Housing Block Research Articles

Sustainability in modular design and construction: a case study of ‘The Stack’

The goals of sustainability are to meet people's basic needs and improve their quality of life while simultaneously ensuring that the natural systems, resources, and diversity upon which they depend are maintained and enhanced, both today and for future generations. Construction activities over a facility's life cycle are also connected with the broader problems and issues affecting the environment, including global warming, climate change, pollution and the depletion of valuable resources. Built facilities significantly impact human health, comfort, and productivity. Modular building is becoming increasingly popular in many countries due to its many benefits, including greater construction efficiency and productivity. This study investigated how modular building can support sustainability goals in the built environment via a deep case study of ‘The Stack’, a recently completed modular rental housing block in New York City. The building's architect and manufacturer were interviewed for the case study and ...

Special 3D electric resistivity tomography (ERT) array applied to detect buried fractures on urban areas: San Antonio Tecómitl, Milpa Alta, México

Geophysical techniques can be employed to understand the physical characteristics of the subsurface in highly populated areas, where urban settlements present structural problems. An interesting example is presented in this investigation, where three-dimensional Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT-3D) is applied employing alternative arrays that allow investigating the subsoil beneath the affected constructions.A small neighborhood comprised by a block of houses within the town of San Antonio Tecómitl is studied. The area is found towards the outskirts of the Chichinautzin range, in the southern limit of the Mexican Basin. This settlement suffers of strong damage in their structures due to fractures and subsidence within the subsoil. ERT-3D was carried out to characterize the subsoil beneath this urban complex. A special resistivity array (‘horse-shoe’ geometry) employing a combination of ‘L’, equatorial-dipole and minimum-coupling methods was carried out to fully ‘illuminate’ the subsoil beneath the block of houses. Computed resistivity models depicted a high resistivity pattern that coincides with the affected houses. Such pattern seems to extend beyond the limits of the surveyed areas, and is probably part of a more complex fracture system. It is very likely that fractures have been produced due to the poorly consolidated soil, which is part of a transition zone; the intense water extraction, that form ‘voids’ in the subsoil causing subsidence effects and finally the existence of regional faults to greater extent that might control these shallow features.

일조환경을 고려한 가구형(街區型) 집합주택의 형태 구성 방법론 연구

Perimeter block housing has been implemented in various new town development in Korea since 2000 as an alternative urban housing type as verse to high-rise development mostly common in urban residential areas. Perimeter blocks are relatively new built forms in Korea and considered more inferior in natural daylighting to free-standing buildings. Natural light is one of the most important amenities to insure inhabitable residential spaces, and perimeter block housing has to be carefully designed in consideration of natural daylighting. The objective of this research is to develop a design methodology of Perimeter block housing with the optimization of natural daylighting satisfying Rights to light. The case of Eunpyung Newtown is analyzed extensively in order to define the principles of solar shading and daylighting in Seoul. The result shows that the minimum distances between perimeter block housing, south-north=1.8h, east-west=0.7h, need to be satisfied in order to meet minium two hours of daylighting for the livingroom windows facing south or east. In addition, The minium distance between the buildings at each <TEX>$15^{\circ}$</TEX> azimuth angle is calculated based on the daylighting simulation. Azimuth angle <TEX>$45^{\circ}$</TEX>, <TEX>$60^{\circ}$</TEX>, <TEX>$-30^{\circ}$</TEX>, and <TEX>$-45^{\circ}$</TEX> are turned out to be the optimum azimuth angle. The design explorations are implemented to the preliminary massing of perimeter block housing using the principles of south-north=1.8h for closed blocks and the principles of minium distances between the buildings at various azimuth angle for open blocks with tower. The simulations are verified that the design alternatives meet the standard of Rights to light and the high Floor Area Ratio(FAR).

Élet egy kisváros peremén

A folyamatosan változó, városvezetés és városlakók által képzett elkülönült terek térbeli különállásukkal a társadalmi távolságokat is leképezik. A kutatásunk terepéül szolgáló alföldi kisváros három bérlakástömbje közül a legalacsonyabb státuszú, 14 lakásos telep története a hajdani előkelő tiszti telepi múlttól a cigány gettóvá válásig ível. Abban, hogy a város e szociálisbérlakás-tömbje napjainkra nemcsak térben, hanem társadalmilag is peremhelyzetbe került, egyfelől a városban zajló telepfelszámolások és az ehhez köthető költöztetések, a város bérlakás-politikája és a szelektív lakáskiutalási rendszer, másfelől a marginalizálódó tömbben elinduló szelekciós folyamatok egyaránt szerepet játszottak. A többségi társadalom szemében társadalmilag és etnikailag homogénnek tűnő, a város lakói és intézményei által stigmatizált tömbben élők gazdasági stabilitását és boldogulási mintáit vizsgálva az itt élő családok rendkívül heterogén képet mutatnak. A legalább egy állandó keresettel rendelkező, gazdaságilag viszonylag stabilnak tekinthető családoktól a billenékeny anyagi helyzetűeken át az eladósodott, máról holnapra élő kilakoltatásra várókig sokféle helyzetben élő családot találunk. A hosszú évek, évtizedek óta egymás mellett élő családok között szoros, gyakran rokoni kapcsolatok szövődtek, amelyek segítik a mindennapi túlélést, de be is zárják a családokat e kapcsolatrendszerbe.

영구임대아파트 리모델링을 통한 노인공동생활가정의 계획 방안

Because most of permanent rental housings in Korea were constructed more than 20 years ago, they are actually in need of renovation. Also high proportion of elderly people are living in permanent rental housing who are fragile in the social, financial, and physical aspect. It is inconvenient and dangerous for them to continuously live in such a deteriorated environment. But they want to live as long as possible in their old residences until they are severely ill or they die. Introducing communal living home for the aged into these existing permanent rental housings will be a way to provide Aging in Place to these seniors. This study has surveyed related laws, previous studies and advanced cases in foreign countries to propose a type of communal living homes for the aged in permanent rental housings. This study has suggested the communal living home for the aged with a concrete plan on roof top and the first floor of a representative permanent rental housing block. From this study, we tries to relieve 3 major problems of seniors such as alienation, poverty, and disease. This can be an option for realizing Aging in Place by residing seniors within the existing complex and forming sustainable community.

판교 월든 힐스 2단지 배치 분석 연구 - 야마모토 리켄의 주호 조합적 측면을 중심으로 -

Since western housing types were introduced into Korea, along with the national industry and land development, apartments are recognized as the representative of korean multi-housing. This recognition were settled and have been sustained until now due to our city phenomenon of quantitative housing development. So far Apartments have taken a major role in our housing solution. But vulnerability of apartments have been exposed over time and forced housing design to be shifted to qualitative aspects rather than quantitative ones. This leads housing study on new site arrangement of multi housing block and new housing typology. And the low-rise & high density housing were triggered in 2005 by INTERNATIONAL PROJECT COMPETITION BY INVITATION (UNJUNG BLOCK). Therefore, this study focuses on Yamamoto Riken's Pangyo Worlden Hills 2 block in terms of site arrangement with diverse unit combinations. 9 unit combination complexes have 4 steps arrangement rule. First step, 7-unit combination type is decided as the standard type. Second step, 6 and 8-unit combination type are added as derived types. Third step, a unit combination complex is composed of 5 buildings, and common units are located in every buildings. The last step, every buildings are expanded by attaching units at right side. Through this study, we found several logical unit combination rules in site arrangement of worlden hills 2 block. And we also came to understand the role of unit typology for diverse effect on site arrangement. So, further study will cover unit plans, typology and comparative aspects of various unit plans with others.

Strategies of building stock renovation for ageing society

The existing building stock has an immense impact on preserving a social, economic and ecologic sustainability – especially in Central Europe with low rates of new construction. This paper focuses on life-cycle based renovation strategies considering not only structural and thermal refurbishment, but also the social aspects of an ageing society needs, as well as a preservation of cultural heritage. For a case study of a specific housing block of the Red Vienna historic period, several refurbishment variants were developed and evaluated in a quantitative as well as qualitative way for the economic (life cycle costs and yields), ecologic (CO2 emissions) and socio-cultural impacts (monument protection, accessibility, assisted living). According to the research, there are great potentials in structural refurbishment of the building stock for support of assisted living models. These prove to be substantially more cost efficient than the institutional care, providing a better comfort for the inhabitants, as well as the necessary social mix by a trans-generation housing in the social housing facilities.

Automation and design for prevention: Fictional accounts of misanthropic agency from the elevator (lift) to the sexbot (chatbot)

Abstract Fiction is an important tool in an artist/designer/developer’s vocabulary, but its usage is polyvalent. Speculative research in this article introduces the ‘rudiment’ to embrace the undeveloped and the improvisory phases of research practice. Fiction is used to reflect on the ways practicing designers and developers might already engage in misanthropic thinking – involving automated technologies. Tracing the misanthropic agencies in relation to automated technologies contributes to expanding the ways designers and developers reflect on the technical potential of their designs, with whom they are designing (and for) and the way they understand their reflexive self. Bringing together Colson Whitehead’s novel The Intuitionist (1999) and its account of an elevator crash, their design and maintenance, with a narrative account of software agents enables an investigation into the promises made through a design-for-the-prevention-of-failure imperative. These examples highlight the relation between physical and non-physical failures such as failures to connect or to create intimacy. Those who contribute to designing in this article get caught up in configuring misanthropic agencies involving themselves, the designed artefact and the spaces they both inhabit be that an elevator in a housing block, or a sexbot in an online chat room. I will argue that the misanthropic agencies of automated technologies can have a confining impact on our emergent modes of design. Automated software operating in virtual spaces are confining in as much as they attempt to connect things to exploit the de-personalized aspects of automated, misanthropic agency.

In a Field of Party Walls

When Deng Xiaoping initiated market reforms in 1978, reopening the country and inviting the newest phase of foreign investment in Chinese cities, the structure and scale of these cities changed dramatically. Today, the governing process rewards the official who can most rapidly transform his or her city into guoji dadushi , a “great international city.”1 With an unprecedented release of capital,2 China has built more—more skyscrapers and high-rises, more housing and malls, more rail systems and highways—than any other country in a thirty-year period.3 In Shanghai, the traditional lilong (alleyway or lane) housing compounds are being replaced by new gated communities of luxury housing towers surrounded by landscaped parks or paved parking (Figure 1). Widened streets, elevated highways, and spiraling approach ramps to suspension bridges impose a new, vehicular, logic on the city (Figure 2). On its expanding edges, rows upon rows of repetitive housing blocks are organized by an economic logic of mass reproduction and the strict daylight standards that govern the spacing of buildings to ensure that sunlight penetrates residential spaces. Along what were once tow roads running beside canals, new shopping malls have organized their indoor public spaces according to the logic of retailing rather than that of public streets. Figure 1 Aerial view of Shanghai, 2004 (author’s photo) Figure 2 Aerial view of Puxi from Pudong, 2012. The sense of the Huangpu River in the city is now understood only from the heights of new skyscrapers (author’s photo) Developers, to ensure that each project announces itself as an icon, intentionally dissociate it from its surrounding context. Each building is a discrete object whose separation from other buildings is more important than the relation between them. Spaces between buildings are undefined and cars dominate public space. Urbanism is fragmented as identity is transferred from the city to its …

서울시 단독주택지의 독립형 저층공동주택 제안에 관한 연구 - 답십리 재건주택지를 중심으로 -

As a measures for improving a housing environment, this study suggests a planning of detached low-rise multi-plex houses, which are applicable to part of the reconstruction housing site in Dapsipri, one of the detached public housing sites constructed in 1956. The purpose of this study is to suggest an architectural alternative, which can improve the quality of dwelling while maintaining the residential environment of the detached housing site. The planning of detached low-rise multi-plex houses for the reconstruction housing site in Dapsipri has the following features: 1)This planning ensures the equal quality of sunlight environment by considering the current physical housing density and by arranging four types of unit housing modules which consider the width and direction of streets. 2) This planning uses a rehabilitation redevelopment method for each lot, which has dilapidated buildings. This approach will be able to maintain previous housing lots and road systems where various housing groups have been formed over the years in the reconstruction housing site. 3)This planning provides an easy access to roads by increasing the width of inner streets within unit housing and by considering the geographical condition of each lot. 4)This planning provides community space to ensure connectivity among residents and to revitalize communications among residents. It designs public streets as a community space through an inward common space, which directs toward housing blocks, in addition to the outward common space, which directs toward the roads. This study discovered that the current residential environment of the Dapsipri reconstruction housing site is poor. To improve such a poor living environment, this study suggests a detached low-rise apartment planning, which still maintains the existing housing density and the existing geographical context, by taking a rehabilitation redevelopment approach. The planning suggested in this study will be able to restore physical rationality. However, it will face limitations in improving residents' awareness about redevelopment and in leading to a flexible interpretation of the related laws.

일본의 사회 약자를 위한 공적 임대주택 지원제도 연구

There is a growing tendency within decaying cities to analyze spatial characteristics to initiate various sustainable development programs and support systems to make high-quality and small-medium sized urban housing for the urban poor. Professional research institutions in Korea are looking for new guidance into making social housing regeneration systems and design direction. But there is a lack of research on support systems and legal programs for the urban poor. The purpose of this study will be to analyze the support systems of Japan for the public rental housing in residential blocks since the Japanese government have developed the urban poor housing policy for housing blocks. And they are establishing support systems to improve the quality of the residential environment and the resettlement of existing residents. This study will investigate and analyze : 1) the conditions and problems of the urban housing blocks and the public rental housing system in Japan. 2) support systems and policies for the public rental housing. 3) derive the best practices from these systems.

The influence of bait presentation on bait uptake by mice (Mus domesticus) in infested urban domestic dwellings

Several researchers have established a link between the presence of house mouse (Mus domesticus) infestations and detrimental effects on human health. Controlling mouse infestations therefore requires methods that are quick, safe and effective. A tamper-resistant bait station with a wax block which is manufactured to fit within it so that it cannot be shaken out is considered the safest way to present the bait. However, some authors have expressed concern about the efficacy of this method. Research to examine the effects of bait stations on the feeding of mice infesting domestic dwellings was undertaken in the city of Manchester, UK. Working in conjunction with Manchester City Council, suitable sites were found. A balanced Latin Square experimental design was employed to overcome any operational biases that could have occurred. Non-toxic baits were presented in one of four ways: whole wheat in a cardboard box; whole wheat in a open tray; whole wheat in a tamper-resistant box; and a non-toxic wax block in a tamper-resistant box. Baits were placed in four different locations within dwellings and during the feeding trial; the bait stations were rotated, so that each bait type was presented in each location. The bait take from 12 dwellings within 3 housing blocks was recorded. Three-quarters of the bait consumed during the trial was taken from the cardboard box. No bait was taken from the tamper-resistant box containing the wax block.Risk assessments should drive the approach adopted in presenting rodenticide. Dwellings where vulnerable adults/children/pets are present may represent a risk of accidental poisoning may require a regime with tamper-resistant bait boxes containing wax blocks, to prevent baits being accessed. However, a balance between the safest and the most effective presentation of bait is needed and in areas where there is unlikely to be any access to baits (e.g. behind kitchen kickboards), use of alternatives must remain to ensure the shift resolution of infestations. Where bait can be placed safely and there are no children or pets present, cardboard boxes provide an effective means of ensuring that bait is consumed by the mice infesting domestic dwellings.

The Role of the CDBG Program in Rural America

The stated goal of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is “to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.” While it may be perceived that CDBG exclusively assists urban or inner-suburban communities, the program also makes funds available to many smaller and less populated portions of states under the rubric of “nonentitlement” areas. Some research suggests that CDBG is the largest community and economic development program in rural America. Overall, there has been very little study of the CDBG program in terms of rural geography or funding.This research explores several basic questions. (1) To what degree do nonentitlement CDBG service areas actually comprise rural population and land (as opposed to suburban and exurban communities)? (2) What proportion of nonentitlement CDBG funds reaches rural communities and, in particular, economically distressed areas? The results indicate that a majority of the nation's nonentitlement service areas are largely rural in nature. On the other hand, over 40% of the population in nonentitlement areas actually reside in the suburbs. Similarly, most CDBG nonentitlement funds go to rural and small-town communities, with over a third of funds supporting projects in high-poverty communities. However, the degree to which these awards are large enough to make an important and sustainable impact within a rural community is difficult to assess.

Cooking, Class, and Colonial Transformations in Roman Mediterranean France

This article investigates the changes in foodways and cooking practices—especially in regard to the ceramic cooking assemblages—among the Celtic-speaking peoples of ancient Mediterranean France following the Roman conquest at the end of the second century B.C.E. I specifically examine the region of modern Languedoc-Roussillon using the ceramic data from the indigenous oppida of Lattara (modern Lattes), Castels à Nages, and Ambrussum, covering a period from the beginning of the third century B.C.E. through the first century C.E. I suggest that prior to the Roman conquest, during Iron Age II, there were few differences in cooking practices among the different blocks of houses at these sites. Although food was used for practices of social and political differentiation, these differences were probably manifested and articulated generally through differences in the quantity, rather than the quality, of the food. After the Roman conquest, however, particularly at the urban centers in the region, a new "high" cuisine emerged, one characterized by differences in taste and the quality of food among different social groups. These transformations were in turn likely related to important sociopolitical changes occurring in the region as local society became increasingly integrated with larger Roman colonial society.

文京区駒込の寺地の変遷

This study uses historical maps and data to research the Buddhist temple area in Komagome. The temple and graveyard areas of the Edo, Early-Meiji Period, Beginning of Taisho Period and the present day are layered on a map, and the overlapping images are analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the following findings are observed:1. In the Edo Period, many temples were transferred from the neighboring areas, for example, Kanda, Yushima and Hongo. Of these, nine temples' were using the Rinso-in's territory.2. After land requisition in the early Meiji Period, in almost all cases, less than half of the bestowed land was authorized as a precinct temple area. Leased or taxed land in the Edo Period were authorized as a private land.3. Some of the temple area was disposed and returned as private land due to the self-clearing petition appealed by the superior of the temple.4. By the end of the Meiji Period, many temple areas, inside and outside the precinct were disposed. In many cases, graveyards remained on the original temple area.5. The shape of the main street in the Edo Period can be seen in this area, and that of the town house block inherited from the Edo Period can be seen in some places. On the other hand, the high-rise apartment, located along the main street, overlooks the cemetery from the balcony of the apartment.

高蔵寺ニュータウンにおける住宅ストック及び施設分布からみた再生手法に関する考察

This study is aimed to consider the regenerative method viewed from the relationship between the housing stock and the distribution of facilities in and around Kozoji Newtown. As the results we found that more people tend to live around the Newtown because more numbers of commercial facilities has been located around rather than within the Newtown. It causes that the Newtown has remained an only residential town because facility location is legally or as some rules restricted in the most of the areas except the center area. Therefore we consider that it is important to give each area some added value and attractiveness by promoting commercial use in UR rental housing blocks or detached housing areas in order to increase the numbers of new residents in the Newtown.

프랑스 노후주거지 재생을 위한 근린재생 프로그램 연구

There is a growing tendency within old towns to analyze spatial characteristics to initiate various sustainable development programs and systems to make high-quality small-medium local cities. Professional research institutions in Korea are looking for new guidance into making housing regeneration policies and for trying to merge different functions. But there is a lack of research on support indicators and legal systems for residents. The purpose of this study will analyze the support systems and indicators of France for declined residential blocks in urban. Because the government of France have developed the policy for declined housing blocks. And they are establishing support systems to improve the quality of the residential environment and the resettlement of existing residents. First, this research study the condition of declined housing blocks in Paris. Secondly, support systems and policies of PNRU and PNRQAD are investigated and analyzed. Finally, cases by PNRU and PNRQAD are analyzed to derive the strength of this system. As a result, the following implications are derived. 1) the strengthening of social support, 2) the establishment of specialized national institutions and indicators, 3) increasing citizen participation, 4) Sustainable research program for neighborhood regeneration.

The Boulevard Lefebvre Disaster: A Crisis in Construction

On 15 January 1964, a twelve-storey housing block collapsed while under construction on boulevard Lefebvre in Paris, killing twenty workers and injuring eighteen. Ten days later, the funeral for the dead workers became a national event. Crowds flocked to the streets of Paris and work on building sites stopped in solidarity with the victims. This landmark accident marked a significant shift in attitudes towards building site safety. Within a year of boulevard Lefebvre, the French government introduced the first major building safety laws in half a century. Accidents on building sites were frequent in France during the 1960s, resulting in 1,000 deaths annually, but boulevard Lefebvre was a seismic moment that made visible the human cost of construction work. An accident on the scale of boulevard Lefebvre revealed anxieties about architecture, technology and urban development that transcended the single event. Based on eyewitness accounts and findings from the accident investigation, this article pieces together for the first time the events surrounding the accident and the responses to it.

Stinking Foreshore to Tree Lined Avenue: Investigating the Riverine Lives Impacted by the Construction of the Thames Embankments in Victorian London

Victorian London saw dramatic physical changes along the river Thames. Large enclosed Docks and Thames Embankments were constructed as the city struggled to cope with its ballooning population and prospering shipping industry. Whilst the Thames Embankments have been hailed as engineering triumphs, the fate of those whose livelihood relied on access to the river in central London (such as wharf workers, barge, ferry and lighter men, and others) is unknown. <br />In order to investigate the impact of the Embankment, a methodology has been developed which enables characterisation of a large swathe of urban riverside throughout the mid- to late 19th century, whilst also ensuring that the stories of individuals and communities are not lost. The approach combines and adapts established methodologies, such as Historic Landscape/Seascape Characterisation and Maritime Cultural Landscapes, to understand the nature and changes in the urban riverside landscape. This methodology forms the background for detailed research on smaller sites, such as a single street, housing block, or industrial site, in order to create ‘Ethnographies of Place’. These small-scale ‘Ethnographies’ have the potential to tell stories about how the social and economic circumstances of individuals and communities changed as a result of the landscape changes associated with the Embankment construction. This paper presents the initial work to establish the methodology and preliminary conclusions based on key sources.

Favela’s as the Total Institutions Particular Type

Favela is a place in the social space which is generating amongst their residents staying features typical of persons in total institutions. In Polish reality are functionings three favel’s kinds – post- PGR housing estates, high-rise block housing estates, workers' districts and the poor districts. Living people in favelas can't see the link between the hard work and the internal development. Such people usually want achieve socially not having accepted cells of accepted socially agents of their accomplishment, i.e. the education, the network of contacts, the classification and financial means. He remains the exit R. Merton’s form of the innovative adaptation.