Tabulate

"My dear Horonia, as a gift for your marriage, I bequeath you eight tabulate in Belyos, on the street of Fivegoats. They are built to the best standards of the district, and the residents are reasonably prompt in paying their rent. If you are quick, you may be able to buy the land next to them, as a recent fire and collapse has left an opening there large enough for another two. There is no need to inspect them yourself, I suggest sending a servant, the place is not suitable for a noble lady such as yourself. I hear the water supply is adequate, and it is close enough to the local Dolehouse to make them an attractive place to live. For commoners of course."

The most iconic symbol of life in Downside, Tabulate are nine storey apartment blocks used to house the masses in Belyos' most crowded of districts. Although the building type has spread to other cities in the Empire, none are as common, large, or house as many as those in the Imperial City.
With a reputation for both an efficient place to live, and a dangerous conglomeration of people, tabulate are considered essential for the proper functioning of the Imperial City. Construction of these building is an almost constant affair, as older ones are demolished (purposefully or otherwise) and new ones spring up in a matter of weeks. Most of the building materials that enter the city are destined to build or repair the tabulate.

---

Purpose / Function

Tabulate have one over-riding purpose - to house as many people in a small an area as possible. To this end, they are broadly successful, with the over 2,800 tabulate in Downside housing on average about 200 people in each, over half a million people are squeezed into buildings barely 20 metres square at the base. The ground floor is given over to businesses and trade; most are shops, workshops and offices of one kind or another, where the industry of Downside takes place, but some are baths, warehouses, and even stables. Some business is conducted on the residential levels, particularly business that involves personal and human interaction, but technically this is against the law, and not widely advertised if occurring.
The tabulate, as well as providing cheap and easy housing for Belyos's teeming masses, also provide large amounts of income to the city's more affluent residents, who actually own the buildings. Whilst rent in the buildings is notoriously cheap, and not all residents earn enough to actually pay, owning tabulate is profitable enough that fortunes can be made. The industry is lucrative enough that many landlords work with the Clava who operate in Downside to either ensure rents are paid, or that rival landlord's tabulate suffer mishaps, perhaps allowing the land they're built on to switch ownership.

---

Architecture

When first proposed, the tabulate were considered the height of Imperial building technology and style, and although the architecture has improved marginally since, they're still considered excellent examples of advanced engineering, when properly constructed of course.
The bottom floor is built with arches, allowing for an open area under the overhanging floors above, with further doorways into the areas used for businesses and industry. A passageway allows access to the central open space and the stairs to the upper levels.
Each upper level has a terrace facing inwards and four apartments of broadly equal size, although landlords often rearrange internal walls to allow for larger, and more expensive apartments. Not all of these alterations are wise, as internal supporting walls are often neglected.
The building is made of thick stone pillars in each of the outer and inner corners, with brick for the walls, often whitewashed to keep it the heat. Wide windows have shutters on them, and internal walls are made of wood and plaster. The roof is tiled, and landlords often let out the attic space as well, although the area is cramped, and hot in the summer and cold in winter.
Running fresh water is piped through the building, up to the third floor, the water pressure is not sufficient to get it any higher, but all eight residential floors have waste pipes to the sewers below.

---

History

Housing the teeming masses of Belyos is no easy task, and for most of the city's history, the poor were left to live in whatever housing they could make for themselves. However, as the city grew in the aftermath of Til-Yaltur's reunification of the Empire, the conditions in the part of the city known as Downside got ever more unpleasant and crowded. After a fire destroyed a large portion of the district, and faced with massive civil unrest, Til-Taranor decreed the building of standardised apartment blocks, and instigated a massive demolition and reconstruction of the area, putting in new aqueducts, sewers and government buildings as well.

---

Cutaway of a typical tabulate

Type

Apartment building / Tenament