Put workshops downwind of the housing and the communal core, at least 30 m from the nearest house, on a cart-accessible path and close to water, because forges, kilns, mills and tanneries make smoke, noise, dust, sparks and smell. The 30 m is the layout guide’s planning distance; the fire guide’s separate floor for residence-to-workshop spacing is 10 m, or 15 m preferred, doubled for combustible walls.
Part of Settlement Layout for 150 People
The industrial zone groups the activities that produce noise, smoke, dust, odour or fire risk, away from sleeping, schooling and drinking water.
Thirty Metres Is About Smoke And Noise, Ten Is About Fire
The layout guide gives two different residential-to-industrial distances in different sections: at least 30 m from the nearest house in the industrial zone entry, and 10 m minimum in the fire-safety section. They answer different questions. The 30 m is for living next to a working forge: smoke, noise, dust and embers. The 10 m is only the least that stops radiant heat and flame from one burning building igniting another. Plan to the larger figure, and treat 10 m as a floor for fire alone. This is flagged in the report because the guide does not reconcile the two.
The fire guide gives its own set: residential to workshop 10 m minimum (15 m preferred), workshop to a workshop that uses fire 8 m, and any building to fuel storage such as woodpile, hay or charcoal 10 m, all doubled for combustible walls (Fire Prevention in Settlements).
What Goes In The Zone
- Forge, carpentry, pottery — see Workshop and Forge Design
- Processing — mill, threshing floor, slaughterhouse, tannery
- Fuel — woodpile and charcoal store, kept at least 10 m from any building
Method: Site The Zone
Step 1: Find the prevailing wind over a season and draw it on the plan (Prevailing Wind Patterns). A single reading is not enough; if the wind reverses seasonally, favour the direction that blows during the cooking and heating season, when windows are shut and fires are lit.
Step 2: Draw the 30 m circle around the nearest house and place no workshop inside it. Then check the downwind sector from the core and housing: nothing smoky or smelly upwind.
Step 3: Put it on a cart path from both housing and fields; workshops move heavy loads in and out.
Step 4: Give it water, for forge quenching and clay work, drawn from a point that does not drain toward a well or spring.
Step 5: Separate fuel from fire. Woodpiles and charcoal go 10 m from every building, doubled for combustible walls.
Common Mistakes
- Siting upwind — smoke blankets the whole settlement.
- Letting the forge creep toward the houses as the settlement grows. Housing expansion should be steered away (Expansion Corridors).
- Putting a tannery or slaughterhouse upstream of water — waste must leave downhill and downwind of every source.
Safety
Sparks, dust and hot work
A forge or kiln chimney throws embers that can ignite a thatch roof far beyond the spacing distance; use a spark arrestor and non-flammable roofing near the zone. Fine grain or flour dust in a mill burns explosively when suspended in air near a flame, so keep mills clear of open fire. Never store fuel inside a workshop that also has an open fire.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Fire Breaks and Building Spacing — why the spacing distances are what they are
- Combine with: Cart and Vehicle Routes — the haul route into the zone