The O.A.R. guide for Mărginimea Sibiului: plot coverage, heights, roofs and fences

Mărginimea Sibiului is the area of villages at the foot of the Cindrel and Lotru Mountains, right next to the city of Sibiu. The O.A.R. guide for this area has very different values from those for Moldavia, because the villages are dense and the building tradition is different. For a comparison with Vaslui, see the comparison table of the guides.

Which places it covers

The guide covers all villages in the administrative territory of the following localities in Sibiu county: Boița, Gura Râului, Orlat, Poiana Sibiului, Poplaca, Rășinari, Sadu, Săliște (with the villages of Aciliu, Amnaș, Fântânele, Galeș, Mag, Sibiel, Vale and others), Tălmaciu, Tilișca (Rod, Tilișca) and Jina.

Plot coverage, floor area ratio and heights

In the village core, for plots of usual size (about 500 sqm):

• maximum plot coverage (POT) 65% in valley villages and 85% in some mountain villages;
• maximum floor area ratio (CUT) 1.3 in valley villages and 1.7 in mountain villages;
• heights: ground floor; ground floor + attic; semi-basement + ground floor; semi-basement + ground floor + attic;
• eaves at most 5.5 m high;
• ridge at most 11 m (roof pitch of 45-60 percent) or 12 m (pitch of 60-70 percent).

For larger plots, plot coverage and floor area ratio decrease gradually, by 3% for every additional 100 sqm, and for plots over 1,000 sqm the maximum plot coverage is 15%. Outside the village core, plot coverage and floor area ratio are taken from the local urban planning documents. Far from the villages, the guide gives a maximum plot coverage of 1% and a maximum floor area ratio of 0.1.

The guide gives as a negative example the ground floor + 1 + attic height, taller than the traditional one (semi-basement + ground floor), which creates a disorderly street scene. It also says that some villages, such as Jina and Poiana Sibiului, are already crowded with ground floor + 1 or even ground floor + 1 + attic / ground floor + 2 houses, which dramatically change the traditional look.

The roof

Traditionally, the gabled roof with fir shingles predominated until the middle of the 20th century; beaver-tail tiles and slate then became widespread, and at the end of the 19th century the three-slope roof with beaver-tail tiles appeared. The pitch was 60-70 degrees for shingles and 45-55 degrees for ceramic tiles.

• as simple as possible, with two or three slopes of equal pitch, 45-70 degrees depending on the roofing, with horizontal eaves and ridges;
• short eaves: 15-30 cm at the cornice and 2-20 cm where they meet the gable (less for masonry, more for timber);
• flat (terrace) roofs are not recommended, nor are uncovered terraces; balconies or terraces are only made within the roof volume, not visible from the street;
• avoid copying the proportions of traditional buildings on large single-volume buildings, which distorts the local building logic.

For photovoltaic panels and the roof structure, see also the article on photovoltaic panels and P 118 and snow loads in Sibiu county.

Fences

• towards the street, the fence follows the character of that particular street;
• towards neighbours: preferably semi-transparent; it can be solid for privacy, backed by a green fence or fruit shrubs;
• inside the plot: transparent and preferably planted;
• fences and gates made of local natural materials: stone, timber, wattle, earth.