Open House International

Wilkinson, Nicholas

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0001

These are Working, Learning and Living. The first and last of Working and Living have been addressed in some of the previous issues of the journal. ‘Working’ has been supported and developed by books, journals and projects. User decision making processes lie central to these concepts.

Somma, Paola

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0002

If ever Africa had disappeared, it has now reappeared on the maps of investors seeking for land and resources. The entire continent seems to have become attractive for international financial institutions, which intensify their recommendations to single national Governments in order for them to further remove obstacles and make Africa an “ever better place to do business”.Rwanda represents an emblematic example of the rapidity and size of transformations Africa is faced with, which touch every sector, from the land ownership model to the modes of land use, from the distribution of population, to the construction of infrastructure.It is a fertile country, with a good water supply and two crop seasons, and is almost entirely cultivated. The majority of the inhabitants work the land, and subside thanks to agriculture. Today, however, the Government's goal, synthetically expressed in the slogan that defines the future of Rwanda as Africa's Singapore (Vesperini, 2010), is the modernization of agriculture, and the reduction of its weight in favour of a service economy. The most visible effects of this approach are the expulsion from the countryside of a huge number of families which lose any type of sustainment, and the grouping of many small plots in large territorial extensions which are often given for long term use to multinational agribusiness corporations. The transformation of agriculture is accompanied by the redistribution of population, traditionally settled in scattered patterns across the whole country. The massive migration from the countryside is explicitly sought by Government, whose target is to reach, by 2020, a 35% urbanization rate up from today's 18%.The three issues, total and unconditional opening to foreign investment, population resettlement and transformation of the agricultural activities, which are the pillars of the development programs initiated by Government and international advisors, are producing dramatic changes on the physical and built environment, and affect the living conditions of the weakest groups (White, Borras, Hall, Scoones, Walford, 2012).The paper proposes a reflection on themes which have general relevance, but which also need to be locally grounded. Of particular importance are urbanization, the relationship between towns and countryside, and the relationship between social and economic structure and territorial planning.In 2012 the author took part as consultant to the drafting of the Urbanization sector strategic plan 2012-2017. The views expressed here are personal and do not in any way represent the Government or Institutions’ point of view.

Chohan, Afaq Hyder; Irfan, Adi; Awad, Jihad

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0003

This research has been conducted to determine the design quality indicators and parameters for affordable housing in Karachi Pakistan. The absence of quality in Karachi housing resulted from various factors ranging from policy failure, violation of bylaws, population, housing scarcity and non availability of quality parameters etc. The amalgamation of these factors eventually lowers the quality of housing and ultimately results deficient housing design and construction. Because of this trend the end users experience the nuisance of unplanned maintenance and bear the tax of heavy repair and reworks. Significance of research has been accomplished through developing design quality models for both professional and users. This research has eventually evaluated forty eight (48) quality indicators for housing design (QIHD) from listed 65 design quality variables farmed in seven sections. This research concludes that existing design quality of affordable housing in Karachi could be enhanced through improving the design, construction, services, site development and neighborhood and sustainability. The QIHD model will provide the opportunity for design and construction professionals of city to rethink their housing design intellect in context of the housing quality.

Nejadriahi, Halleh; Dincyurek, Ozgur

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0004

Rapid changes due to the globalization process, cause in disappearance of traditional values and identity in the new architectural designs, particularly in the historical settlements. Presence of courtyard in the houses of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries dates back to nearly six thousand years ago. Privacy is one of the fundamental notions in the spatial organization of the traditional houses in this region and courtyard is the main component that assists achieving privacy in such houses. Kashan as one of the ancient cities of Iran possessing a considerable number of distinctive traditional courtyard houses, is crucial to be interrogated in terms of its traditional architecture to maintain its values and to sustain identity of the city. Space syntax as an effective method to clarify the spatial pattern of buildings and the degree of privacy in the interior spaces is applied in this study to identify privacy concerns on the formation of courtyards in the spatial organization of the traditional houses of Kashan. This paper may contribute in providing an approach for distribution of spaces in the house according to their level of privacy and its relationship in the process of current house layout design

Ebrahim, Nastaran Pour

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0005

The concept of community where people can meet their needs, interact, and feel a sense of belonging and togetherness has been an interesting topic for a majority of professionals in different academic fields such as urban planning and urban design. Different theories in these disciplines assert the correlation between the built environment and sense of community. Among these theories, New Urbanism is one of the most important schools of thought which have thrown light on this correlation. New Urbanism claims that the built environment can create a sense of community among its users. As the theory of New Urbanism develops more and more among professionals across the world, it is critical that we give the topic more research attention. This study intends to begin moving us in this direction by reviewing some studies which tried to achieve the social goal of new urbanism in recent years. Therefore the results of the empirical assessment of Sense of community in different neighbourhoods are reviewed and the influence of physical design on different domains of sense of community are discussed to find out whether the claims of new urbanism in creating sense of community could be trusted in the future development. While new urbanism movement continues to become more popular, finding enough evidence for its social claims might encourage more planners to use its principles as a way to improve the residents' social life

Stojanović, Dušan; Stamenović, Pavle

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0006

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.

Kudumović, Lana

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0007

Today, preserving architectural heritage is imposed as an obligation, regardless of the type of heritage.Heritage values are irreplaceable and priceless category of the remains of the human activities during the past, at the same time they are a category that seeks for a well prepared preservation program.Regarding a cultural heritage preservation program developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is obvious that much more must be done to preserve all traces of history as well as to manage and understand the heritage in a broader context.The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of including different types of properties and urban areas, such as small scale towns, into heritage preservation and development programs. Settlement and heritage assets are subject to change in the future, but contemporary changes could be used as a driver for the development of a wide area and as a key resource for future development.In order to recognize and distinguish the geographical setting of the Bosna River valley as a whole comprised of serial properties, two case studies, namely Tesanj and Vranduk towns settled along the Bosna River are described, focusing on the values as well as development challenges associated with small scale towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Relationship between the natural and built heritage of the selected sites acknowledged by its uniqueness, authenticity and integrity could be accomplished through a HUL (Historic Urban Landscape) approach. In this paper, all necessary steps of an integrated management plan are briefly described for the proposed serial of properties, recognizing serial of properties as the only possible sustainable category for the heritage sites along the Bosna River.

Farjami, Ghazal

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0008

Flexibility is known as an important term in the field of open buildings especially during modern era. Idea of flexibility has been one of the prominent implications in traditional Iranian architecture emerged in spatial organizations. Although, during modern period this quality of spaces has been mostly ignored some of the contemporary architects attempted to reconsider this characteristic in their projects. However, providing an interview with 7 pioneering contemporary Iranian architects and visiting their 25 residential projects it seems that flexibility has been reinterpreted in some of their projects. This research is an attempt for examining the idea of flexibility in 6 projects of 3 of these architects who were obsessed with this spatial term in their architectural works. Based on the architect’s words and analysis of their projects, and also looking for the roots of flexibility in traditional architecture, it can be asserted that there is an authentic emergence of flexibility in these projects. Examining these projects according to three main indicators of flexibility in modern architecture as structural systems, service organization and architectural layout, it is also tried to find their relation with traditional architecture. Being adapted with new lifestyles while ingrained in cultural and environmental issues of its context, idea of flexibility employed as an authentic characteristic of spatial configuration in some of the contemporary buildings in Iran.

Pan, Yin; Zhou, Tiejun

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0009

Due to the rapid urbanization in China, the living environment in urban areas improves considerably, while that in rural settlements does not improve remarkably, or even worsens. The purpose of the research is to propose an organizational approach to the improvement of the living environment in the poverty-stricken rural settlements and an architectural design pattern under a variety of requirements in the context of China’s rapid urbanization and socio-economic development in the redevelopment of rural settlements in Yongsheng Village, Lizhuang Town, Yibin City of Sichuan Province in Southwest China. In this redevelopment project, the architects, as the important third party, are not just architects in the traditional sense in that they are involved in the organizational process and architectural design throughout the whole project. The redevelopment project has been completed, and is aimed at providing a scientific redevelopment model and a design method for other rural residents by guiding them in the improvement of their living environment under a variety of restrictions.

Yildiz, Dilek

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0010

Sparse attention has been paid to the inevitable processes of change that enable progress in today's globalizing urban centres, but also threaten their unique identity, historic memory, and cultural heritage. The aims of this work are to understand the urban dynamics that trigger these change processes, uncover their effects, and discuss how these changes can be utilized to achieve sustainable development. The case study, which uses a comparative mixed method strategy consisting of archival research, fieldwork, and semi-structured interviews, is the Kosuyolu Housing Settlement, a project dating to the 1950s that represents one of Istanbul's best examples of urban development and housing culture. Displaying the architectural and urban planning ideals of the Modern period, this settlement is a concrete example that reflects the period's considerations regarding social housing. Through this case, change in housing has been evaluated in terms of sustainability indicators. The derived evidences show the significant role of governance and the maintained land use pattern for the achievement of the sustainable development and these evidences are used to suggest the development of an adaption guide that will assist in sustainable development in the short term, and the creation of alternative scenarios that are flexible and easy to adapt, active, and based on participatory processes for the long term.

Xu, Hao

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0011

Conservation of green space is crucial to the sustainable urban development of China. Nanjing is a central city in the Yangtze River Delta cluster in eastern China. Owing to urbanization, the green spaces in this city have been affected significantly in terms of their scale and structure. Assessing such changes can provide a basis for environmental protection measures and sustainable development. Using Landsat remote-sensing image data from 1998 and 2007, we constructed a distribution map of the patches of green spaces in Nanjing, and analyzed and assessed the changes in scale and spatial layout of the green spaces using various landscape metrics including CA, PLAND, PD, MPS, LPI, NP, PD, TE, ED, MPI, and LSI. Coinciding with a sharp increase in urban population, the area of green spaces in Nanjing decreased by 27.06% between 1998 and 2007. The patches of green space increased by 39%, and the average area per patch decreased by about 47.52%. Green space patches were found to be unevenly distributed among the districts of Nanjing. In urban areas, significant numbers of such patches were found primarily in various types of parks, while in suburban areas, they were concentrated mainly in the hilly forestlands. Green spaces exhibited tendencies towards fragmentation, miniaturization, and discretization.

Pourvahidi, Parastoo; Ozdeniz, Mesut B.; Hancer, Polat

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0012

This research will analyze the traditional Iranian buildings according to the climatic factors by the use of graph theory. By this way, the hypothesis that climate factor has a major effect on the organization of the spaces in traditional Iranian buildings will be tested. Access graphs have been used to clarify the connectivity and depth of a building’s spaces from the socio-cultural point of view. However, it cannot be applied to climate studies. Thus, this study developed the existing technique to define building layouts in terms of climate and thermal comfort. The thermal comfort was graphically evaluated by the two main factors like solar gain and wind effect, with the use of a simple multi-attribute rating technique. All the analysis had been done in the interval of zero (the worst condition) to three (the best condition). The proposed orientation-weighted graph method proved that the thermal comfort factors of the buildings under study match the seasonal movements of their inhabitants. Consequently, the developed orientation-weighted graph method can be used to study space organization in traditional Iranian building in terms of solar gain and wind effect.

Yuhui, Xu; Chengcheng, Liang; Yue, Wu

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0013

To solve several “inorganic” problems generated recently by community development in China (e.g., waste of social resources, environmental pollution, and decreased economic energy efficiency), focus should be on improving the community traffic organic micro-circulation system. As a historic and mixed functional urban community, the micro-circulation system of Xi'an Railway Bureau exhibits representativeness and complexity. Based on existing research results and years of follow-up investigations, which concentrate on circulation patterns and inherent organic development requirements of the community traffic micro-circulation system, this paper builds an evaluation index system. Value function method was used to implement the index factor quantitative analysis and comprehensive evaluation. Several related strategies were proposed to improve the organic micro-circulation system of the community, which is based on the analysis of the evaluation, in order to adopt the trend in both increasing urban development and stock updating. The analysis results demonstrate that it is necessary to present guiding renewal strategies on community land, road, people, and the environment for those mixed functional communities which use progressive renewed mode. It compensates the problems of overly strong export-oriented system, which is caused by the lack of organic traffic micro-circulation, so as to achieve the selective opening of community external. The study mainly highlights the significance of the systematic analysis of evaluation in influencing strategies on community renewal.

Montañana, Antoni; Llinares, Carmen; Page, Álvaro f.

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0014

Currently many real estate developers offer their products through their websites. The aim of this medium is not only to facilitate understanding of the building, but also to capture the attention of potential customers, provoking feelings and emotions that influence the purchase decision, especially in the case of off-plan property sales. Understanding the cognitive factors behind customers' evaluation processes prior to a purchase is of great interest for defining successful design criteria.The interior space of the property is one of the most important aspect in users' purchase decisions.The paper aims to determine which property design elements in floor plans provoke the emotions users use to describe its interior design.A field study was carried out on a sample of 75 individuals who evaluated a set of images of real estate promotions.The results show that the landings and corridors are fundamental; the area must be spacious so that larger surface areas score best; the living room must be well differentiated from the bedrooms; the valuation of the space depends on the graphic form of presentation, the use of warm colours and the degree of detail in the plans has a positive influence on the assessment.This information may be of great interest for architects and designers in the graphic representation of the space.

Shanshan, LI

2015 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-04-2015-B0015

Under the concept that housing was an act instead of a product, John Habraken launched a campaign against mass housing in the 1960s. His counterattack was architecturally and institutionally developed afterwards, and fully expressed by the so-called Open Building, in which users could make decision regarding their dwellings and easily re-arrange them. A number of experimental projects were subsequently constructed worldwide.After years, the actual situation of use of these projects is, to a certain extent, unknown. Their facades may have faded, their pipelines may be ageing, and the design may be out of fashion. Correspondingly, various changes are expected. Could these changes be controlled in the original design? Were these projects enhanced after the changes? Did the users have a positive response? These questions are far from being answered.This article is based on the post-occupancy investigation of two Open Building projects, the “Molenvliet Project” in the Netherlands and the “Wuxi Experimental Project” in China, which played an exemplary role, especially in the early years. In this study, the users’ assessment of their living environment was highly emphasised, and the changes to the both exterior and interior were specifically recorded. The purpose of the investigation is to determine how the architects’ intention was practised, and to learn from them.