Characterisation of leisure areas in vertical multifamily buildings aimed at proposing a leisure index

Abstract Vertical multifamily buildings now offer an increasing number of leisure environments. That is possibly in response to urban violence and the demands of consumer society, whose new needs demand commodities that turn into desires. What does the real estate market offer as recreational environments in these buildings? The objective of this paper is to characterise the scope and configuration of the environments and leisure areas at vertical multifamily buildings, aiming at proposing a leisure index. A total of 31 developments were selected from six construction companies in the city of Maceió/AL/Brazil, between 2010 and 2015. The projects were divided into 3 groups according to the area of the apartments, based on the Sales Velocity Index; leisure environments were grouped into four user ranges; the respective leisure rates were calculated. The study showed that the adult and shared leisure areas occurred throughout the sample; most of the leisure environments are located on the pilotis/ground floor area, some on the roof and on the mezzanine and a few in the basement. The condominiums with small apartments had lower leisure rates than those with larger apartments and isolated buildings. The proposed leisure index was adequate to express the varied offer of the local real estate market.