Mezzanine

A mezzanine floor ( from the Italian mezzo = half ) is a half or mezzanine floor of a multistory building.

The mezzanine has a lower height and, optionally, also a smaller area than the storeys of the building. Mostly it is either a last floor without attic under the roof, for example, as servants apartment, or as a mezzanine between ground and first floor. In the latter case, it often takes not the full floor area when a behind high entrance hall, arcades or a drive-through occupy the space up to the first floor. If a mezzanine inside the building adjacent to a continuous over several floors room, it can be connected by a gallery on this. For this reason, the term is used especially for mezzanine galleries in English.

To avoid tax provisions such as the floor control, the mezzanine was used for example in Vienna in 1900, to keep the floor number on the paper low. By inserting nominal mezzanines such as the half-floor, low - (also called the basement ), half and mezzanine floor and a mezzanine was increased without having to adhere to the conditions that would have been associated with additional full floors, the number of storeys. This type of construction can be found, inter alia, in the Vienna City Hall.