Sustainable Housing Design Research Articles

THE KEY-COMPONENTS OF SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DESIGN FOR AUSTRALIAN SMALL SIZE HOUSING

The building industry has a substantial potential for short-run and cost-effective greenhouse gases emission mitigation with long-term positive sustainability impacts. There are, however, a variety of human-based barriers, detracting from the leverage of the mitigation plans in this industry. The impacts of human-based factors are especially critical in the small size residential buildings, whereby a wide range of stakeholders plays serious roles in the housing development. In Australia, one critical human-based factor in the residential sector is the occupants’ preferences, increasing substantially diversity and complexity of the dwelling units’ physical characteristics. This paper intends to explain the role of feasibility assessment and design process in improving the energy performance of the Australian residential sector. Accordingly, an overview of the Australian housing characteristics assists in addressing the key characteristics of the Australian housing preferences. The analyses show that typological monotony, high range of owneroccupied housing, alongside occupants’ affordability are a number of characteristics of the Australian housing, which facilitate the implementation of housing efficiency plans in the early stages of housing provision. Some other characteristics, e.g. floor area, number of bedrooms, and number of people per dwelling units are some inefficient housing preferences, stressing the significant role of designers in encouraging the residents toward efficient choice behaviors. Accordingly, potential to impact the design process has the the energy demands of Australian housing through Housing-Resident Fit, by the implementing the key components of sustainable housing design, impacting the occupants’ preferences, and simplifying their domestic activities.

The use of recycled waste products in a sustainable house design - a case study

The current state of waste production and management in Slovakia. Legislative regulations. Analysis of applying recycled waste products in the construction of sustainable buildings as a substitution of non-renewable materials. The comparison of the physical parameters of recycled materials with non-renewable materials in terms of thermal and fire protection. The construction solution of lightweight building envelopes with a timber supporting system using the thermal insulation and facing made of recycled materials. The model solution of a wood-based family house using recycled waste materials. The comparison of the environmental burden of a standard lightweight sandwich peripheral wall with a recycled waste wall.

Affordable house designs to improve health in rural Africa: a field study from northeastern Tanzania

The population of sub-Saharan Africa is currently estimated to be 1245 million and is expected to quadruple by the end of the century, necessitating the building of millions of homes. Malaria remains a substantial problem in this region and efforts to minimise transmission should be considered in future house planning. We studied how building elements, which have been successfully employed in southeast Asia to prevent mosquitos from entering and cooling the house, could be integrated in a more sustainable house design in rural northeastern Tanzania, Africa, to decrease mosquito density and regulate indoor climate. In this field study, six prototype houses of southeast Asian design were built in in the village of Magoda in Muheza District, Tanga Region, Tanzania, and compared with modified and unmodified, traditional, sub-Saharan African houses. Prototype houses were built with walls made of lightweight permeable materials (bamboo, shade net, or timber) with bedrooms elevated from the ground and with screened windows. Modified and unmodified traditional African houses, wattle-daub or mud-block constructions, built on the ground with poor ventilation served as controls. In the modified houses, major structural problems such as leaking roofs were repaired, windows screened, open eaves blocked with bricks and mortar, cement floors repaired or constructed, and rain gutters and a tank for water storage added. Prototype houses were randomly allocated to village households through a free, fair, and transparent lottery. The lottery tickets were deposited in a bucket made of transparent plastic. Each participant could draw one ticket. Hourly measurements of indoor temperature and humidity were recorded in all study houses with data loggers and mosquitoes were collected indoors and outdoors using Furvela tent traps and were identified with standard taxonomic keys. Mosquitoes of the Anopheles gambiae complex were identified to species using PCR. Attitudes towards the new house design were assessed 6-9 months after the residents moved into their new or modified homes through 15 in-depth interviews with household heads of the new houses and five focus group discussions including neighbours of each group of prototype housing. Between July, 2014, and July, 2015, six prototype houses were constructed; one single and one double storey building with each of the following claddings: bamboo, shade net, and timber. The overall reduction of all mosquitoes caught was highest in the double-storey buildings (96%; 95% CI 92-98) followed closely by the reduction found in single-storey buildings (77%; 72-82) and lowest in the modified reference houses (43%; 36-50) and unmodified reference houses (23%; 18-29). The indoor temperature in the new design houses was 2·3°C (95% CI 2·2-2·4) cooler than in the reference houses. While both single and two-storey buildings provided a cooler indoor climate than did traditional housing, two-story buildings provided the biggest reduction in mosquito densities (96%, 95% CI 89-100). Seven people who moved into the prototype houses and seven of their neighbours (three of whom had their houses modified) participated in in-depth interviews. After living in their new prototype houses for 6-9 months, residents expressed satisfaction with the new design, especially the second-storey sleeping area because of the privacy and security of upstairs bedrooms. The new design houses had fewer mosquitoes and were cooler than modified and unmodified traditional homes. New house designs are an underused intervention and hold promise to reduce malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa and keep areas malaria-free after elimination. Ruth W Jensens Foundation, Copenhagen and Hanako Foundation, Singapore.

Criteria and Factors Affecting Sustainable Housing Design in Iran

Since the beginning of human life, housing problems are the most important matters of his life and with the expansion of urban life, importance in terms of the needs of mental, psychological and physical users has been doubled. The housing subject has been always interest to architects from various aspects and attempts made to improve affordable housing, attempts to improve relations or social housing, or seek to identify and develop the cultural origins, economics, management and other macro policies. On the other hand due to the growing population and consequently expand need to housing, and also identifying of residential needs of people in different dimensions necessity of this research is doubled. This study assuming more than half of the land in our cities is devoted to residential use and also lack of attention to sustainable development in the Residential Buildings the purpose of this study sustainable urban development and the achievement of sustainable affordable housin pattern.This study focuse on descriptive- analytical and based on library research seeks to answer this question: What are the criteria for designing sustainable housing in Iran? Thus, after the introduction, do analysis and commentary related content. Conclusion suggest that in addition to aspects of sustainability (economic, social and environmental), factors such as social, cultural and attention to the flexibility according to Iranian households, design sustainable housing should be considered.

초고층 미래주택 공모전 수상작에서 나타난 지속가능 계획특성 추출 연구

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to extract the sustainable characteristics of skyscraper housing design. Method: The method of the study was literature survey and content analysis techniques, and the target cases were 8 skyscraper housing design projects awarded from eVolo Skyscraper international competition. The sustainable features for analysis were categorized into social, cultural, economical and ecological sustainability and total 26 elements. Result: As a result, important elements were extracted, and profiles of elements in the projects were delineated, out of 26 design elements: 'Aesthetics', 'Climate Change', 'Resource Using Efficiency', 'Technical Innovation', 'local Employment' were shown dominant. While 8 projects showed the whole range of 26 elements, even though the project what by now is still an important problem for skyscraper, the result gives an insight into future sustainable skyscraper housing design.

Housing Stakeholder Preferences for the "Soft" Features of Sustainable and Healthy Housing Design in the UK.

It is widely recognised that the quantity and sustainability of new homes in the UK need to increase. However, it is important that sustainable housing is regarded holistically, and not merely in environmental terms, and incorporates elements that enhance the quality of life, health and well-being of its users. This paper focuses on the “soft” features of sustainable housing, that is, the non-technological components of sustainable housing and neighbourhood design that can impact occupants’ health and well-being. Aims of the study are to ascertain the relative level of importance that key housing stakeholders attach to these features and to investigate whether the opinions of housing users and housing providers are aligned with regards to their importance. An online survey was carried out to gauge the level of importance that the key stakeholders, such as housing users, local authorities, housing associations, and developers (n = 235), attach to these features. Results revealed that while suitable indoor space was the feature regarded as most important by all stakeholders, there were also a number of disparities in opinion between housing users and housing providers (and among the different types of providers). This implies a scope for initiatives to achieve a better alignment between housing users and providers.

Non-Linear Model in Architectural Design for Sustainable Social Housing: Case Study Ovča Housing Project Belgrade

The aim of this paper is to reconsider the conventional approaches in architectural design for social housing that lead to low adaptability of architecture regarding spatial needs of its inhabitants. This research explores the potential of nonlinear model in architectural design of sustainable social housing. Sustainability is commonly interpreted through categories of socio-economic availability, notwithstanding the fact that demands of contemporary living greatly exceed the scope of this definition. One of the methods to integrate sustainability into social housing design is to incorporate specific users’ needs into the design process itself. The aim is to specify the common ground for negotiation between all actors in the process. Such a platform could enable multiple options allowing flexibility and a higher level of quality, as well as the comfort of sustainable living. This design approach is developed in the case study project for Ovča social housing community in Belgrade. This project is conceived as an infrastructural system that precedes the building as a finite architecture, therefore anticipating inhabitants’ involvement in the design process. The non-linear model of architectural design is enabled trough a drawing as a tool of communication. Since it is carried out according to previously defined values, this iterative procedure establishes a specific set of outputs that can later be evaluated and modified in accordance to users’ spatial needs. Therefore, the drawing becomes a tool that allows a variety of designing processes while the most important role still belongs to the architect and the user. Such iterative design process creates preconditions that enable the inhabitants to appropriate the space of living, which legitimizes the aim to transfer the design process from conventional towards the non-linear model of architectural design.

The Influence of Urban Geometry on Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption in Residential Building of Hot Arid Climate, Assiut, Egypt

Designing climatically responsive dwellings not only can achieve thermal comfort for occupants, but also can make a significant improvement in energy conservation. Consequently, interest in the microclimate around buildings in urban areas has increased because its affects other things; outdoor and indoor thermal comfort, energy consumption in heating and cooling, and the spreading of air pollution. This paper aims to investigate the influence of open spaces (outer courtyards) between building “Shallow canyons” with a H/W ratio of 0.24∼0.6 in one of the urban patterns of youth housing sectors in New Assiut city and deep canyons with a H/W ratio of 4 in one of the new residential houses (El-Abrahimia and El-Moalemen complexes) in the center of Assiut city on indoor thermal comfort. A comparison was made between the two cases based on indoor thermal comfort, energy consumption and IAQ in hot arid climate.The st**udy shows a decrease of indoor temperature inside living rooms that overlook the deep canyons in El-Abrahimia complex with a difference of 11°C from the outdoor in the hottest day of July. The design of deep canyons causes a temperature decrease of 6∼9.4°C compared to outdoor temperature in different points of the courtyard. Indoor temperature in these cases reach the upper limit of 90% acceptable range of ASHRAE during July with a maximum indoor temperature 32.5°C based on the strategy of using natural ventilation. The findings show decreases of cooling demand and energy consumption in deep canyons. This is considered a basic monitoring method that could be used in the future strategy of sustainable housing design of new cities in hot arid climate.

Reinventing Traditional Malay House for Sustainable Housing Design: Obstacle and Proposed Solution

Traditional Malay House design has the key of energy efficiency dwelling to create a sustainable housing. Today, modern houses are massively built replacing the Malaysia’s heritage house. Despite of this rapid development, the owners are aware on the drawback of this type of houses. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate factors of developers reluctant to build the Traditional Malay House and correct the public misconception toward the housing perception. Survey questionnaire and in-depth interview were conducted. The results indicate that costing is the major problem for housing developers to construct Traditional Malay House.

A Heuristic Rule-Based Passive Design Decision Model for Reducing Heating Energy Consumption of Korean Apartment Buildings

This research presents an evaluative energy model for estimating the energy efficiency of the design choices of architects and engineers in the early design phase. We analyze the effects of various parameters with different characteristics in various combinations for building energy consumption. With this analysis, we build a database that identifies a set of heuristic rules for energy-efficient building design to facilitate the design of sustainable apartment housing. Perturbation studies are based on a sensitivity analysis used to identify the thermal influence of the input design parameters on various simulation outputs and compare the results to a reference case. Energy sensitivity weight factors are obtained from an extensive sensitivity study using building energy simulations. The results of the energy sensitivity study summarized in a set of heuristic rules for evaluating architectural features are estimated through case studies of Korean apartment buildings. This study offers valuable guidelines for developing energy-efficient residential housing in Korea and will help architects in considering appropriate design schemes and provide a ready reference to generalized test cases for both architects and engineers so that they can zero in on a set of effective design solutions.

Developing Affordable and Sustainable Housing through Energy, Transport, and Building Utility Integration

AbstractHousing affordability and sustainable development are not polarized ideologies as both are necessary with increasing urbanization. Researchers must bridge the gap between current median house pricing and target affordable house pricing while pursuing sustainability. This paper examines the potential of initial construction cost and ongoing utilities and transport cost reduction, through the integration of sustainable housing design and transit oriented development principles in a commuter energy and building utilities system (CEBUS). It also introduces current research on the development of a dynamic simulation model for CEBUS applications in the Australian property development and construction industry.

Saudi Arabia's sustainable housing limitations: the experts’ views

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to attempt to bridge the gap between sustainable housing and the use of smart technologies to improve the level of sustainability in the housing construction in Saudi Arabia, by discussing the barriers and enablers concerned with applying sustainability to housing construction in Saudi Arabia, which utilises smart technologies. Design/methodology/approach – A Delphi method survey was employed, for which 25 individuals from three key stakeholder groups of the Saudi housing sector participated. They were asked about their degree of agreement (or disagreement) about the various barriers and enablers of applying sustainability to housing construction in Saudi Arabia, which utilises smart technologies. This research paper must be considered as an indicative study of selected experts that do not represent in any way the total population of Saudi Arabia. Findings – Lack of public awareness has been identified as the most significant barrier in implementing sustainable housing development in Saudi Arabia, which utilises smart technologies. Raising awareness of the public to the benefits of sustainable housing and enlightening key project stakeholders in the design of sustainable housing are both essential in order to overcome the barriers discussed in this paper. In addition, it is important to adopt smart sustainable construction methods, exemplified by but not limited to, appropriate water preservation and wastewater treatment systems that are simultaneously smart and sustainable. Research limitations/implications – This particular research has dealt with only barriers and enablers in the application of sustainability to housing in Saudi Arabia, which utilises smart technologies. For a more complete understanding, there is a need for further analysis of supplementary factors. Practical implications – A study such as this, which identifies and prioritises barriers and enablers, could prove useful in guiding or encouraging the relevant ministry in Saudi Arabia to develop policies founded in the implementation of sustainability to the housing sector. Originality/value – This research is a preliminary investigation into the implementation of sustainable housing development as it relates to Saudi Arabia.

An Analysis of an International NGOs Design Decision-Making in Post Disaster Developing Country Context: A Sri Lanka Case Study

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current design and delivery approaches of a selected INGO operating in the field of post disaster housing design and delivery in developing country contexts and clearly map out their approach from inception to completion of a housing project. The research utilizes a case study analysis involving a leading European INGO operating in post disaster housing delivery in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The research highlights the main challenges and opportunities in relation to the design and delivery of low cost sustainable housing in developing countries as identified in current literature on the subject. An in depth analysis of the selected INGO’s overall design and delivery approach was undertaken utilizing a causal mapping interview procedure with lead designers within the organization who were involved in the project’s design and implementation. The results identify and discuss the specific approaches, challenges and considerations that informed their decision-making as an INGO in a post disaster developing country context which. The results of this research study provide a concise insight into the design decision-making process and considerations of leading foreign INGO’s operating in developing countries and will be beneficial to policy makers, NGOs, government bodies and community organizations in practice as it offers unique evidence based insights into an international bodies housing design decision-making process.

Mass-Customized Net Energy-Positive Housing For the Great Lakes Region

This paper presents the Latitude Housing System, a speculative model for a means of imagining multi-scalar nested considerations for the development of a mass-customized net energy producing housing system geared to the specific conditions of the Great Lakes region in North America. In the most general sense, the project is motivated by an attempt to frame the discussion of such housing beyond its energy performance alone, and expand by implication, the ways in which we might discuss and debate approaches to the design and delivery of sustainable housing. Considerations that range from regional economic synergies and models of clean-tech collaborations to behaviour shaping building controls systems are presented and briefly outlined as they are applied to a constructed proof of concept prototype, North House, which is based on the Latitude system.

Insights of architects’ knowledge of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) in relation to low carbon housing design and delivery in the UK

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to report research conducted to explore the insights of UK architects on the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) in relation to low carbon housing design and delivery.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the awareness and knowledge of CSH in low carbon housing design and delivery in the UK, a mixed method approach comprising of interviews with architects in practice and academia were combined with questionnaires to UK sustainable architectural practices.FindingsThe results confirmed that, although UK architects are aware of CSH, it is only very few (11.8 per cent), who have the expert knowledge. This is in comparison to 52.9 per cent of those with some knowledge, and 35.3 per cent of those who are very knowledgeable in the use and implementation of CSH to design and deliver low carbon new homes in the UK.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are based only on the sustainable architects in the UK, therefore the findings may not represent the view of other constructional professionals in the UK.Practical implicationsThe research focused on investigating the judging criteria and opinions of architects who are strongly identified with sustainable housing design practices in the UK. It explores the insights of architects on the CSH, because their knowledge, use and implementation of it, along with other information on low carbon housing design, from the onset determines how soon zero carbon homes in the UK can be achieved; leading towards tackling energy use in the UK and on a wider level, the European commitment reduction of energy consumption.Originality/valueThe paper is able to expose the weakness of architects in the use of information that is not represented graphically, pictorially or in the recognised Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) plan of work stages familiar to architects and the general construction industry in the UK.

A Study on Sustainable House Design in Lanyu

Lanyu (Orchid Island) lies off the southeast coast of Taiwan. The island has possessed abundant ecological resources and unique precious aboriginal culture. The Tao tribe is the native resident in the island and the below-ground house is one of its traditional cultures. This research tries to establish an assessing framework for sustainable house design in Lanyu by applying the concepts of green architecture and the languages of its traditional architecture. This research first, through literature reviews and expert interviews, determines the criteria and sub-criteria to be used in the initial assessing framework. Then, through expert questionnaires, the Delphi method is used to finalize the assessing framework. Finally, the Analytic Hierarchical Process is used to identify the relative weights of criteria and sub-criteria and then obtain the priority weights of sub-criteria. The below-ground house sub-criterion has highest priority weight and should be used in the sustainable house design. Based on the obtained sub-criteria, an exemplary design case is presented.

Appropriate Sustainable House Design for China’s Countryside

This thesis studies on the principle and design of sustainable housing to find a low-cost and low-energy model for China’s countryside residents. Currently, the most popular energy source served in most sustainable houses is solar panel electricity energy system, which has been widely applied in western low-energy houses, but unfortunately is too expensive here. Consequently, we have to search for a cheaper and more easy-got energy system. By collecting data and doing relative research, it turns out that the solar energy heater is the most available source. After an on-line secondary survey, the appropriate areas for developing solar energy sustainable housing industry could be located with the figure of annual sunshine hour in different cities. Then, by studying mature sustainable architectures and translating them to a more convenient, economic house plan adjusting to common Chinese families, a model of low-energy residential houses which is suitable for developing countries like China could finally be made, as well as the way to change the environment pollution and energy waste model in housing industry in these areas.

In Praise of Sharing as a Strategy for Sustainable Housing

A central theoretical principle of sustainability is the interdependence of economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and equity issues. The core idea is that sustainability is achieved only by balancing these elements. In practice, however, this balance is rarely evidenced in the design and production of housing, despite the mass of research into sustainable housing. This paper discusses some of the political, economic and socio-cultural issues at work in sustainable housing typologies. It illustrates how the notion of sustainability has come to be represented by ecologically-focused models, while other approaches to sustainable housing design, such as shared housing models, are barely mentioned in the literature. The paper argues that modernist imperatives, such as demands for speed and status undermine sustainable housing design and obscure its meaning. The authors suggest that in the planning and design of sustainable housing attention should be given to the sharing of resources and space as an added method of conservation, and conclude that current imbalances in research agendas and socio-cultural practices create a blind spot in the sustainable housing debate.

Considering client‐driven sustainability in residential housing

PurposeEnergy emissions from the new houses being built over recent years have increased rather than declined since the implementation of the current government rating system. This is despite evidence of Australians' growing concern about climate change. This paper seeks to compare the demographics, attitudes and knowledge of people considering building a new home with the factors that would motivate them to adopt a more sustainable home.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data from a survey of 32 people considering building a home were statistically analysed.FindingsThe results of the research indicate that financial incentives are the key motivator. Furthermore, the research identifies a relationship between age and preferred motivators.Practical implicationsThe findings of the research project allow a better understanding of the target group, which can be used to initiate more targeted motivators to encourage them to adopt a more sustainable house design. This can inform more directed marketing of sustainable investment incentives.Originality/valueThe research project establishes an understanding of the target group and the important motivators that would encourage these people, who are considering building a new house, to drive sustainability in residential design. The findings allow a better understanding of the target group, which can be used to initiate more targeted motivators to encourage them to adopt a more sustainable house design.

Environmentally Friendly Sustainable Housing Construction

Housing is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions which has significant impact on environment. As a result, in line with other countries, Australia has recently introduced legislation to control the environmental impact of future construction by imposing performance requirements. This has highlighted not only the poor thermal performance of conventional housing (operating energy) but also the irrationality of ignoring the significant environmental impact of the building process itself (the embodied energy). Therefore it is right time, and is now both a great incentive and a great opportunity to use sustainable building construction techniques. Housing is a major sector and is responsible for about 20-30% of green house gas emissions in developed countries. Therefore an effective response to climate change can be achieved through housing sustainability. Sustainable housing issues are discussed in this paper. Australia has progressed reasonably well in ecologically sustainable housing design and construction. The major steps include 5 star standards in the state of Victoria, with rebates for sustainable products including solar hot water system, photovoltaic panels, rainwater tanks, grey water tanks and insulation. In addition phasing out of incandescent light bulbs is also encouraged. A number of house energy rating tools have been developed in Australia including FirstRate, Accurate, BERS, BASIX and NABERs to name a few. Some of the sustainably built single dwellings in Australia are briefly described in this paper. This paper also includes information about Ecohome constructed in 2003 at Cairnlea estate in Melbourne with a view to promote sustainable housing in the volume housing market. Sustainable features in the Ecohome are discussed in this paper in addition to an environmentally sustainable concrete jacketed rammed earth construction. Concrete jacketed rammed earth construction is very economical and well suited for both rural and urban areas. Both the embodied energy and operational energy required for these homes are much lesser than conventional homes. This paper discusses environmentally stainable construction method which is relatively economical and also the sustainability features required to be introduced in any house.