Honeycomb Housing For Skbrothers2

HONEYCOMB HOUSING A PICTORIAL INTRODUCTION BY ARKITEK M. GHAZALI & TESSELLAR SDN BHD Copyright July 2004

HONEYCOMB HOUSING

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Creating Communities in Harmony with Nature Designing Dream Homes in a Naturally Efficient way

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A fundamentally new method of planning Help solve many of the social and environmental problems of rapid urbanization Deliver improved outcomes more efficiently with less resource More marketable and attractive to consumers In line with government thinking and policy objectives An attractive proposition for developers

INDIVIDUAL DWELLINGS AND LINKED DWELLINGS

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Dwellings can be arranged on individual plots of land as detached units or linked to each other Detached or linked they line up along streets to form row housing In a row house, owners of individual plots maintain sole occupancy rights to the property The property is often referred to as landed property

GRIDLINES AND THE LINEAR APPROACH TO PLANNING •

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Orthogonal grids have been used as the fundamental tool for subdividing land Linear roads provide roads to individually owned plots of land Roads and gridlines may be distorted by design or necessity but retain their linear nature

TERRACE HOUSING

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Terrace housing has been considered the densest form of landed property development possible, since over 500 years ago………..

TERRACE HOUSING

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……and all round the world

STRATA AND GROUP TITLES

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Desa Park Groups of houses share ownership of the communal facilities allowing greater freedom in designing the access route and common facilities allowing high densities Strata- titles are not as valuable as land tiles

ORGANIC LAYOUTS •

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Trying to improve the monotony of housing in rows, planners have devised strategies: “Organic” layouts where winding roads and occasional cul-desacs break the boredom of the iron grid Density is sacrificed

CLUSTER APPROACH

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The cluster approach can produce better outcomes than linear planning but, in this case, loses out on efficiency

HONEYCOMB HOUSING: A RADICAL ALTERNATIVE TO ROW HOUSING

TESSELLATION •

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In mathematics, to tessellate means to cover a plane with a pattern without gaps or overlap For centuries artists and craftsmen have used tessellations as a tool to create visual effects on surfaces Tiling is the most common form of tessellations Regular tessellations occur when the tiles are regular polygons and they are the simplest form

Regular Tessellations

Semi regular Tessellations

TESSELLAR PLANNING • The Muslim craftsmen in Spain in the 15th century created beautifully complex visual effects by tessellating a small simple basic tile pattern • In Honeycomb Housing, the creative power of tessellation is applied to town planning, where the colours are not merely decorative but represent functional space

THE BASIC NEIGHBOURHOOD

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A “tile” containing the planning elements necessary to create a basic neighbourhood can be set out on a shape that can tessellate Communal space is created in the middle, surrounded by the houses The road accesses the individual units internally and creates an extremely efficient circulation system

TESSELLATING BASIC NEIGHBOURHOODS

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When the basic neighbourhood tile is tessellated, the roads are linked to create larger neighbourhoods without loss of efficiency

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Opportunities to link dwelling units into multiunit blocks exist along the tile boundaries

CREATING NEW HOUSETYPES

Duplex Wide frontage bungalow

Quadruplex

Triplex

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Sextuplex

Linked Honeycomb Houses ideally joins back to back and are accessed from different cul-de-sacs

DUPLEX AND THE TRIPLEX

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The DUPLEX and the TRIPLEX give the impression of being detached units when looked from the house entrances

QUADRUPLEX , SEXTUPLEX

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They may also link side to side as well as back to back The QUADRUPLEX , SEXTUPLEX and octaplex give the impression of being semi-detached houses

The result of joining many neighbourhood tiles on a real site is simple and efficient It creates more livable spaces with an improved relationship between people to people, people to cars, and people to their environment

THE TESSELLAR PRECINCT

CARS VERSUS PEOPLE •

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Planners have pointed out the negative effect fast moving traffic to neighbourhoods Radburn is the prototype for the separation of pedestrians from traffic Delft is the example where the roads are designed with traffic-calming features to slow down vehicles

PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY ROADS

TERRACE HOUSING • • •

HONEYCOMB HOUSING In Honeycomb Housing the network of roads comprise looping culde-sacs and short connecting roads leading to distributor roads This road pattern slows down traffic naturally rendering it safe for pedestrians The short connecting road with no access to houses provide space for visitors’ parking

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PREVENTING CRIME THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN The concept of Defensible Space with hierarchy of private space, semi-private space and public space, after 30 years, is already widely accepted Residents must be allowed to exercise influence over the environment just outside their homes: visitors must know when they are entering a semi-private domain Environmental design can assist in providing natural surveillance of the external spaces Honeycomb Housing eliminates back-lanes from where 70% of break-ins in Malaysia originate

COMMUNAL SPACES FOR ALL

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The outdoor space between buildings is an important arena for social interaction Social contact and spontaneous interaction are important building blocks towards creating a sense of community The creation of a safe, pleasant and shady area of the right size, just outside the home is a basic feature of Honeycomb Housing. The central courtyard becomes the social focus of the neighbourhood In this location it is accessible to all to enjoy, the very young, the old and the disabled

KAMPONGS IN THE CITY

HUMAN SCALE AND A SENSE OF BELONGING

• Sociologists find that individuals relate better to small groups rather than large • In Honeycomb Housing the neighbourhood contains only 5 to 40 units defined clearly by the single access road and the communal courtyards • It is easier to recognize each other, to get acquainted, to form informal social groups and to initiate collective action

HONEYCOMB HOUSING: IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

CONSERVING HILLS AND STREAMS

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To build long rows of terrace houses cheaply require hills to be cut and streams to be filled Honeycomb link units have compact footprints that allow more level changes to be placed between the block

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The road shoulder with its cables and pipes are not suitable for trees: but big shady species can thrive in the small communal gardens of Honeycomb Housing The clearing of trees to create concrete jungles are the main contribution to the heat-island effect Roofing the house with thick insulation and shading the external hard landscape and roads maximizing the tree canopy area is a strategy, pioneered by UPM, used in Honeycomb Housing Evaporation from leaves will further cool the external environment

FROM HEAT-ISLANDS TO COOL OASIS

BRINGING IN NATURE TO TOWNS

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The landscaping of the parks will create micro habitats Linking the small islands of green via the footpath landscaping and the private gardens will encourage biological diversity Wildlife technology to be developed further by UPM will introduce suitable species of butterflies, birds and small mammals to make the Honeycomb Township its home

FROM BARRACKS TO CUL-DE-SACS

HONEYCOMB HOUSING: DESIGNING DREAM-HOMES

• Breaking free from grid-lock • The terrace house has been designed and redesigned but always within the same restrictive framework • Honeycomb Housing with its novel housetypes represents a new refreshing challenge for architects

FROM NARROW TO WIDE FRONTAGES

BUNGALOWS AND SEMI-D’S FOR ALL

Wide frontage bungalow

Quadruplex

Triplex

Duplex

Sextuplex

DETACHED

DUPLEX

TRIPLEX

QUADRUPLEX

SEXTUPLEX

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION •

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The home is often the family’s biggest investment: it’s resale value is affected most by its location: Homes in place seen as a private and exclusive location Setting in mature and lush landscape In a nice friendly neighbourhood

WITH GOOD FENG SHUI

HONEYCOMB HOUSING: NATURALLY EFFICIENT

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The terrace and the cul-de-sac The long against the short cul-de-sac Lots are evenly distributed in the circular neighbourhood The round cul-de-sac that do not tessellate The perimeter of the hexagon against the square

REDUCING ROADS AND IMPROVING LAND-USE EFFICIENCY

THE NATURAL ECONOMY OF INTERLOCKING HEXAGONS These are two alternative layouts on a real site in Johor Baru

The real density is the same taking a quarterdetached house as the equivalent of one terrace house

THE FALSE ECONOMY OF TERRACE HOUSING The typical terrace house layout yields less than 50% sellable land The roads take up 40 to 50% of the total raw land used

Mathematical Model •

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Distances and areas of a Hexagonal Honeycomb Layout and an equivalent Terrace Layout are expressed in terms of variables x, y, and so on Using Pythagoras Theorem and the Solution to Quadratic Equations, a Mathematical Model of the two alternatives is built up

Quadratic Equations:

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Ax2+Bx+C Pythagoras Theorem:

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C2=A2+B2

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GENERAL CASE PROOF •

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By varying the inputs we can see the result on the outputs and capture this on a graph We can show that within practical limits, the Sextuplex in a Honeycomb Layout is always more Land-Use Efficient and Dense than the Terrace House

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Big reduction in the quantity of roads and drains Increase in the cost of sewerage in bigger units Overall reduction in Infrastructure costs

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Buildable Footprint

Buildable Footprint

REDUCING THE COST OF INFRASTRUCTURE

LENGTH OF SEWER MAINS

OVERCOMING THE NATURAL RESISTANCE TO THE NEW •

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Convincing Consumers and confirming this with market surveys and in consultation with property professionals Gaining Government Backing through promoting Honeycomb Housing as a homegrown solution to the side-effects of rapid urbanization that does not require new expenditure Demonstrate to Developers the effect to their bottom-line: better products at lower cost with minimal risk

CONVINCING CONSUMERS

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A targeted consumer survey was conducted on 24 and 25 June 2004 at the Home Ownership Campaign held at the Exhibition Hall, Mid Valley Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur Individuals and small groups were given a briefing mainly by the present authors lasting typically 5 to10 minutes After the briefings the participants were invited to complete a multiple choice questionnaire of 18 questions requesting sociological data and response to the 6 questions The results showed overwhelming acceptance of the new housing technology and demonstrates the consumer demand for ‘Thermal Comfort’ houses in ‘Honeycomb’ townships.

Gaining Government Support

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Honeycomb Housing produces better urban social and environmental outcomes A lot of voter concerns stem from the negative side effects of urbanization UPM will present to the Federal Government a proposal for a socioeconomic initiative that will not require new additional expenditure This proposal will seek to address – The social and environmental issues – The reliance on foreign workers – Landed property being less and less affordable to the average income earner

DEMONSTRATE TO DEVELOPERS THE EFFECT ON THE BOTTOM LINE LINK TO: 10-12asextuplex\Feasibility PlannerSextuplex2.xls

Terrace Layout

Honeycomb Layout

HONEYCOMB HOUSING A PICTORIAL INTRODUCTION ARKITEK M. GHAZALI / TESSELLAR SDN BHD Copyright July 2004 Created by MAZLIN GHAZALI E-mail: [email protected] Credits • Tessellar Sdn Bhd – Michael James Durack, • Centre for Thermal Comfort Studies – Mohd. Peter Davis, Nor Azian Nordin • Arkitek M. Ghazali – Mohd. Erwan Othman, Teo Ling Ling, How Peak Yen, Mohd. Hairi Jamaluddin, Erwan Sulaiman, Norhaslinda Mohd. Nor, Ong Lay Poh

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY All drawings and illustrations are the copyright of Arkitek M. Ghazali except: • Housing in Ireland, Mexico and Denmark from “The Earth from the Air” by Yann Arthus- Bertrand 2003 • Illustrations on page 21 from “Defensible Space” by Oscar Newman 1972 • Illustrations on page 19 & 21 from “Life Between Buildings” by Jan Gehl 1971 • TESSELLATION PLANNING is the subject of patent applications lodged in Australia in January, 2004 and in Malaysia in July,2004 • “HONEYCOMB” and “TESSELLAR” are trademarks