan, which directly opens to the sky and is covered by fiberglass or some other translucent material. Open To Sky (OTS) is an area in a house plan, which doesn’t have a roof.

Sometimes the design of a house plan forces us to design a room without any windows. This is detrimental in the long run. An OTS goes up to the roof and brings in the light and fresh air.

What Is OTS In House | Open To Sky In House Purpose In House

OTS in House

OTS Meaning: It is a term used to indicate on architectural drawings (plans) that a certain area is not covered from the top or not having any slab or roof.

Read More: The Standard Room Size & Location In A House | Standard Size of Bedroom | Standard Room Dimensions | Standard Room Sizes In a House

Why OTS IS Provided In House?

Providing ventilation and natural light in every room of the house is essential because this two-factor room becomes unhealthy and it causes suffocation to habitant. To serve these purpose in house windows and ventilation is provided to get a view of the outside and allow natural light to enter in the room.

The sunlight and fresh air supply in-room necessary to make the room livable and no one wishes to stay in the room which is packed from all four sides.

But, while the Architect is designing the house plan as per the client’s requirement, it is sometimes not possible to locate each and every room with a window that has an outside view. It does not look big problem, but like it, construction and people start living in that space cause lots of problems.

For Example,

Let’s consider there are two rooms sharing a single wall. If you put a window between them, it will not help to get natural light and fresh and it affects the privacy of both rooms.

So, if we put OTS between them which is open to the sky both rooms will get natural light and fresh air circulation in a room without sacrificing the privacy of each other.

Here, we can create OTS which is extended up to the terrace and open to the sky.

Purpose of OTS In Building

- If the buildings are constructed around the three sides of our building OTS is provided for VENTILATION PURPOSE.

- If we are constructing the building without the setbacks around the building OTS can be provided for providing DRAINAGE CHAMBERS.

- It can also be provided for running the plumbing and waterlines vertically from top floors in order to make it aesthetically appear neat when seen from outside.

What Is OTS In House | Open To Sky in House Purpose In House

below I have attached the floor plan with OTS for reference, in the below plan the OTS serves all three purposes.

You May Also Like:

- Architectural Symbols For Doors, Window, Sanitary Fitting, Plumbing, Kitchen and Building Materials

- Free House Plans PDF | Free House Plans Download | House Blueprints Free

- The Standard Room Size & Location In A House | Standard Size of Bedroom | Standard Room Dimensions | Standard Room Sizes In a House

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Mike Mahajan

Bhushan Mahajan who himself is a Civil Engineer by profession is also the main author and maintains the civiconcepts.com website himself.