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The journal of an association of institutes concerned with the quality of built environment.
The publishing framework is shaped around the forces which act on built environment,
open open
which maintain, change and transform it. The content consists of articles which deal with
these issues and in particular with responsive, self-sustaining and re-usable environ-
ments which have the capacity to respond to change, provide user choice and value for
money. house house
Director & Editor-in-Chief Collaborating Editor Delft University of Technology
Aims
Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA, Eastern Dr. Ashraf M. Salama,
Department of Housing Quality and Process Innovation
The Open House International Association
OTB Research Institute of Housing, Urban and Mobility
Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. Department of Architecture & Urban Studies Jaffalaan 9, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands (OHIA) aims to communicate, disseminate and
DPU Associate, University College planning, Qatar University, Qatar. (Henk Visscher)h.j.visscher@tudelft.nl exchange housing and planning information.
London, UK. asalama@gmail.com www.otb.tudelft.nl The focus of this exchange is on tools, methods
nicholaz.wilkinson@emu.edu.tr and processes which enable the various profes-
The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) sional disciplines to understand the dynamics of
School of Architecture and the Built Environment
housing and so contribute more effectively to it.
BOARD OF EDITORS SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
(Rolf Johanssen)rolfj@infra.kth.se
To achieve its aims, the OHIA organizes and co-
Dr. Zainab F. Ali, BRAC University, Prof. Nabeel Hamdi, Professor Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, Istanbul ordinates a number of activities which include
Dhaka, Bangladesh. Emeritus, Oxford Brookes University, Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey. www.infra.kth.se/BBA
UK. the publication of a quarterly journal, and, in the
Dr. Robert Brown, University of Dr. Mark Napier, Urban LandMark, McGill University near future, an international seminar and an
Westminster, London, Great Britain. Dr. Sebnem nal Hoskara, Eastern Pretoria, South Africa. School of Architecture annual competition.
Mediterranean University, Turkey.
Prof.Marta Calzolaretti, Housing Lab, Dr. Masa Noguchi, MEARU, Macdonald Harrington Building The Association has the more general aim of
Sapienza Universita di Roma, Italy. Prof. A. D. C. Hyland, Consultant, UK. Mackintosh School of Architecture, UK. Centre for Minimum Cost Housing Studies,
seeking to improve the quality of built environ-
Dr. German T. Cruz, Ball State Prof. Ibrahim Numan, Eastern 815, Sherbrook Street West.
University Muncie, USA. Ripin Kalra, Senior Fellow, Max Lock Montreal, PQ. Canada H3A 2K6.
ment through encouraging a greater sharing of
Centre, University of Westminster, Mediterranean University, Turkey.
(Avi Friedman)avi.friedman@mcgill.ca decision-making by ordinary people and to help
Carla Corbin, Department of London. Associate, WSP International Prof. Paola Somma, University of
Landscape Architecture, Ball State Management Consulting Ltd. (WSPimc), Venice, Italy. www.homes.mcgill.ca develop the necessary institutional frameworks
University, USA. London. which will support the local initiatives of people
Prof. Jia Beisi, University of Hong Ball State University in the building process.
Ype Cuperus, Delft University of Dr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan, Kong.
Technology Delft, The Netherlands. Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti College of Architecture & Planning, Muncie, Indiana,
Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Dr. Peter Kellett, University of 47306, USA. (Stephen Kendall)skendall@bsu.edu
Dr. Ayona Datta, London School of Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain. www.bsu.edu/cap
Open House International
Economics, UK.
Dr. Stephen Kendall, Ball State The journal of an association of institutes and
Forbes Davidson, Institute of Housing University Muncie, Indiana, USA. Dr. Omar Khattab, University of Kuwait.
The Development Planning Unit individuals concerned with housing, design and
& Urban Development Studies,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Prof. Bob Koester, Ball State Dr. Levente Mlyusz, Budapest University College London. development in the built environment. Theories,
University Muncie, USA. University of Technology and
Economics (BME), Hungary. 34, Tavistock Square tools and practice with special emphasis on the
Diane Diacon, Building and Social
Housing Foundation, Coalville, Great Prof. Roderick J. Lawrence, University London WC1H 9EZ. local scale.
Britain. Prof. Amos Rapoport, University of (Caren Levy)c.levey@ucl.ac.uk
of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Wisconsin at Milwaukee, USA.
www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu
Prof. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu-Yuksel, Dr. Fuad Mallick, BRAC University,
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Prof. Seiji Sawada, Meiji University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh. Tokyo, Japan. Budapest University of Technology & Econ. (BME)
Turkey. The Urban Workshop
Faculty of Architecture Budapest, Muegyetem rkp. 3.
Dr. Bruce Frankel, Ball State University Prof. Andrea Martin-Chavez, Dr. Florian Steinberg, Asian PO Box 927785
1111 Hungary
Muncie, USA. Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Development Bank, The Philippines. Amman 11192 Jordan
Mexico. (Levente Malyusz) lmalyusz@ekt.bme.hu
Prof. Dick U. Vestbro, The Royal (Nashwa Suboh)info@urbanworkshop.jo
Prof. Avi Friedman, McGill University, www.bme.hu
Montreal, Canada. Dr. Magda Mostafa, Associate Institute of Technology Stockholm, www.urbanworkshop.jo
Professor, The American University in Sweden.
Catalina Gandelsonas, University of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Cairo, Egypt HousingLab
Westmister London, Great Britain. Prof. H. J Visscher, OTB, Delft Resource Development Division
Univertsity of Technology Delft, The Dipartimento di Architettura
Babar Mumtaz, DPU, University Netherlands. Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah
Dr. Ahmed Abu Al Haija, Philadelphia College London, London, UK. Ateneo Federato delle Scienze Umane delle Arti e
University, Engineering & Architecture Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Department, Jordan. Patrick Wakely, Professor Emeritus, dell'Ambiente, SAPIENZA Universit di Roma, Roma,
Geoffery Payne, GPA Associates 81310 Skudai Johor, Malaysia
University College London, UK. Italy.
Prof. Keith Hilton, Mansle, France. London, Great Britain. (Anuar Talib) anuar@mel.psz.utm.my
(Marta Calzolaretti)marta.calzolaretti@uniroma1.it
Dr. Christine Wamsler, University of http://portal.psz.utm.my/psz/
Dr. Karim Hadjri, Queens University, Dr. Sule Tasli Pektas, Bilkent Manchester, UK and University of Lund, http:w3.uniroma1.it/housinglab
Belfast, UK. University, Turkey. Sweden.
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Contents
open house international march 2011 vol.36 no.1
Theme Issue: OPEN AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Guest Editors: Dr. Jos A. Chica,Tecnalia Construction, Unit C/Geldo,Spain, Peru Elguezabal, Tecnalia Construction, Unit C/Geldo, Spain &
Prof. Dr. Stephen Kendall, Ball State University, Indiana, USA.
Editorial 5
Jos A. Chica, Peru Elguezabal and Stephen Kendall
25
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN HONG KONG
Wai Kin Lau &, Daniel Chi Wing Ho
INTERFACE DESIGN FOR OPEN SYSTEMS BUILDING 35
Jochem C. Nijs; Elma Durmisevic &
Johannes I.M. Halman
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR 44
MODULAR OPEN BUILDING SYSTEMS
35 IN BUILDINGS
Jos A. Chica, Ins Apraiz, Peru Elguezabal,
Marc O. Rrips, Victor Snchez & Borja Tellado
THE CULTIVATION OF ADAPTABILITY IN JAPAN 73
73
NEXT ISSUE: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE CITY: PIECEMEAL vs GRAND PLANNING
Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu, Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey.
Open House International has been selected for coverage by EBSCO Publishing, the ELSEVIER Bibliographic Database Scopus and
all products of THOMSON ISI index bases, SSCI, A&HCI,CC/S&BS and CC/A&H The journal is also listed on the following
Architectural index lists: RIBA, ARCLIB, AVERY and EKISTICS. Open House International is online for subscribers and gives limited
access for non-subscribers at www.openhouse-int.com
1
Previous Issues
vol. 35 no. 4
OPEN HOUSE INTERNATIONAL
Theme Issue: CULTURE, SPACE and REVITALISATION:
Strategies and Experiences of Urban Renewal and
Transformation.
Editorial
Hulya Turgut, Rod Lawrence and Peter Kellett
REQUALIFICATION OF OLD PLACES IN BRUSSELS: Increasing density and
improving urbanity - Priscilla Ananian & Bernard Declve
The Roles of Gentrification in Creation of Diverse Urbanities of Tokyo -
Darko Radovic
Current Strategies and Socio-Economic Implications of Urban Regeneration in
Hungary - Tams Egedy
Planning versus Plan: A Comparative Analysis of Revitalization Process in Two
Inner Cities - Yael Sivan-Geist and Rachel Kallus
URBAN REGENERATION, RENEWAL or REHABILITATION What for and for
Whom? - Alper nl
Coping with the Politics of Renewal Insights from a Case Study of Whitefield,
Nelson - David Webb
Old Paukku Re-Built and Re-Spoken - Discursive Formation of Cultural
Heritage - Helena Tervinen
URBAN DYNAMICS AND TRANSFORMATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON
Guest Edited by Dr. Hulya Turgut, Bahcesehir
URBAN HOUSING: The Case of Istanbul - Hlya Turgut
Istanbul, Turkey, Prof. Dr. Rod Lawrence, University
of Geneva, Swizterland and Dr. Peter Kellett,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain.
vol. 35 no. 3
OPEN HOUSE INTERNATIONAL
Open Issue: Closed/Open Duality, Collaborative Studios, Design
Education, Digital 3-D Models, Earthquakes, Javanese Housing,
Neighbourhood Satisfaction, Transparency, Urban Design
Theory, Urban Life Quality.
Editorial
Nicholas Wilkinson
Smart Home Systems - Accessibility and Trust - Greger Sandstrm & Ulf Keijer
open house international Vol.36 No. 1, March 2011
The Changes of Quality in Javanese Houses - Noor Cholis Idham, Ibrahim Numan
& Munther Mohd
Overall Quality of Urban Life and Neighborhood Satisfaction: A Household Survey
in the Walled City of Famagusta - Derya Oktay & Robert W. Marans
A User Requirements Study of Digital 3D Models for Urban Renewal -
Sisi Zlatanova, Laure Itard, Mahmud Shahrear Kibria & Machiel van Dorst
The 'Closed/Open' Duality in Contemporary Urban Form - Melinda Benko
Sustainable Low-Income Urban Housing in Vietnam: Context and Strategies -
Iftekhar Ahmed, Jalel Sager & Le Vu Cuong
Interaction between Design Studio and Curriculum Courses: Bilkent University
Case - Elif E. Turkkan, Inci Basa & Meltem O. Gurel
Means End Chain, Person Environment Congruence and Mass Housing Design
- Mahmud Bin Mohd Jusan
Inter-disciplinarity in Urban Design: Erasing Boundaries between Architects and
Guest Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson, Eastern Planners in Urban Design Studios - Sujata Shetty & Andreas Luescher
Mediterranean University, Faculty of Architecture,
Gazimagusa, Mersin 10, Turkey
2
Previous Issues
vol. 35 no. 2
OPEN HOUSE INTERNATIONAL
Theme Issue: Perspectives in Sustainable and Healthy
Housing.
Editorial
Evert Hasselaar
Teaching Environmental Sustainability to Higher Education Students: Some
Reflections - Laure Itard& Maartje van den Bogaard
Sustainable Urban Renewal in Europe and the Netherlands - Frank Wassenberg
Community Strategies for Energy Efficiency, Successful Examples from Austria -
Inge Strassl
Cooperative Refurbishment Inclusion of Occupants and Other Stakeholders in
Sustainable Refurbishment Processes in Multi-floor Residential Buildings -
Jrgen Suschek-Berger & Michael Ornetzeder
Adoption of highly Energy-Efficient Renovation - Erwin Mlecnik
London Housing and Climate Change: Impact on Comfort and Health - A.
Mavrogianni, M. Davies, P. Wilkinson & A. Pathan
Shifting the Focus from Defects to the Effect of Defects - David Ormandy
Socio-Environmental Dimensions in Outdoor Spaces of Contemporary
Palestinian Housing - Muhannad Haj Hussein, Aline Barlet & Catherine
Semidor Guest Edited by Dr.ir. Evert Hasselaar, OTB Research
Institute of Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands.
vol. 35 no. 1
OPEN HOUSE INTERNATIONAL
Open Issue: Design Options, Housing Adaptation,
User Evaluations, Spatial Qualities, Housing
Sustainability, Open Building, Smart Home Systems,
Architecture and
Urban Design.
Editorial
Nicholas Wilkinson
Reducing Risk in a Changing Climate: Changing Paradigms toward Urban
3
NEXT ISSUE
Vol.36 No.2 2011
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE CITY: PIECEMEAL vs GRAND PLANNING
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu-Yuksel, School of Architecture, Istanbul Technical
University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Abstract
The main theme of this issue of Open House International is to make an inquiry into Piecemeal vs
Grand Planning approaches to generating sustainable cities. The focus of the city is the human set-
tlements. The selected papers will presen6 both theory framework and cases which explore the issue
of sustainability in its spatial, soci-cultural, economical and legal/policy dimensions. The experi-
ences forming the infrastructure of the cases are collected from different cities /countries of the world.
The issue of sustainability has been a concern for many planners, architects, urban geogra-
phers and social scientists. The role of the professional is crucial in the development of cities to
become more sustainable. It seems that development of cities, especially those in developing coun-
tries, in the post-modern age require a critique of existing housing and settlement policies. They
somehow neglect the development dynamics in fast-growing metropoles. Sustainability is an old
concept but has become a new solution criteria for generating liveable cities. While the natural phe-
nomenon of urbanisation require piecemeal approach to spatial planning and development in
Developing countries, their governments tend to adopt Grand policies of developed countries.
Implementation of such policies often results in large wipe-outs in the city and social disintegration,
following the replacement of existing neighborhoods. Furthermore, use of high-tech to serve as an
end rather than as a means in the prestigious city in a developing country is a dangerous approach.
Therefore an update into the sustainable characteristics of people needs to be integrated into com-
munity-oriented approaches and small scale projects. Physical and social integrity and slow growth
of settlements is a crucial start towards sustainable cities.
CONTENTS
Martin Symes
Sustainability, Professionalism and Urban Desgn; a learning process.
University of the West of England, London.
Syful Islam
Traditional City Planning Approaches and Sustainable City University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Bob Brown
The City as Palimpsest: Towards the Sustainable City University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
Kaisa Broner-Bauer
open house international Vol.36 No. 1 March 2011
Mehtab Uz Zamman
Adaptive Re-use & Urban Regeneration in Dhaka,Bangladesh. Robert Gordon University, UK
Nezih Ayran
Architectural Continuity Towards Cultural Sustainability in Bodrum. Cyprus International University, North Cyprus
Mahyar Arefi
Rethinking the Local Knowledge Approach to Placemaking:Lessons from Turkey. University of Sharjah,
United Arab Emirates.
www.open-building.org
5
THE TENDENCY OF OPEN BUILDING CONCEPT IN
THE POST-INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT
development and evolution in the field of technology and social culture in the last several decades, both the social
structure and ideology have been changing. The consumption conception of dwelling has also shifted from physical
substance to some invisible items, such as knowledge and service. Therefore, open building, as an architectural design
method, should adapt to this situation in its future development. This paper firstly describes the characteristics of the
post-industry society. Based on analyzing and summarizing the theories and some examples, this paper tries to re-
explain the definition of flexibility in the context of the post-industrial society. It concludes that the possible tendency
of open building is to establish a service system for future occupants to adapt to the changing living environment in
addition to physical changeability of the building.
construction, the very top level of which is the rela- producing, and distributing (Frankel, 1987: 27).
tionship between field and housing. He consid- Several of these include the transition from the pro-
ered the field was not merely a physical environ- duction to the service industry, especially now that
ment, but included the population within it and the the era of material scarcity is about to end and the
inhabitant culture shaped for years, which was a service industry population has continuously
manifestation of the social ideology and culture of increased in the past several decades; the evolution
the particular area (Habraken, 2005: 36). He gave of the electronic industry, which has been changing
it the unambiguous definition of the framework human participation- and communication-related
within which architecture, the self-conscious build- activities in all fields; and the awakening of individ-
ing that deliberately transcends the thematic, ual consciousness and the gradual realization of
occurs (Habraken, 2005: 77). Accordingly, its def- the importance of social participation. All these
inition is implied not as an aesthetic preference phenomena remind us that social culture has shift-
but the product of an entire culture with the mean- ed increasingly with the transition of the industry
ing that the technological and social values could and economy.
6
The Open Building concept is proposed as a among human beings respectively. The root of the
Figure 1. The idea of service provider and leasing model Source: Yoshida, S., Yashiro, T., Nishimoto, K., &
Shida, H. (2005). Dematerialization of Construction Related Industry by Application of Service Level Agreement
Contract. The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference. Retrieved from
http://www.baufachinformation.de/aufsatz.jsp?ul=2007061000036
national science, the politicalization of science, and roles played by the central government by provid-
the role of scientists in providing support to solve ing various new ways of performing daily opera-
social problems, all of which combine science and tions (Frankel, 1987: 27). As a result, new social
technology with politics, paving the way for the conflicts arise between the centralized decision-
emergence of a new social class consisting of politi- making and those who intend to retain or express
cized scientists and technologists (Bell, 1973: 148- individual characteristics. Soon, this becomes a
150). This new class obviously has an extremely societal issue. However, simply collecting various
close relationship with the social decision-making requirements from the subsequent small units or
process. On one hand, they give consultations to individuals cannot overcome the conflicts, and
the ruling class and on the other, they communi- could only result in a deadlock. For the sake of both
cate, explain, or disseminate knowledge to the pub- sides, effective communication and negotiation are
lic to make the decision making and strategy more indispensable, which form some sort of democra-
open. tic participation (Bell, 1973: 444) or communal
society (Bell, 1973: 157) to give consideration to
Public participation and control both parties involved in the conflicts.
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
8
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
The Tendency of Open Building Concept in The Post-Industrial Context
Figure 2. The idea of service provider and leasing model Source: Yoshida, S., Yashiro, T., Nishimoto, K., &
Shida, H. (2005). Dematerialization of Construction Related Industry by Application of Service Level Agreement
Contract. The 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference. Retrieved from
http://www.baufachinformation.de/aufsatz.jsp?ul=2007061000036
be found on the basis of the distinctive characteris- knowledge and service, with which the customers
tics of the post-industrial society. can deal with the two major parts under their
requirement. These integrate as material outputs,
Industry based on knowledge-service consumption but the essence is the function and performance of
As a reflection of economics, culture, and politics, the building(Yashiro & Nishimoto, 2002). When
architecture inevitably cannot continue without any one lease ends, the former customer moves out
changes while the industry gradually shifts from and a new customer signs a new contract with his
production to service. Since the public has obtained or her particular requirements; afterwards, the for-
more opportunities to obtain knowledge on materi- mer infill system is dismounted and carried back for
als and construction, its concern at present is not re-manufacturing and re-renting in the next turn
merely on the final products, but also on the assort- while the main structure is retained. This model is
ed services that come with the products. For applied in the market of building rentals, which
instance, the respective maintenance periods of all includes not only housing but also any other kind of
kinds of commodities now draw much more atten- building (Kawagishi, Yashiro, Nishimoto, & Shida,
tion than ever before; and the so-called service 2005; Yoshida, Yashiro, Nishimoto, & Shida,
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
apartment and its conception appears in the center 2005). The realization of this conception is based
of some metropolitan areas as a kind of deluxe res- on the platform established by the support-infill sys-
idence option. tem of the Open Building concept.
In Japan, based on the objective of resource The conception of the service providing sys-
productivity and sustainability of construction, tem coincidently reflects the transformation of the
Yashiro and his colleagues conceive an alternative society from production industry to service industry
business model suggesting that the construction as the basis of the post-industrial society.
industry and business should shift from production Widespread knowledge on construction making,
to service (Yashiro, 2000) (Figs. 1 and 2). In this which allows the public to understand the primary
entire system, construction parts and buildings are principles and rules, finally heightens the publics
neither the final goods, nor the resources of the concern about things beyond the material form. As
total revenue, but are devices for realizing and a result, the emergence of polarization in the con-
manifesting the quantity and quality of service with struction industry is understandable: the massive
the support-infill structure. The main structure and centralized production for the infill and structures
infill are provided to customers with the related with certain standards on one hand, and the diverse
9
centralized to several big companies following the
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
dwellings can be compared to something very & Teicher, 2000: 113-114). Nevertheless, the limi-
familiar in daily life such as computers. Although tation is obvious: as the storage of the prefabricat-
the process of transmitting data from one part to ed products is limited, the system can only be uti-
another is complicated, the truth that a computer is lized in some small projects. Since all the products
composed of three parts (i.e., external components are fixed on the Matrix Tiles, the design should fol-
such as case, screen, and keyboard; internal com- low MaturaCads and the main structure should be
ponents such as hard disk, motherboard and mem- appropriate to the system, both of which limit the
ory; and software such as operating system and systems utilization.
various programs) is easy to understand. When a
computer is bought, what is actually purchased is Public participation and control
the permission to use the software, and the ability to Another characteristic of the post-industrial society
avail of periodical maintenance checks and is public participation in every aspect. This is
upgrading which can essentially satisfy buyers. expected to occur in the construction industry.
Nowadays, the manufacturing of the hardware is Increasing public participation influences the role of
10
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
The Tendency of Open Building Concept in The Post-Industrial Context
Figure 4. The whole procedure of decision-making, design, construction and sale
Figure 5. Changes of the flat type proportion Source: Li, H., & Ren, Z. (2008). Control And Appearance of
Architecture Design--Maya High-rise Residential Building Design. Urban and Architecture(10), 45-47.
the architect in the industry. From being a designer umn network) to the largest consisting of a total of
or an authority, the architect becomes a consultant two column networks. All the drainage, pipes and
or the person balancing the profit of all the stake- outdoor parts for air conditioning are arranged in
holders involved in the project, or even an assistant the public corridors, external walls, or the facility
helping the users understand and master the sys- floors. After completing the podium, the first pre-
tem. The responsibilities go beyond architectural selling round turned out well. The developer col-
design and now include compiling the ideas or lected the feedbacks and other related information open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
requirements from potential users or owners and from the buyers and submitted to the architects for
achieving consistency through repetitive communi- modifications on the proportions among the differ-
cation. On this aspect, a typical example is the ent flat types. The two tower buildings were built fol-
Maya High-Rise Residential Building project in lowing the new design and consequently, the units
Chongqing, China. Completed in June 2008, its were sold out to the first round customers. The sec-
distinctive faade demonstrates that these two tow- ond pre-selling round began when the floors up to
ers underwent different courses of architectural the 22nd were constructed. The architects
design and construction processes (Fig. 3). redesigned the rest of the parts following the same
The two towers of this project used a rectan- procedure (Fig. 4). The external walls of the differ-
gle plan with 6.9 m X 6.9 m column network and ent flat types are painted with different colors, which
two core tubes for the vertical transport in order to can be easily recognized from the outside (Li & Ren,
carry various flat types, in which 15 basic flat types 2008).
come out from the smallest (occupying a half col-
11
The Maya project shows a model of public
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
project was designed for a given group of people tition walls, floors, ceiling, faade, and wire and
and cannot adjust to any more changes that could piping systems (Fig. 7). All the 18 flats in five floors
be brought in by future users. Therefore, future are varied and can be adjusted in accordance with
complaints may be expected just as in any other the residents requirements. When the residents
project. moved in, they were provided with Rule Books
and keys. The books describe in detail how to use
Communal society and the NEXT 21 Complex the building in every aspect. These books will
House project enable the residents to use the building for 100
Temporary public participation in the Maya project years without involving the original architects and
indicates that it is not enough for the self-evolution builders ("Osaka Gas Experimental Housing: NEXT
of the residential buildings which lasts in the whole 21," 2007: 4). Apart from providing rule books, a
process of use. A more appropriate way is to estab- public infill system test laboratory was established
lish long-term connections between participation on the ground floor. It was opened to all the resi-
and buildings. By far, the NEXT 21 Complex House dents for testing and mastering various types of infill
12
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
The Tendency of Open Building Concept in The Post-Industrial Context
Figure 7. Support-infill structure of NEXT 21 Source: Osaka Gas Experimental Housing: NEXT 21 (2007). In L.
Osaka Gas Co. (Ed.), NEXT21, Planning & Development Team, Residential Market Development Department.
Osaka: Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.
components in the different positions of the house. connection in three levels: between the local town
As a result, the residents can update their knowl- and the NEXT 21, between the community and
edge and get what they need in tune with the individual residents, and among all the individuals.
newest technology. On the other hand, the resi- The communal living rules were established in
dents were given the idea that the NEXT 21 project order to clarify the rights and responsibilities of
is more than a residential building but a small each resident within the community.
urban community unit. The purpose-designed All the people involved in the projects con-
three-dimensional street system and the public struction wished to participate in the process of
communication room on the first floor enhance the decision-making, just as Bell has explained that the
Figure 8. Residents participation in the community work. Source: Osaka Gas Experimental Housing: NEXT 21
(2007). In L. Osaka Gas Co. (Ed.), NEXT21, Planning & Development Team, Residential Market Development
Department. Osaka: Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.
13
people have the influence to control their life (Bell, house leasing market conceived by Yashiro and his
Jiang Yingying & Jia Beisi
1973: 157). Public participation in the NEXT 21 colleagues. Maya high-rise residential project pro-
project can be classified into two levels: individual vides a pattern as to how public participation and
participation and communal participation. The for- control are carried out in the process of construc-
mer was realized because the relative knowledge tion. A deeper thinking of the case reveals that this
and technology were well transmitted to the resi- temporary participation and design comprise a
dents. This became a continuous process which kind of sales strategy to attract customers but one
also meant that the service from the developer will that could also lead to rigescent formalism com-
continue after the projects completion. In reality, pared to the Open Building concept. Certainly, this
several dwellings were remodeled according to the should be avoided. The NEXT 21 project, although
changes of family situation even at the early stages still in the experimental stage, can be considered as
of the first phase. The remodeling was implied as a rudiment of the post-industrial residential build-
The Tendency of Open Building Concept in The Post-Industrial Context
participatory in nature, where the roles that archi- ing, as it effectively connects the evolution of the
tects and builders played relatively declined. building with the development of its users in a long-
Synchronously, the community or communal soci- term scale and converts the building to a mirror
ety was established on the basis of communal par- reflecting the relationship among men. However,
ticipation of culturally diverse people who must whether or not this model will work in communities
share the same rights at present and in the future. with extant residential buildings and distinctive
The community appears as integrated when social ideologies should be looked into in the
addressing public issues such as cleaning work in future. However, there must be some prominent
the public area and the greening of the entire build- projects of Open Building that has not been cov-
ing (Fig. 8). As a result, it can be assumed that the ered by this paper. Further work should be done to
residents will actively and spontaneously participate address this limitation.
in improving their residential environment as well as
the building ("Osaka Gas Experimental Housing:
NEXT 21," 2007: 22). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
find various methods to make buildings flexible. For Cities - A Comparative Study on Housing
years, it has been proven that the power of tech- Morphology.
nology is not enough to meet the demands of soci-
etal development. The transformation from the
industrial society to the post-industrial society
inspires a new perspective on the issue from dema-
terialized aspectsthe relationship among people:
service, participation, and control.
The service providing system gives a model
that separates material production from final infill
construction and adds an intermediary agency. This
agency is in charge not only of design but of recy-
cling the infill materials and components for differ-
ent customers. This model can be realized in the
14
REFERENCES Application of Service Level Agreement Contract. The 2005
TOURAINE, A. 1971, The Post-Industrial Society: Tomorrows open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Social History: Classes, Conflicts and Culture in the
Programmed Society (L. F. X. Mayhew, Trans.). Random House,
New York.
Authors Addresses
YASHIRO, T. 2000, Construction Sectors As Service Jiang Yingying
Providers: Alternative Business Model for Sustainable Room 232, The Research Bureau of the Department of
Construction, Retrieved from Architecture. The Old Wing of Main Library, The
http://www.fp.rdg.ac.uk/wkc1/bon/2000/Yashiro.pdf
University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road
YASHIRO, T., & NISHIMO, K. 2002, Leasing of Infill Hong Kong
ComponentsNew Business Model Development for michelle.jyy@gmail.com
Dematerialization of Building Related Industry. Sustainable
Building 2002., Retrieved from http://www.baufachinforma- Dr. Jia Beisi
tion.de/aufsatz.jsp?ul=2007041001386 311 Knowles Building, The University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
YOSHIDA, S., YASHIRO, T., NISHIMOTO, K., & SHIDA, H. jia@arch.hku.hk
2005, Dematerialization of Construction Related Industry by
15
EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS IN ARCHITECTURE
Peter Schwehr
Abstract
Change is a reliable constant. Constant change calls for strategies in managing everyday life and a high level of flex-
ibility. Architecture must also rise to this challenge. The architect Richard Buckminster Fuller claimed that "A room
should not be fixed, should not create a static mood, but should lend itself to change so that its occupants may play
upon it as they would upon a piano (Krausse 2001)." This liberal interpretation in architecture defines the ability of a
building to react to (ever-) changing requirements. The aim of the project is to investigate the flexibility of buildings
using evolutionary algorithms characterized by Darwin. As a working model for development, the evolutionary algo-
rithm consists of variation, selection and reproduction (VSR algorithm). The result of a VSR algorithm is adaptability
(Buskes 2008). If this working model is applied to architecture, it is possible to examine as to what extent the adapt-
ability of buildings as an expression of a cultural achievement is subject to evolutionary principles, and in which
area the model seems unsuitable for the 'open buildings' criteria. (N. John Habraken). It illustrates the significance of
variation, selection and replication in architecture and how evolutionary principles can be transferred to the issues of
flexible buildings. What are the consequences for the building if it were to be designed and built with the help of evo-
lutionary principles? How can we react to the growing demand for flexibilization of buildings by using evolutionary
principles?
Evolutionary Algorithms in Architecture
Peter Schwehr
spring a further advantage. In this way, an advan- architectural preferences, the architect (ideally)
tageous variation automatically becomes more takes up these ideas, evaluates, reflects and dis-
common and within time, spreads through an cusses his clients precise needs. He compares
entire species. Single traits compete for survival these with the fixed parameters such as location,
(Zrzav 2009) in which the three fundamental ele- orientation, building regulations, finances etc.,
ments, variation, selection and reproduction from highlights conflicting goals and sets priorities by
Darwins evolution theory play a key role. Together selecting specific concepts. At the end of this phase,
they form the evolutionary algorithm (VSR-algo- the requirement profile of the projected building
rithm) which aims at adaption for a particular niche has been determined and the target agreement
and reproduction success. (e.g. space allocation plan, use, cost ceiling, dead-
But can biological evolution theory be trans- lines etc.) has been formulated.
lated without restriction to architectural design? Is
not architecture a cultural achievement and there- Phase 2 Planning the desired program by gener-
fore subject to other principles? And are not cultur- ating variants and selection
al works, in general, a deliberate, purposeful Variants are generated, selected and further devel-
process, which is not the case in biological evolu- oped in the design phase. In this internal genera-
tion which depends on mutation and genetic tion of variants, ideas are generated in a creative
recombination. Nevertheless, the planning process process, reviewed and compared with the target
of a building is characterized by variation, selection agreement. Appropriateness and feasibility are key
and reproduction. factors in the process. Deciding on a building com-
The process from design to realization of a ponent (e.g. a closed faade) allows only specific
Figure 1. Variation, Selection and Reproduction in the design process schwehr, 2010
17
and only very difficult to achieve aim. For him, ments (e.g. heating system) are completely renewed
Peter Schwehr
beauty is a particular harmony of all the parts, or the existing floor space allocation has to be
whatever the object, such that nothing can be adopted. Seen evolutionarily, the appropriate char-
added, taken away or altered without making it less acteristics can be reproduced in the second phase
attractive. Referring to his definition, Alberti also of the buildings use.
emphasizes that it is necessary to exert all creative
and mental powers to reach this achievement.
(Bertram 2000) EVOLUTION IN INFORMATION
PROCESSING
Phase 3 Codified Design Concept
To evaluate the design concept, discuss it with col- In biological evolution, reproduction follows by
leagues, present it to the client and involve experts, passing on hereditary traits through genes. As part
ideas needs to be communicated on a level which of a chromosome, they are responsible for the phe-
is objective, understandable and clear. This level is nomenological characteristics (e.g. brown eye
termed by Bertram as the level of planning reality colour). All the genetic information found in an
(Bertram 2000) where design concepts are deter- organism is collectively known as the gene pool.
mined by mathematical spatial concepts and repre- Different hereditary traits can emerge depending on
sented in an objective, unprejudiced manner. As a gene constellation and dominance. This is known
rule, plans, sketches and models serve to illustrate as phenomenological plasticity.
the outlined building concept. The ideas, that is, the In architecture, there are no genes which are
codified design concept in the building plan, are responsible for the features of a building. However,
documented at the end of the design process. In as mentioned earlier, each building has a set of
Evolutionary Algorithms in Architecture
doing so, the planner not only considers the invari- information (Schwehr 2002) which can be extract-
able building elements (e.g. glass facades), but ed by the observers respective cognitive agent
also imagines the variable elements such as (Favre-Bulle 2001). A buildings appearance is the
change of mood (light, rain, time of day etc.). His sum of all discernable features. In addition, every
professional knowledge enables him to arrange individual has a schema i.e. an internal representa-
built elements in order to visualize the intended tion of the outer world. This structure is also known
phenomenological variances of a particular setting. as knowledge. Amongst others, this is where
This serves as a guideline for the realization of the instructions (behavioural patterns) are stored. These
building (Schwehr 2002). enable us to react to situations accordingly. When
a certain situation arises and no behavioural pat-
Phase 4 - (Re)Production tern is to hand, organisms find themselves in a state
The building can now be built based on the codi- of uncertainty. Only by changing the structure of the
fied planning concept. Each projected building internal schema, e.g. getting informed and creating
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
therefore holds a magnitude of information and new solution models, can knowledge be enriched.
embodies awareness potential. Buildings at loca- If the architect does not have a solution, he has to
tion or on paper conveyed architectural phenome- inform himself and create a new systema new vari-
non offer potential for future solution models ation which enables him to solve his planning prob-
(Schwehr 2002). A building can be exemplary for lem. To develop and evaluate solution variations,
planning problems of a similar kind and selected the architect depends on certain information.
elements (e.g. building components, constructions Besides his own repertoire, he also taps into other
details, design, spatial framework etc.) can be information sources: his memory, built and docu-
reproduced. Once the building has been realised, mented projects. Apart from accessing information,
it is in competition with other buildings and subject- the architect also generates information whilst
ed to different degrees of continual selection pres- working on the problem. He will document the
sure. When a building no longer meets require- results of his own work and compare notes with
ments, the selection pressure becomes too strong others involved in the planning process.
and the building has to be adapted. Certain ele- It is apparent that evolution, in both biologi-
18
cal and cultural understanding, is information pro- ject - the construction plan - is a result of these
Peter Schwehr
cessing which triggers a series of actions. processes. Memes are therefore active on both the
In natural science, evolution is understood genotype level in generating information on the
"() as the gradual development of a system building type, as well as on the phenotype level. By
which reacts to external influences depending selecting relevant features and system characteris-
on experiences made in the past." (Zrzav tics, they influence the decision as to which func-
2009) tion, construction and interpretation of design ideas
For social science evolution is "(...) a process can be realized in the building project. The infor-
which memorizes and multiplies information, mation memory "building" is therefore a meme pool
constantly producing new structures and char- of architecture. Besides functioning as replicators,
acteristics. (Reichholf 2008) memes are important for mutations and variance in
cultural evolution. Development in architecture is
Unlike Darwin's evolution theory, in architecture, not possible without memes.
knowledge is consciously applied, information
processed and other buildings are evaluated as an
information memory. This information transfer can MUTATION AND VARIATION
be explained by Richard Dawkins theory of the
meme. For the evolution biologist Dawkins, the cul- Accidental variation is the driving force and a con-
tural analogy to a gene is a meme. Just as "genes dition of evolution. Variation within a population is
propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping the result of mutation and genetic recombination,
from body to body via sperm or eggs", Dawkins the- and genetic rearrangement through sexual repro-
orizes "so memes propagate themselves in the duction (Buskes 2008). No two individuals of a
Figure 2. Specification as a key factor for Adaptability [11] schwehr, 2010 (Plans from: Neufert 2002)
variety and variance. These factors make it possible specific way of life are at an evolutionary dead end.
for the niche to be used optimally in the sense of an Lack of flexibility e.g. apartment layouts of the 60s,
advantageous environment, which means, to suc- nowadays makes them difficult to let because soci-
Evolutionary Algorithms in Architecture
cessfully defend it against other competitors or to ety values and in turn, tenants requirements have
occupy it respectively. changed fundamentally. These are solutions with an
In this context, adaptive radiation seems inadequate degree of flexibility which results in
especially worthy of mention. It describes the restriction of use and therefore not suitable for fur-
process of species splitting within a relatively short ther distribution. Buildings which have memes with
period of time into several species, each of which is the necessary phenomenological plasticity in con-
adapted to different ecological niches. Adaptive struction, design or layout are fitter than other
radiation occurs when there are a lot of unoccupied buildings.
ecological niches, geographical separation and a If existing building types have an "evolution-
less specialized parent species. "An evolutionary ary" past, they also have characteristics which help
species is a line of ancestors-offspring-populations them to "survive". These characteristics are accu-
which maintain their identity against other such lin- rately reproduced when planning future buildings
eages and have their own evolutionary tendency as (seen from an evolutionary point of view: to propa-
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
well as historical destiny." (Buskes 2008). The archi- gate to reproduce) and to find their use in exist-
tectural equivalent to the evolutionary species is the ing and future building stock more easily. The result
building type. Adaptive radiation is its variance, of these suitable characteristics is adaptability which
through which many modifications of a basic pat- shows its flexibility potential. That means buildings
tern (e.g. ground plan) are achieved by adapting to which can be adapted have a higher flexibility
different topographical, urban, climatic and user- potential than other buildings. Flexibility is an indi-
specific conditions. cation of long-term value retention (Plagaro
Variance is also a key factor for success in Cowee, Schwehr 2008). The building can react
spreading its own meme in the meme pool. Highly quickly to new requirements at acceptable cost,
specified solutions are often one-way solutions. For time and effort.
example, Grnderzeit (Wilhelminian style) apart- Based on concepts described by the
ments are still today very appealing and of stable Fraunhofer Institute and supported by typology-
value because of their high use flexibility. On the based building evaluation (Fischer, Schwehr, 2008),
other hand, apartments with specific solutions for a four main building types of adaptability were iden-
20
reacts during the entire planning and construc-
Peter Schwehr
tion phase. It also investigates which measures
can be implemented during the planning phase
in order to facilitate flexibility during a building's
operation time, with the least possible cost and
effort.
selection strength, level, direction and intensity successfully resist selection pressure as long as pos-
(Zrzav et al 2009). These principles have been sible, the following requirements for sound, future-
assigned to architectural themes in the following oriented concepts can be deduced:
table. Transferring this principle to flexible buildings
ie. buildings which successfully resist selection pres-
sure as long as possible, the following requirements
CONCLUSION for sound, future-oriented concepts can be
deduced:
In summary, it can be said that it is possible to Variance: Flexible buildings have a number of
explain and illustrate adaption processes in archi- concepts which can react individually to their
tecture on the basis of Darwin's principle of natural context. Variance makes it possible to success-
selection. It is essential to always exploit the niche, fully occupy the niche and in Darwins sense, to
to occupy an advantageous environment by being be fitter than the other buildings. This vari-
more successful than the competition. Transferring ance concerns the genotype as well as phe-
Evolutionary Algorithms in Architecture
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Peter Schwehr
Margin of error: Flexible buildings are
planned and built knowing that their value can This paper is the start of a research cycle on VSR-
only be maintained over a longer time period if Algorithms in architecture. More extensive research
they can adapt to meet future demands. With on selection and variation is already being done.
this in mind, buildings are fault tolerant and not Further publications on this theme are in progress.
highly specified.
Deconcentration: Flexible buildings have pre-
determined breaking points to allow building REFERENCES
parts and systems (e.g. telecommunication) to
be exchanged with little effort. Separation into BERTRAM, E. 2001, Raum in Vorstellung und Wirklichkeit:
Reader zum Seminar Tragwerk und Architektur WS 2000/2001
primary, secondary and tertiary systems is an Universitt Stuttgart, Fakultt Architektur; Institut fr
essential requirement. Innenraumgestaltung und Architektur, Stuttgart
Open mind: Flexible buildings have innova-
tive building concepts which are sustainable. BUSKES, C. 2008, Evolutionr denken. Darwins Einfluss auf
unser Weltbild, Primus Verlag, Darmstadt.
Innovations thrive on an open mind and fore-
sight. These can be achieved by exchanging FAVRE-BULLE, B. 2001, Information und Zusammenhang.
information and transferring knowledge in the Informationsfluss in Prozessen der Wahrnehmung, des
Denkens und der Kommunikation, Springer; Wien.
interests of improving the current and future
environment. Interdisciplinarity and an open FISCHER, R.; SCHWEHR, P. 2008, Typenbasierte Evaluation.
mind can prevent the evolutionary dead end. Chancen fr die ganzheitliche Wohnbauerneuerung,.
23
Schweizerisches Status-Seminar Energie- und
Peter Schwehr
K e y w o r d s : Aging Building Stock, Building Layouts, Existing Housing, High-Rise Built Environment.
Figure 1. Aging trend of housing stock in the Figure 2. Aging trend of housing units in the United
United Kingdom expanding overall stock (at slow- States expanding overall stock (at slower pace in
er pace in recent years), shrinking new comple- recent years), increasing mean age (also built year)
tions, i.e. existing stock gets older (source: DoE, of housing units (source: American Housing Survey,
various issues) various issues)
25
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
Figure 3. Aging trend of private domestic buildings in Hong Kong expanding overall stock (at slower pace in
recent years), but shrinking new completions and negligible demolition (source: Rating and Valuation
Department (RVD), various issues)
As buildings age, they are more likely to Hong Kong Island alongside the Victoria Harbour.
become obsolete. Design and constructing build- The tall skyline and densely populated area, never-
ings for maintainability and adaptability can be a theless, comprised a quarter of the territory only.
way to counteract obsolescence and strengthen The remaining three-quarters are mainly country-
building functions. In spite of the contended bene- side that are not suitable for or protected from
fits, Open Building in high-rise, high density context development.
is under-researched. The aim of this paper is there- Hong Kong has an enormous and probably
fore to study the constraints and the opportunities the largest public housing system in the world,
for achieving Open Building in high-rise and high where 47.5% of the population (i.e. about 3.35
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
density built environment. The case of Hong Kong million) is housed (HKHA 2010:2). In other words,
will be studied for its predominantly high-rise and more than a half of the population is accommo-
densely populated environment. The scope will be dated in private housing. The private housing stock,
confined to private residential buildings so as to fill according to the Rating and Valuation Department
the research gap in earlier works (e.g. Mahtab-Uz- (RVD), was 1,090,600 units at the end of 2009
Zaman and Lau 2002). (RVD 2010:15). Much the same as other devel-
oped regions, an aging trend is observed in the pri-
vate housing stock that is reflected in shrinking new
THE CASE OF HONG KONG completions and demolitions. In Figure 3, on the
one hand, annual demolition of private domestic
Land is as valuable as gold this expression por- buildings in Hong Kong is almost negligible, rang-
trayed the reality in Hong Kong where land is high- ing from several hundred units to about two thou-
ly scare and expensive. It has an area of 1104 sq sand units. On the other hand, new annual com-
km but the terrain is largely mountainous and hilly. pletion dropped significantly from 26,500 units in
Developments are concentrated in Kowloon and the 1990s to 7,160 units in 2009. The aging argu-
26
ment has been in the meantime cross validated by densely populated built environment where vertical
Table 1. Specific approaches to Open Building by Tiuri (1998) and Jia (1998); source: Kendall and Teicher (2002)
27
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
Table 2. Characteristics and criteria of Open Building laid down in Tiuri (1998)
reduce C&D waste from redecoration works is to Property, Midland Realty and Ricacorp Properties),
extend the life of interior fittings. In Jia (2005), the who carry out analyses and report the transactions
environmental impact of partition walls with differ- in these estates regularly. From one point of view,
ent degree of flexibility were evaluated and the pos- the transactions in ten major housing estates are
sible rooms for using flexible partition walls in Hong regarded as indicators of the state of residential
Kong were examined. property market for the high volume of transaction
undertaken. On grounds like building quality and
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
desktop survey of building layout plans, structural ings share many commonalities. They are typified
As illustrated in Figure 4 and 5, distribution readjusting the layout is not possible because of the
of spatial unit is fixed. The distribution is bounded presence of the structural walls that separate the liv-
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
by the structural wall sandwiched between the pre- ing-dining area and the bed-washrooms in both
parcelled units and the central core. Redistribution layouts. Furthermore, there are additional restric-
of space by merging two adjoining units, however, tions from gas supply, plumbing and drainage sys-
remains a viable option provided that the common tems whose in-outlet is almost fixed. The chances to
party wall is non-structural (Figure 5). Whampoa relocate the kitchen and the washrooms are further
Garden and Kornhill, for example, are cases that reduced.
merging is possible while Metro City (Figure 4) is
not. Apart from technical constraints, redistribution
of spatial units in existing buildings is legally restrict- SEPARATION OF SUPPORT AND INFILL
ed. Because the common area is delineated in the SYSTEMS
Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC), redistribution of
spatial units is prohibited unless such instrument is A striking contrast is observed between the theoret-
revised. ical support and infill systems, and the actual con-
On top of the fixed spatial unit free configu- figuration in the sample buildings, that the latter is
ration of flat layout is not viable. Consider Figure 6, far from open yet showed a high degree of inflexi-
30
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
Figure 4. Typical cruciform with structural wall in between two adjoining units, units in more rectangular
shape
Figure 5. Typical curciform without structural wall in between two adjoining units, units in diamond shape
31
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
Figure 6. A typical layout divided into three functional zones by structural walls as suggested in Jia (2005) (left);
floor plan configuration limited by structural wall separating living-dining area and bed-washrooms (right)
bility. At the support level, the inflexibility is due to USER PARTICIPATION AND
the gas supply, plumbing and drainage systems INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION MAKING
running from external walls. Although they are dis-
tributed to individual units separately, there are still Perhaps it is inappropriate to tender facts in addi-
restrictions to readjust the floor plan. Unlike gas tion to the survey findings, however, user participa-
supply, plumbing and drainage systems that are tion in the design process is extremely rare among
more restrictive, the electrical and telecommunica- private residential buildings in Hong Kong. Like
tion systems are arranged according to the concept most foreign countries, home buyers and sellers
of support. They run in trunkings and distribute to (i.e. developers) meet each other only when the
users on each floor via the central core where building woks have almost completed. Not only the
space for connection and maintenance is provided. ten major estates but nearly all of the high-rise, pri-
In respect of accessibility, elevators are installed in vate residential buildings in the territory are also
these high-rise residential buildings. Minor sold in similar manner in the first market. That is to
improvements such as providing clear signs and say, users in general have no say in both infill and
adequate rails would be sufficient to create a barri- support levels as they are excluded from the design
er-free environment up to contemporary standards. process. Given the irremovable structural walls and
For the infill systems, both the partitions and inflexible partitions in their units, users can merely
the facades are conventional. It is not until recently decide the interior fittings (i.e. choose finishes and
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
the use of prefabricated components including pre- furniture). Alternatives to user participation include
fabricated faade becomes more common in the optional floor plans and participation of first user,
territory. This move is initiated by the financial nevertheless, they are absent in Hong Kong. As a
incentive offered by the government, that the pre- remark, further study in user participation and cus-
fabricated non-structural external walls can claim tomisation is recommended.
exemption from Gross Floor Area (GFA) calcula-
tions starting from February 2006.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR OPEN BUILDING
IMPLEMENTATION
OPEN BUILDING PROCESS
In his own words, W. A. Ward (1921-1994) said,
As a matter of fact, the surveyed residential build- The pessimist complains about the wind; the opti-
ings are not Open Building for they are not mist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the
designed and built for future adaptation. Thus, sails. Shedding light on Wards words, the mode of
Open Building process is not involved. adjust the sails of private residential buildings in
32
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
Table 5. Tabulated summary of Open Building characteristics of the sample buildings based on Tiuris Open
Building characteristics and criteria (1998)
Hong Kong is to adapt by adjusting the interior fit- should be introduced into the fittings. The use of
tings. flexible partitions is an example that encompasses
From the findings, private residential build- the aforementioned features (Jia, 2005). Features
ings in Hong Kong are subject to the following con- to save or even create space will definitely add mer-
straints: its not only in Hong Kong but also in any other
Redistribution of spatial units is infeasible. The places where the demand for space is keen.
only exception is to merge two adjoining units, open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
however, keeping in mind the sky high property
price in Hong Kong and the difficulties to CONCLUSION
acquire units that are already in occupation
rendered this option impracticable; and Aging of building stock is a global issue that
Limited variety of layout due to the small demands urgent attention. If buildings are capable
space; freedom to readjust restricted by struc- to adapt, problems arising from aging existing stock
tural elements. may be alleviated. With aims to recognise the con-
straints and seize the opportunities to implement
Adapting within pre-parcelled units is, for this rea- Open Building in high-rise, high density built envi-
son, more practicable. This can be achieved ronment, layouts of 495 high-rise, private residen-
through designing and applying fittings that can tial buildings from ten major estates in Hong Kong
change according to user requirements and their are examined. The survey result suggested that the
lifestyles. Flexibility and environmental sustainability sample buildings are far from open. A high degree
33
of structural similarity is shown. Their ability to
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
REFERENCES
Open Building Implementation in High-Rise Residential Buildings...
34
INTERFACE DESIGN FOR OPEN SYSTEMS BUILDING
K e y w o r d s : Interface Design, Open Systems Building, Ifd Building, Interface Typologies, Sustainable Building.
35
Jochem C. Nijs, Elma Durmisevic & Johannes I.M. Halman
Figure 1. The composition of different levels in a building (left) and the ideal situation in which every system is
independent (right) (Durmisevic, 2006)
aims to respond to user preferences by offering flex- A building method that aims to achieve flexibility as
ibility of a building. Such flexibility makes it possible a key aspect in the construction industry is that of
for (parts of) the building to adapt. Secondly, the IFD building: Industrial, Flexible and Demountable
technical perspective aims to divide a construction building. It is a method based on the principles of
into several systems and sub-systems that can be Open Building and is increasingly applied in the
changed or removed with a minimum of interface Netherlands but also in the United States and
problems (Habraken, 2003) . However, applying Japan. The three aspects of IFD building are (van
Open Building principles in practice is challenging. Gassel, 2003):
Kendall explains that on the one hand it is essential Industrial: most of the construction takes
to design a built environment that supports stability, place under factory conditions, compared to
which is important for long term community inter- the conventional way of building that mostly
ests, but on the other hand, change is necessary to takes place at the building site.
meet the individual preferences of users. This Demountable: the connections that are made
prompts the question of how we can plan and between the components of the building can be
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
implement, as Kendall describes it, a regenerative demounted, which make reuse, configuration
built environment (Kendall, 2004). and replacement possible.
If the capability to change is needed, a high Flexible: the building is designed with the
number of options (or variants) need to be estab- facility to make changes at the various levels of
lished in the house building industry. It is challeng- technical composition of a building.
ing to achieve this in a cost-effective manner in the
building process. However, research indicates that One of the OBOM initiatives - The Building Node
applying platform-based development in the hous- Research Project (Cuperus, 1998) -mentioned that
ing industry could achieve this (Halman et al., the industry has to aim to agree on a set of con-
2008). Applying platform-based development nection conditions for building parts. The aim was
increases flexibility in product design and increases to come up with building components that can be
the efficiency of product development (Halman et designed by different companies, while maintaining
al., 2003). However, applying a platform-based a certain type of standard, resulting in the mutual
approach in the housing industry is difficult, as compatibility of components. To develop such a
36
system, it is important to separate the functions of will be the joints that hold together the different
figurations will be designed. The deliverable of this tainable and flexible bathroom was designed as an
phase is the design of a compatible set of interfaces illustration and clarification of the proposed
at various levels of technical decomposition that research.
can be widely applied in construction industry and
conforms to IFD building principles. The design
process is iterative and includes feedback from sev- PRELIMINARY CASE STUDY
eral construction companies throughout the
process, hereby optimizing the design. This design A case study was performed for the local district
will be presented as a detailed 3D CAD model, water board Waterschap Regge en Dinkel (WRD)
ready to be manufactured as a prototype. in Twente, in the Netherlands. The requirement was
In the third phase of the research, the design to design an adaptable (and therefore flexible)
Interface Design for Open Systems Building
of the set of interfaces will be manufactured as a set bathroom that would also be sustainable by saving
of prototypes and tested at a test building site at the both water and energy. The project was executed in
University of Twente. The application of the proto- collaboration with two Masters Students in
type will function as a test case, providing data Architectural Building Component Design &
about the functioning of the design. Again, compa- Engineering at the University of Twente.
nies will participate in this phase and give feedback. In the literature, several models are available
The result will be a working prototype which will that decompose a building into different levels. An
lead to a set of conclusions and recommendations example is the model developed by Duffy that
for the design in the fourth and final phase of the defines a building through four different levels in
research. terms of the so-called four Ss: Shell, Services,
Research will be conducted in close collabo- Scenery and Set (Duffy & Myerson, 1998). This
ration with several construction companies in the model is shown on the left in Figure 3. Another sys-
region of Twente, the Netherlands. The participat- tematization of building levels is the model devel-
ing companies are members of a working group oped by Brand which distinguishes six levels: Site,
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
called IDF (Industrial Sustainable Flexible building) Structure, Skin, Services, Space Plan and Stuff
which focuses on IFD building. The participating (Brand, 1995). This model is shown at the right of
companies are: 4D Architects, Winkels Techniek, de Figure 3.
Woonplaats, Raab Karcher, Plegt Vos, van Dijk Both Duffys and Brands models indicate
Groep, Hodes Bouwsystemen, de Groot that different levels of a building have different life
Vroomshoop and Twinta. These companies are spans. In conventional building, levels often overlap
mostly construction companies, but also include in functionality. If flexibility is to be achieved, it is
housing associations, suppliers, installation compa- necessary to design every level apart from one
nies and architectural firms. The research results will another. By doing this, conflicts of interfering level
be applied in several of the participating compa- properties do not arise. Such separation of func-
nies. tionalities per level is applied in the design of the
To kick off the PhD project, a small pilot pro- bathroom in the preliminary case study.
ject was conducted, functioning as a preliminary To help indicate the levels of the bathroom,
case study for the research. In this project, a sus- the models of both Duffy and Brand were com-
38
Jochem C. Nijs, Elma Durmisevic & Johannes I.M. Halman
Figure 3. Duffys model (Duffy & Myerson, 1998) at the left and Brands model (Brand, 1995) at the right
bined. This resulted in the following set of levels: let, shower and sink.
Shell: this is the building in which the bath-
room will be located; it is defined as the walls Interfaces
and floors of the building. The different levels of the building are connected
Structure: this is the structure that holds with each other by means of interfaces. If flexibility
together the bathroom; in this case the alumini- is to be achieved, the interfaces have to be
um frames placed against the wall and the demountable. The research published by
blocks on which the floor will be laid. Durmisevic proposed a classification of seven dif-
Figure 4. Seven principles of connections, ranged from fixed to flexible (Durmisevic, 2006)
39
Jochem C. Nijs, Elma Durmisevic & Johannes I.M. Halman
Figure 5. The design of the sustainable and flexible bathroom of the pilot project (images by Guus Rammeloo)
The new bathroom design consists of different lev- seen as building blocks out of which a bathroom
els, with each level providing an individual function. can be built. In the bathroom, four wall modules
This offers a flexible design because changes can and four floor modules were used (see the dotted
be made per level. Figure 5 shows the design and lines in Figure 5). Every wall module has space for
illustrates the different levels, following the com- one appliance (indicated by the level stuff). For
bined models of Duffy and Brand. The interfaces every bathroom appliance, a wall module is avail-
between the levels of the design are demountable, able. By using demountable piping and applying a
thereby offering flexibility. In Figure 5, the shell (1 & common height for services, it is possible to create
2) of the bathroom consists of the walls and floor of a bathroom by placing several modules next to
the building in which the bathroom will be realized. each other. In Figure 6 (at the right) it is shown how
The structure of the bathroom consists of alumini- a floor module is composed. In this particular mod-
um frames (3) and small blocks for the floor (4) that ule, space is used for the drainage (the brown pipe)
form a pattern. The services, such as piping and at the side of the module. Also, the blocks are
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
electrical wiring (5), are mounted within the alu- shown that form the structure on which the floor
minium frames, as well as the tubing for the floor tiles (scenery) lie. These floor tiles are prefabricated
heating (6). The scenery of the bathroom consists of plates and can be demounted from the structure of
wall tiles (7) and floor tiles (8 & 9). Finally, stuff (10) the module. This demountability provides the
represents the bathroom appliances such as the toi- opportunity to access the services later on, but with-
let, shower and sink. out damaging the module.
The table at the top-right in Figure 6 shows
Modules & interfaces several configurations of how different levels of the
The basis for the design is a combination of mod- modules can be connected. Two examples are
ules. This is shown in Figure 6. At the left, an given for the wall module, as well as for the floor
exploded view of a wall module developed by an module. These examples indicate where the inter-
architectural firm in Amsterdam (4D Architects, faces occur and how they can be applied. The illus-
2009) and at the right a floor module that was trated interfaces are examples, but can also consist
designed during the pilot project (at the right), are of other types of connections. They illustrate the
shown. Again, the levels indicated in the figure. importance of interfaces. The following examples of
40
Jochem C. Nijs, Elma Durmisevic & Johannes I.M. Halman
Interface Design for Open Systems Building
Figure 6. The wall module at the left (4D Architects, 2009)and floor module (at the right) of the bathroom and
examples of interfaces between levels of the modules (upper-right)
configurations are given: changing elements so they can be re-used or
The Shell Structure interface in the wall recycled.
module consists of connection type IV from
Figure 4. This is a direct connection with an Water and energy saving
additional fixing device such as a nut bolt Although the main focus of the pilot project was to
connection. Such a connection is sufficient improve the adaptability of the bathroom, sustain-
because this interface will rarely be changed. ability aspects regarding water and energy saving
The Scenery Stuff interface in the wall mod- also played an important role. Reducing the open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
ule consists of a VI connection which is an indi- amount of water was a key objective for the local
rect connection by using an independent third water district of Waterschap Regge en Dinkel. The
component such as a clamp or click connec- sketch to the left of Figure 7 shows the design of a
tion. This offers the facility to detach/replace an new product; a transparent shower wall that func-
appliance easily. tions as a water-saving reservoir. At the right of
The Structure Scenery interface in the floor Figure 7, the working of the product is shown: water
module is a VI connection which makes the coming out of the shower (1), which normally goes
floor tiles detachable from the structure. This to waste down the drain, is filtered (2) and then
facilitates access to the services. saved in the shower wall reservoir (3). Next, the col-
The Services Services interface of the floor lected water can be re-used for flushing the toilet
module is a VII connection; this is an indirect (4). Furthermore, the shower wall aims to make
connection with an additional fixing device such people more aware of their water use because they
as a coupling part for the piping. It offers can see through the glass wall how much water has
41
Jochem C. Nijs, Elma Durmisevic & Johannes I.M. Halman
Figure 7. The shower wall functions as a water saving reservoir (sketches by Eline Kolk)
been used. This increase in awareness is expected cling of building parts, resulting in increased sus-
to encourage people to save water. Water is also tainability of the building process. The preliminary
stored in the floor underneath the shower, which case study, in which a flexible and sustainable bath-
further increases the water storage capacity. room was designed, shows the importance of the
Interface Design for Open Systems Building
As well as saving water, the reduction in the interfaces between the various levels of the design
required energy plays a role in the bathrooms of a structure Also, it indicates how flexibility offers
design. This is acquired by applying a low-temper- the potential to customize individual levels apart
ature floor heating system (as represented by the from each other; leading to improved opportunities
tubing in the floor in Figure 5). Furthermore, both for mass customization. In addition, the various lev-
water reservoirs in the shower wall and the floor will els can be manufactured and assembled in the fac-
be filled with warm water from the shower. The tory, which makes the design industrial. Finally, the
residual heat in the water will then be transferred to bathroom consists of systems and sub-systems that
the colder air in the bathroom, which leads to a fur- can be changed or removed with a minimum of
ther reduction in the energy required. Therefore, interface difficulties due to the use of demountable
both water reservoirs function as a passive heating connections. Undoubtedly, these properties will
system. become increasingly important in the future of the
construction industry.
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
CONCLUSION
FUTURE WORK
The proposed PhD research described in this paper
aims to design a typology of interfaces for the build- This paper has presented an overview of a PhD
ing industry that can be applied for IFD building research project that will be executed over a four-
and that will increase mass customization and year time span. Future work consists of conducting
industrialization of the building industry. If such a the research plan shown in Figure 1. Following the
typology will be the result in the future, this will com- pilot project, future work is expected by cooperating
ply with Open and Sustainable Building by offering with companies that showed an interest in the
stability on one hand (the building consists of prop- design of the bathroom. Improving the bathrooms
erly designed, strong connections) as well as design by specifying the flexible interface connec-
change (the interfaces are flexible, so users can tions will be a first step. Next, the design can be
make alterations to the building). Furthermore, tested in an experimental project.
such a typology will increase the re-use and recy-
42
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SCHEUBLIN, I. F., 2005, The drivers for adaptable building in
The authors would like to thank Eline Kolk and VAN GASSEL, F. J. M., 2003, Samenvatting symposium: IFD
Guus Rammeloo, students in Architectural Building Bouwen.
Components Design & Engineering at the
VAN RANDEN, A., 1976, Oratie: De bouw zit in de knoop.
University of Twente, for their collaboration in Delft: Delftse Universitaire Pers.
designing the sustainable, flexible bathroom. Also
would like to thank the workplace IDF, Pioneering VEENSTRA, V. S., HALMAN, J. I. M. & VOORDIJK, J. T., 2006,
A methodology for developing product platforms in the specif-
and Innovatie Platform Twente which make this ic setting of the housebuilding industry, Research in engineer-
research possible. ing design, 17, 157-173.
REFERENCES
tant in all high-rise buildings and it is proposed that the tie force in the connections between modules should be taken
as not less than 30% of the total vertical load applied to the module in both horizontal directions.
construction. Figure 2
Improved quality and accuracy in manufac-
ture In the first case, the compression resistance of the
walls (comprising light steel C sections placed at
The current range of application of modular con- 300 to 600 mm spacing) limits the maximum
struction is in cellular type buildings, such as hotels, height of modular buildings. Current uses of mod-
student residences, military accommodation, and ular buildings of this type are in the 4 to 8 storey
social housing, where the module size is compati- range, depending on the size and spacing of the C
ble with manufacturing and transportation require- sections.
ments. The current application of modular con- In the second case, the compression resis-
struction of all types is reviewed in a recent Steel tance of the corner posts is the controlling factor
Construction Institute publication (Lawson RM, and for this reason, Square Hollow Sections (SHS)
2007). A paper (Lawson RM, Ogden RG et al, are often used due to their high buckling resistance.
2005, p28-35 ) describes the mixed use of mod- Building heights are limited only by the size of the
44
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
Figure 1. Partially open sided module with load Figure 2. Open sided module with corner posts
bearing walls (courtesy PCKO Architects) and a structural frame (courtesy Caledonian
Building Systems)
Figure 3. Typical high rise building forms using Figure 4. 17 storey modular building in west
modules and concrete cores (courtesy HTA London stabilised by a concrete core (courtesy
Architects) (2B4P means a 2 bedroom 4 person Caledonian Building Systems)
apartment, for example)
45
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
Design Considerations for Modular Open Building...
native load paths in the event of one module being without a separate structure in which the modules
severely damaged. A paper (Lawson RM, Byfield M are designed to resist compression and the core
et al, 2008 p 3016) reviews the robustness require- provides overall stability. This concept is illustrated
ments for modular construction based on localisa- in Figure 3, where the modules can be accessed
tion of damage in which modules are removed from the core. A called Paragon in west London,
individually to assess the ability of the rest of the shown in Figure 4, used a concrete core to provide
modular assembly to support the applied loads at lateral support to modules constructed with load
the accidental limit state. bearing corner posts.
For taller buildings, questions of compression An adaptation of this technology is to design
resistance and overall stability require a deeper a podium or platform structure on which the mod-
understanding of the behaviour of the light steel C ules are placed. In this way, open space is provid-
sections in load bearing walls and of the robust per- ed for retail or commercial use or car parking.
formance of the inter connection between the mod- Support beams should align with the walls of the
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
ules. A further issue is that of installation and man- modules and columns are typically arranged on a
ufacturing tolerances, which cause eccentricities in 6 to 8 m grid (7.2 m is optimum for car parking),
the compression load path and also lead to addi- as shown in Figure 5.
tional horizontal forces applied to the modules.
46
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
Design Considerations for Modular Open Building...
Table 1. Failure loads of C section wall studs and comparison
with design to national standard BS 5950-5
particle board (CPB) was included to assess the dif- 2000), based on measured material strengths. This
ference in restraint provided by the boards. Two suggests that the buckling curve used for cold
layers of 15mm fire resistant plasterboard were formed sections is conservative.
used internally, as required for 90 minutes fire resis- The eccentricity of load application using a
tance. In two of the tests, this plasterboard was plate below the wall accentuates local crushing, as
omitted on one face. well as overall buckling. The crushing resistance
Additional tests were included on taller walls may be taken into account by considering a
to examine the influence of slenderness and also on reduced compression area. It was found that a 10
walls with eccentric loading. The boards were fixed mm eccentricity caused a 19% reduction in load
using 2 mm diameter air driven nails at 200 mm capacity and a 20 mm eccentricity caused a 36%
centres, as used in production of the wall panels. reduction in capacity.
The boards were attached 2 mm short of the web
of the top and bottom track so that the boards were
not loaded directly. STRUCTURAL ACTION OF GROUPS open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
The test results are presented in Table 1. It OF MODULES
was found that composite action due to the stiffness
of the boards attached on both sides of the wall The structural behaviour of an assembly of modules
increases the buckling resistance of the C sections is complex. The key factors to be taken into account
by over 30% in these tests. From bending tests, the in the design of high-rise modular buildings are:
effective stiffness of the C sections is increased by The influence of initial eccentricities and con-
62% for boards fixed on both sides but by only 2% struction tolerances on the additional forces
for OSB board on one side. Calculated compres- and moments in the walls of the modules.
sion resistances are also presented in Table 1. The Second order effects due to sway stability of
strip steel was S350 grade and measured strengths the group of modules.
were in the range of 380 to 405 N/mm2. The Mechanism of force transfer of horizontal
model factor is the ratio of the test failure load to loads to the stabilising system.
the compression resistance to BS5950-5 (BSI, Robustness of modular systems to accidental
47
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
CONSTRUCTION DATA
add about 20% to this total effort. ed productivity increase of about 80% relative to
The module weights varied from 10 to 25 site intensive construction.
Tonnes depending on their size, which is equivalent
to approximately 5.7 kN/ m2 floor area. For mod-
ules at the higher level, 14% of the module weight ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF MODULAR
is in the steel components and 56% in the concrete CONSTRUCTION
floor slab. At the lower levels of the high rise block,
the steel weight increased to 19% of the module Modular and off-site construction technologies take
weight. The steel usage varied from 67 to 116 kg/ most of the production away from the construction
m2 floor area, which is greater than a typical figure site, and essentially the slow unproductive site activ-
of 45 to 60 kg/ m2 for medium-rise modular ities are replaced by more efficient faster factory
buildings. processes. However, the infrastructure for factory
The total area of cladding was 10,440 m2 production requires greater investment in fixed
for the 3 blocks, which included composite panels, manufacturing facilities, and repeatability of output
50
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
Design Considerations for Modular Open Building...
Figure 10. Comparison of breakdown of costs of site-intensive and modular construction)
to achieve economy of scale in production. ) for traditional housing. However, savings of 7-8%
An economic model for modular construc- when using modular construction are readily iden-
tion must take into account the following factors: tified in the NAO Report, which offset this cost pre-
Investment costs in the production facility. mium. The economic arguments are presented
Efficiency gains in manufacture and in mate- below.
rials use.
Production volume (economy of scale).
Proportion of on-site construction (in relation INVESTMENT COSTS IN
to the total build cost). MANUFACTURING
Transport and installation costs.
Benefits in speed of installation and reduced The investment in factory production of modules
snagging costs. takes into account the following fixed costs:
Savings in site infrastructure and manage- Manufacturing machinery and infrastructure.
ment (preliminaries). Storage, materials handling and distribution
facilities. open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
A comparison of the breakdown in the costs of a Heating, lighting and running costs of the fac-
building constructed using site intensive processes tory.
and fully modular construction is shown in Figure 9. Skilled personnel involved in manufacture.
Materials use and wastage are reduced and pro- Management and administration overheads
ductivity is increased, but conversely, the fixed costs Design personnel and CAD/CAM facilities.
of the manufacturing facility can be as high a pro- Testing and system approvals
portion as 20% of the total build cost.
Background data may be taken from a A typical advanced production facility for modular
recent report by the UKs National Audit Office , construction would require an investment of 8 to
2004 In this report, the typical as-built cost of a fully 10 million (10 to 12 million Euros) and running
modular residential building is stated as 1000/ costs could be as high as 4 to 5 million (5 to 6
m2 (1200 Euros / m2 ) in relation to a cost-medi- million Euros) per year, including the costs of 80 to
an of 800 to 850/ m2 (950 to 1020 Euros / m2 100 personnel. Such a capital investment would
51
be amortized over 5 years and would require a reduced from typically 6 8% in traditional design
R. Mark Lawson, Ray G. Ogden & Sunday Popo-Ola
minimum output of 1500 modules per annum to and tender projects to 3 5% in modular projects,
achieve its pay back. as more design work is carried out in-house by the
It follows that the manufacturing cost per modular supplier. Furthermore, these costs will
modular unit is approximately 5,000 (6,000 reduce if repeated over a number of projects.
Euros) excluding materials (or 200/ m2 (250
Euros/ m2) for a typical 25 m2 modular unit). This
is a very significant investment, and must be bal- PROPORTION OF WORK ON-SITE
anced against other tangible savings, as identified
below. Even in a highly modular project, a significant pro-
The efficiency gains may be summarised as: portion of additional work is done on-site, due to:
Foundations.
More efficient materials use and ordering of Service connections.
materials. Cladding and roofing.
Less wastage and more recycling of materials. Finishing.
Higher productivity in factory production External works
Less work on site in difficult conditions.
More reliable performance of the completed The NAO report estimates that this proportion is
Design Considerations for Modular Open Building...
Savings can be achieved due to the reduced num- LAWSON R.M., BYFIELD M ,POPO-OLA S and GRUBB J ,2008,
ber of site personnel (and hence costs) over the Robustness of Light Steel Frames and Modular Construction, Proc.
Inst. Civil Engineers, Buildings and Structures, Vol 161 SB1
reduced construction programme. The site prelimi- February 2008 p 3-16
nary costs may be taken as 5% for fully modular
buildings, leading to a saving of 7 to 10% in com- LAWSON R.M., OGDEN R.G., PEDRESCHI R, POPO-OLA S
and GRUBB J, 2005. Developments in Pre fabricated Systems in
parison to traditional building. Light Steel and Modular Construction. The Structural Engineer. Vol
83 N0 6, 15 March 2005 p 28-35
Rob Geraedts
Abstract
In the present demand-driven market, consumers play a key role. Players in the house-building market, as in other sec-
tors, need to listen to the consumer's requirements and these are continually changing. The real estate sector is rather
rigid in its practices, yet those working in it will need to respond to the fluctuating wishes and demands of their con-
sumers. One possible response is to adopt a flexible building strategy. Industrial Flexible Demountable (IFD) building
has recently been a subject of debate in the Dutch construction sector. This is a special type of construction involving
experimental projects, experimentation being the first step in optimising a renewed production process or product. The
building process is currently subject to various construction-related and organisational obstacles. This means that, in
some cases, the objectives (which are focused on consumer-oriented building practices) were not being achieved. It
was necessary to identify the problem areas and to consider the available opportunities for optimising the building
process in future IFD house-building projects. The results of this study have been incorporated into guidelines con-
taining a step-by-step plan. This plan sets out practical recommendations for market actors who wish to initiate an IFD
house-building project. This studys conclusions and recommendations form the basis for the seven stages that such
parties will need to complete before starting on such a project.
Success and Failure in Flexible Building
Experiments in Public Housing (SEV). It was they gramme for the following reasons (figure 1):
who organised the recruitment and selection of An initial survey on the basis of this publication
projects. Part of the cost of these projects is (Crone 2007) led to the following preliminary con-
financed by grants from the Ministry of Housing, clusions:
Spatial Planning and Environment (VROM) and the Many IFD house-building projects failed to
Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ). A wide range of achieve the original objectives which under-
institutional and incidental clients, such as housing pinned these projects at their inception;
associations, project developers, retail companies, Obstacles in the building process caused
manufacturers, and other companies, submitted 69 projects to be suspended when only half com-
projects. Several projects are devoted to consumer- plete, gave rise to construction delays, or led to
oriented construction. This means freedom of a different end-result than that intended;
choice for the initial user and adaptability to chang- In many cases, the IFD concept did not
ing housing needs throughout the lifecycle of the progress beyond the experimental stage. No
building (Bouwmeester 2004). IFD Building can be further development took place.
54
Rob Geraedts
Figure 1. Clients motives in opting for IFD Building (by Decisio 2006)
Lack of familiarity with the IFD concept nent level, it also addressed the level at which prod-
It appears that relatively few people are familiar ucts, components and activities were coordinated.
with IFD building. The major clients are well Obstacles arose because, in some cases, innova-
informed in this regard, however. In addition, the tive systems at building component level were still
limited use of IFD building makes its acceptance insufficiently mature (floor-, wall-, installation-, and
Figure 2&3. Suspension of the IFD project De zeven hemels - The seven heavens (by Crone 2007) (left)
Smarthouse; just a demonstration home (by Crone 2007) (right)
55
Rob Geraedts
tems affected the structure of the building process wish to create flexible homes the IFD way.
itself. Exploratory talks (Gunst 2008) revealed that A questionnaire was sent to real estate devel-
the organisational aspects of IFD building had a opers, architects and construction companies
major influence on the final result. Both project- involved in twelve IFD house-building projects. The
based thinking and process-based thinking are purpose was to obtain an insight into the aims
important here. How do you keep a grip on cost, specified for IFD house-building projects, and to
quality and time in an IFD building project? This discover which of these aims are not being
required a different approach to the process. achieved, and why. This survey formed the basis for
the case studies. Five IFD house-building projects
Success and Failure in Flexible Building
building project can be achieved? The aim of the manageable way. Various aspects of the flexibility
study was to provide insight into ways of optimising objectives were developed on a project-by-project
the building process in IFD house-building projects, basis. Most of the objectives with regard to flexibil-
by removing as many obstacles as possible and by ity were at the level of the dwellings volume, layout,
exploiting all available opportunities. The results built-in facilities, and appearance. The individual
are intended for real estate developers, architects, projects each interpreted these objectives in their
builders, materials suppliers and end-users who own way, in addition to setting objectives of their
Figure 5. The five detailed cases: Smarthouse (Rotterdam), De Zeven Hemels (Rotterdam), A+ dwellings (Etten-
Leur), Het Masker (Veenendaal), Terbregse.nl (Rotterdam) - (by Crone 2007)
56
Rob Geraedts
Figure 6. Flexibility in dwelling layout (left: A+ homes) and in the volume of the dwelling (right: Smarthouse);
(by www.slimbouwen.nl May 2010)
own. The agreement was that each project would while providing a more comfortable working envi-
draw a distinction between freedom of choice for ronment.
the initial user (concerning the dwellings size, lay-
out, built-in facilities, finishing and appearance)
and adaptability in the later stages of use (adjusting OBJECTIVES NOT ACHIEVED - AND
the size of the dwelling by adding or removing var- THE REASONS WHY
ious parts, changing the floor plan, faade ele-
ments, extensions), through the use of detachable The various parties involved indicated that, in prac-
building components. tice, some objectives are not achieved (Gunst
Prior agreements concerning such things as 2008). The principle causes put forward to account
Figure 8. Smarthouse; the objective was to build detached IFD dwellings using standard building technology and
organisational principles. Ultimately only a single prototype dwelling was constructed. Further developments of
Smarthouse homes failed to materialise (by www.staalframebouw.nl May 2010)
of five projects, a further analysis was carried out to vative in nature. This was an entirely new concept,
identify the objectives formulated at the start of the IFD building. This involved novel aspects such as a
project, those that were ultimately achieved, and building system based on a steel-skeleton that had
the reasons why the remaining objectives were not never before been used in practice, an unknown
achieved. end product in the form of a flexible apartment
block with eight different faades, unknown buyers
Smarthouse (no potential clients had yet signed up), a new form
The Smarthouse concept was aimed at a very spe- of cooperation (a single basic-frame architect and
cific target group, to wit private buyers with their seven different architects specialising in built-in
own plot of land and an interest in specifically tai- facilities or in the finish of dwellings).
lored architecture. However, there was very little Market research carried out in the initial
demand for dwellings of this kind. While the stage revealed that the project was excessively
Success and Failure in Flexible Building
Smarthouse had been developed for a clearly ambitious, both in view of the assigned site and of
defined target group, a deteriorating housing mar- the new concept of IFD building. There was a lack
ket caused demand to ebb away before the con- of coordination between the principal on the one
cept could be realised. Smarthouse combined the hand and the architects (basic-frame architect and
extensive freedom of choice that is normally associ- seven architects specialising in built-in facilities or in
ated with an individual construction contract with the finish of dwellings) on the other. This meant that
the advantages of a dwelling selected from a cata- the project was not viable, and that it ultimately had
logue: a sleek design and a streamlined building to be abandoned.
process involving serial construction. In this way, it
was possible to develop products with a fixed con- A+ dwellings
struction time, cost, and quality. The A+ building system concept was already in
place prior to the start of the IFD programme.
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Figure 9. The goal was to respond to users specific requirements by offering them complete freedom of choice
with regard to their future dwellings facade and layout. This project never got off the ground (by
www.woonen.nl May 2010)
58
Rob Geraedts
Figure 10. The objective of the IFD project A+ dwellings was to create homes that are adaptable to the compo-
sition of families and to changing housing needs. The Infra+ floor contributed to this flexibility (by www.slim-
bouwen.nl May 2010)
changing housing needs. However, the users (ten- disciplines involved was crucial. However, the vari-
ants and buyers) did not become involved until after ous parties failed to contribute and coordinate their
completion. Accordingly, any design modifications expertise. The residents made full use of their free-
to meet the needs and demands of future occu- dom of choice during the construction process, at
pants could not be fleshed out in the construction the levels of dwelling volume and layout. As the
stage. Inevitably, traditional ways of thinking and dwellings in question are rental properties that are
working had to make way for more innovative managed by a housing association, future adjust-
approaches. While innovative construction systems ments to changing housing needs are expected.
were used, there was no coordination with those
involved in the associated organisational and build- Terbregse.nl
ing work. The Terbregse.nl project was completed as a direct
result of previous flexibility projects by the same
Figure 11. The scope of The Mask was the development of housing within the housing benefit limit while giving
users the freedom to design their own home (by Het Houtblad April 2010)
Figure 12. Nijhuis (a developer and building contractor) had been building in accordance with the IFD concept
for some time before the SEV came up with the IFD innovation programme. They had already come up with
solutions to problems that they had encountered in previous projects (by www.terbregse.nl May 2010)
59
specific design features. Next, comes the layout of look like. Given the extreme flexibility of these
Rob Geraedts
the house, plot selection, the exchange of con- dwellings, there are few standard aspects that
tracts, and construction. Integrated design was the can be used to show what the final product will
most important stage in the construction process, look like. Accordingly, buyers often prefer a tra-
and was already well developed. This made it pos- ditionally built house. The development of a
sible to achieve a good rapport between the parties demonstration home, or prototype, can help to
involved, as a result of which the implementation address these concerns.
stage went very smoothly indeed. The only issue Before all aspects of the building process
was that some users were too late in making their have been determined, the degree of user
views known, which meant that the flooring system involvement should be determined. This might
could not be adapted to individual requirements. relate to their ability to influence the end-result,
for example, or to the process of drafting the
schedule of requirements, the design process,
CONCLUSIONS AND and choice of building system.
RECOMMENDATIONS Many problems arise due to inexperience
(and a lack of familiarity) with innovative prod-
The study has shown that some predetermined ucts and processes on the part of those
goals for the experimental IFD projects were not involved.
achieved during implementation. This is mainly due The expertise of each of the various parties
to the building and organisational aspects of the should be deployed at the appropriate stage.
building process associated with IFD house-build- Traditional ways of thinking and working will
ing projects. have to make way for an integrated approach.
Success and Failure in Flexible Building
The production of flexible housing that allows initial Integrated design offers the opportunity to
users the freedom of choice to design the dwelling achieve an optimal end product. The expertise
to suit their own requirements and that guarantees of the various parties involved is deployed as
adaptability to changing housing needs as time part of a joint effort to achieve a design and to
goes by, calls for a new approach to building work out the relevant technical details. This
processes. The use of industrially manufactured, requires close coordination and harmonisation
removable building elements allows dwellings to be between the various disciplines.
completed in much less time than is possible using The intended degree of flexibility will have to
traditional building processes. The preparatory be translated into a design. This presents
stage, however, is much more intensive. opportunities with regard to the technical
Furthermore, the design work and the technical aspects of building. For example, the design of
implementation are fully integrated, and run con- a load-bearing construction that can be divid-
currently. When attempting to optimize the con- ed into lots, integrating flexible floor and wall
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
struction process, it is vital that the following aspects systems into the design, or the creation of over-
be addressed: capacity.
Defining the target group for whom dwellings The shift of intensity from the implementation
are being constructed is the basis of a success- stage to the preparation stage means that coor-
ful project. This involves market research and dination of the various market actors is crucial.
an understanding of the needs and require- It is preferable to work with fixed co-makers, in
ments of the target group in question. order to optimise the coordination and cooper-
The premise and the objectives are formulat- ation of the various parties. Fixed agreements
ed on the basis of the selected target group and can be made with them at an early stage of the
the agreed definition of the IFD building con- building process, concerning price, quality,
cept. These will have to be monitored through- logistics and the supply of products.
out the entire process. The full potential of product flexibility can be
Consumers tend to have traditional views. employed to cater for changing housing needs
They want to know what the end product will while the dwelling is in use. However, these
60
need to be monitored and supervised to avoid the desired flexibility. Suppliers expertise may be
Rob Geraedts
the erosion of knowledge over time, concerning useful in this regard. Determine an organisational
what is and is not possible. structure and identify the parties involved and their
individual responsibilities within the process and in
terms of the end result.
SEVEN STEPS IN THE GUIDELINE FOR
IFD HOUSE-BUILDING PROJECTS Step 5: Monitoring flexibility in the design stage
Structure the design stage such that the principles
The studys conclusions and recommendations and objectives are translated into a design. From
form the basis of the IFD House-building Project the point of view of market research, the identifica-
Guidelines (Gunst 2008). These consist of seven tion of user needs and the schedule of require-
steps that must be completed before the develop- ments, guarantees must be given during the design
ment of an IFD house-building project can com- stage concerning the freedom of choice available
mence. with regard to house size, house layout, installation,
built-in facilities, and finishing. Adaptability while
Step 1: Market research the dwelling is in use should also be monitored,
Launch market research in the initiation stage. On such as adding or removing various parts of the
the basis of the results obtained, select the appro- house, or making changes to its layout or appear-
priate target group and the associated living ance.
requirements for which the flexible dwelling is to be
built. This provides a better guarantee that the new Step 6: Structuring implementation stage
homes will be sold. Structure the implementation stage such that the
REFERENCES
Authors Address
Rob Geraedts
Delft University of Technology
Delft, The Netherlands
r.p.geraedts@tudelft.nl
62
KUBIK: OPEN BUILDING APPROACH FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF AN UNIQUE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
AIMED TO IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
Jos A. Chica, Ins Apraiz, Peru Elguezabal,
Marc O. Rrips, Victor Snchez & Borja Tellado
Abstract
KUBIK is aimed to the development of new concepts, products and services to improve the energy efficiency of build-
ings. The main characteristic of KUBIK is the capability to built realistic scenarios to analyse the energy efficiency
obtained from the holistic interaction of the constructive solution for the envelope, the intelligent management of the
climatisation and lighting systems and the supply from renewable energy sources.
The R&D infrastructure consists of a building able to provide up to 500 m2 distributed in an underground floor, a
ground floor and up to two storeys; the main dimensions are 10,00 m. width x 10,00 m. length x 10,00 meter high
(plus and underground floor 3,00 m. depth). The supply of energy is based on the combination of conventional and
renewable energy (geothermic, solar and wind). In addition, the building is equipped with a monitoring and control
system which provides the necessary information for the R&D activities.
KUBIKs main structure provides an experimental, adaptable and reconfigurable infrastructure to create the indoor
environments to analyse and to allow the assembly of the constructive solutions for the envelope, floors and partitions
which performance must to be assessed under realistic conditions.
ronmental concern that affects the building industry, tion and optimization of new construction compo-
mainly driven by the energy performance of the nents and solutions, systems and services for the
built environment and the new European Energy improvement of building energy efficiency under
Performance Directive in force (EPBD, 2008) and real conditions.
the R&D initiative lead by the European construc- The main distinctive feature of KUBIK is its
tion sector to meet this challenge, the Energy capacity to create realistic scenarios, its open-
Efficient building Joint Technology Initiative (E2B ness, to perform experimental research with
JTI, 2010). regard the building energy efficiency resulting from
As summary, KUBIK provides the needed the interaction of the constructive solutions, the
support to improve the energy performance at intelligent management of air-conditioning and
building level, as requested by the EPBD, and in a lighting systems and the non-renewable and renew-
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
comprehensive way, the envelop, the demand and able combinations of energy supplies. And, in addi-
energy generation, and based on industrialised tion, is focused in the development of industrialised
construction systems. components for the implementation of the open
building concept, see Fig. 1.
The infrastructure encloses a maximum of
KUBIK AIMS AND DESCRIPTION 500 m2 distributed over a basement, a ground
floor and a further two floor levels; the main dimen-
The openness of KUBIK sions are 10,00 m. width x 10,00 m. length x
Although it is necessary to acknowledge that does 10,00 meter high (plus and underground floor
exist a previous similar facility by the Fraunhofer 3,00 m. depth). The supply of energy is based on
Institute of Building Physics in Germany (VERU, the combination of conventional and renewable
2005), whose team has collaborated with Tecnalia energies (geothermic, solar and wind power).
in KUBIK, KUBIK offers new characteristics that Finally, the building is equipped with a monitoring
make it a distinctive and unique world-class exper- and control system that provides the necessary
imental R&D infrastructure designed for the evalua- information for the development of R&D. The build-
64
ing is totally demountable and allows reconfigura- and the supply from non-renewable and renewable
Jos A. Chica et al
tion of the scenarios at construction level, by energy sources.
exchanging the components of the envelope, the The main aim of KUBIK is to provide a better
roof, the floors and the partitions. understanding of the performance at room or at
The openness of KUBIK has been implemented in building level, acknowledging the traditional labo-
all the sub-systems of the building: ratories as the better for the characterisation at
the structure, component level according international agreed
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
the envelope, standards.
the partitions, actually, only dry construction KUBIK has an advanced monitoring system,
systems are used, equipped with over 400 sensors that records con-
the services, energy and IT related, and ditions inside and outside the experimental facility,
the equipment, mainly climatisation and climatic conditions. Researchers and customers
energy intelligent management have access via the Internet to measurements being
taken in the scenarios where the performance of the
The openness of all these sub-system will be products and systems under development are eval-
shown in the following sections of this paper uated. In addition, the monitoring system is inte-
grated into an Intelligent Energy Management
Experimental capabilities of KUBIK System which optimises the energy consumption of
KUBIK enables the evaluation of energy perfor- the building. The experimentally-obtained results
mance, acoustic performance and air tightness enable diagnoses and proposals for potential prod-
evaluation of the scenarios built, see Fig. 2, taking uct improvements to be made.
into account the holistic interaction of the construc- It is important to note the contribution of
tive solution for the envelope, the intelligent man- KUBIK for the activities related to the new product
agement of the climatisation and lighting systems development for buildings. Currently, the technical
65
Jos A. Chica et al
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
Figure 3. Section of the basement Plug with the steel structure (left) Underground floor with geothermal instal-
lation and energy supply and IT connections (middle) &, Steel columns anchored to the foundation slab with
bolted (demountable) base plates (right)
66
Jos A. Chica et al
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
Figure 5. Industrialised infill systems currently under study in KUBIK: (left to right and Top to bottom).1)
Modular wooden ventilated faade system 2) Modular green roof system 3) Precast modular roof system
for the underground floor. 4) Modular concrete sandwich panel 5) Modular curtain wall for PV integration
combination of rooms for the analysed scenario. of prefabricated and demountable components. So
we refer them as infill systems because they can
ENVELOPE AND PARTITIONS, INFILL change when the rest of the infill or fit-out changes,
COMPONENTS e.g. the scenario (room surface, occupancy, parti-
tion walls and the envelope components), following
The special focus on the R&D activities on the the example of the NEXT 21 project. On other
improvement of the energy performance of build- hand, the faade might acts as a support system to
ings makes necessary the development of opti- include several types of windows, glassing systems,
mised solutions for the envelope taking a special finishing
attention, in the case of prefabricated or industri- Regarding the internal partitions, light steel
alised components, to the joints and connections to frames and timber frames it have been used to
avoid thermal bridges, lost of continuity of the insu- arrange the different rooms in each floor to create
lation of the envelope the volume control of each scenario in terms of
Currently, in KUBIK there are several solu- energy and acoustic performance.
tions under study, see Fig. 5. This variety of solutions
for envelopes allows analysing the real compatibil-
ity between components made of different materi- HEATING, VENTILATING AND AIR open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
als, with different fabrication tolerances and differ- CONDITIONING SYSTEM (HVAC
ent erection and joining technologies. SYSTEM)
In fact, the keystone for a real open building
implementation might be the possibility of having The primary function of the HVAC installation of
industrialised components available in the market KUBIK is to provide the energy necessary to keep
with several joining or interface standardised the different measurement rooms, scenarios, of the
options that could make possible the use of com- infrastructure under controlled indoor conditions
ponents from a variety of manufacturers, materi- (temperature and humidity), as well as measuring
alsAnd, in addition, the joints are really important the energy delivered to each measurement room to
to deal in detail how to assess the thermal and obtain the results to carry out the research regard-
acoustic performance of the building but on other ing the components and/or systems under analysis.
hand, they must allow the easy disassembly. Since the building has been conceived to
The roof and the faade of KUBIK are made enable the possibility of modifying the envelope
67
Jos A. Chica et al
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
Figure 6. Thermal zones on the ground floor (left), Thermal zones on first and second floors (right)
According current layout of KUBIK
and its floor layout, the HVAC system has been Distributed electricity generation from renew-
designed to support this feature: able sources (photovoltaic and wind).
ability to satisfy thermal loads which may vary A ground source heat pump, coupled to a
(especially for the cooling regime) within a wide heat exchanger with the surrounding ground
range (25 -50 kW), and (superficial) for water.
maximizing the ability of the distribution and A Canadian well, formed by a heat exchang-
the diffusion systems to adapt to variable floor er with the surrounding ground (superficial) to
layout. provide outdoor air for ventilation when the dif-
ference of outside air and ground temperatures
Each of the 3 floors of the building can be divided is adequate.
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Figure 8. Variable Air Volumen System (VAV) for the HVAC installation.Scheme(left); Variable flow air handling
unit (right) (maximum flow of 2,500 m3 / h)
up to 3 independent thermal zones per floor. The Support or Base Building and the diffusers and
location of diffusers is optimized to maximize the other services such us electrical power, water are
capacity of the air system to accommodate placed integrated in the floor and ceiling of each
changes in the thermal zoning of the different room so we can consider that from this point the
floors. parts become infill elements...
Summarizing, the HVAC system is in the
69
Jos A. Chica et al
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
Figure 9. Equipment by each individual measurement rooms. Blue boxes: sensor at floor level, Pink boxes: sen-
sor at ceiling level & Brown boxes: power electricity. A floor integrated sensor box is showed in Fig.4
MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT surement rooms (N1, M1 y S1) and one combined
SYSTEM measurement room (a combination of M2, M3, S2,
and S3) and their respective HVAC system.
At the end, all the flexibility required to KUBIK aims The monitoring and management system is
to provide a R&D infrastructure able to perform integrated in an intelligent energy system (IES)
diverse scenarios and to capture the necessary which optimizes the energy consumption of the
information to carry out the analysis and assess- building satisfying each measurement room needs.
ments. This system is in charge of data gathering and man-
The infrastructure has up to seven individual agement tasks and to provide comprehensive infor-
measurement rooms; one control room and one mation necessary for the analysis along. It collects
service room per each of the three floors, see Fig. data from the: measurement system; building
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
9. It provides the possibility to combine some indi- automation system, HVAC control system and
vidual rooms into a unique measurement room if it external meteorological conditions.
is required by the experiment it and also allows to The monitoring system is equipped with over
have all the three floors as a unique building, for 400 sensors that records conditions inside and out-
example an specific office, school, etc.. This flex- side, weather conditions, the experimental facility.
ibility is possible thanks to the structural design and Researchers have access via the Internet to mea-
to the services design: each individual measure- surements being taken. The test measurement sys-
ment room has the climatisation, power and data tem includes the following sensors: indoor air tem-
network that needs to build an scenario. perature, surface temperature, radiant tempera-
The Figure 9 shows the nine rooms of each ture, humidity, air velocity, heat flux, solar irradi-
floor with the electrical and data network: the indi- ance, luminance, CO2 concentration, sound level
vidual measurement rooms are: N1, M1, M2, M3, meter
S1, S2 and S3; the control room is N3 and the ser- The building automation system includes
vice room is N2. Figure 6 shows too an example of sensors for: shading control, blind control, lighting
a possible layout of one floor: three individual mea- control, open/close window control, open/close
70
openings control,... The HVAC control system by the EPBD, and in a comprehensive way, the
Jos A. Chica et al
includes the following sensors: air temperature, rel- envelope, the demand and energy generation, and
ative humidity, air velocity, air/water temperature, based on industrialised construction systems.
air/water flow, air/water temperature flows, energy
consumption of auxiliary equipment (fans, pumps). The aim of this experimental facility is to offer
The external meteorological conditions are defined a flexible infrastructure able to build realistic sce-
by: air temperature, humidity, solar irradiance, wind narios with different building components and sys-
KUBIK: Open Building Approach for the Construction of an Unique Experimental Facility ...
direction, wind velocity, precipitation and atmos- tems, for that is compulsory to make possible the
pheric pressure. assembly and disassembly of them. This permits not
The experimentally-obtained results enable only in service performance assessment but also
diagnoses and proposals for potential help to develop and to evaluate assembly and erec-
product/concept design improvements to be made tion procedures. In addition the service installations
and the thermal/energy performance. are integrated in the floor slabs, so they are acces-
The chosen measuring and management sible for repair and upgrading.
system is based on a PLC platform with Windows The roof and the faade of KUBIK are made
Embedded technology allows simultaneous scenar- of prefabricated and demountable components
ios analysis as well as with different requirements, and can be considered as infill systems because
boundary conditions.... The PLC layer of the control they can change when the rest of the infill or fit-out
system is in charge of gathering data from the sen- changes, e.g. the scenario (room surface, occu-
sors and writing commands into the remote actua- pancy, partition walls and the envelope compo-
tors, not only this but the PLC layer processes nents). Even though the faade might acts as a sup-
update the central database with the sensor and port system to include several types of windows,
actuator values. glassing systems, finishing
On the other hand, the Windows layer hosts With regard the services, the HVAC system
the developments done in order to analyse different has a clearly identified part on the support or base
energy efficiency policies, e.g. will be dedicated to building, and the diffusers and other services plug-
energy efficiency developments from a holistic ging such as electrical power, water services have
approach, this means taking into account not only a complete flexibility to be located in all the avail-
the potential energy demand reduction but consid- able floor lay-out and can be considered as infill.
ering, too, the storage and generation capabilities
deployed in the KUBIK.
The technology used to build the energy effi- REFERENCES
ciency algorithms is based on expert systems devel-
HABRAKEN, N.J. 1998, The Structure of the Ordinary, Form
opment platforms as Jess (Java Expert System Shell) and Control in the Built Environment, MIT Press, Cambridge
and Hybrid Finite State Machines (Hybrid FSM).
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
and London. United Kingdom.
Both technologies are in the domain of the intelli-
gent agent development field. The background for VARIOUS AUTHORS. 2006, Open building in Education,
Open House International Journal, , vol. 31 n2.
both technologies is that they are based on the skills
to simulate complex scenarios and not only simple KENDALL, S. 2008. Education for an Open Architecture,
state transitions. Those skills are used to model sce- Proceedings of the Joint conference of CIB W104 and W110,
October 20-22, 2008. College of Architecture and Planning.
narios in which user behaviour and preferences, Ball University, Muncie, Indiana. USA.
outdoor and indoor conditions, altogether, are fac-
tors in order to take a decision. SARJA, A. 1998. Open and Industrialised Building, CIB publi-
cation 222. Report of Working Commission W24. E&FN Spon,
London.
Authors Addresses
Jos A. Chica
PhD MSc. Structural Engineer
jachica@labein.es
joseantonio.chica@tecnalia.com
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Ins Apraiz
MSc. Physics
Peru Elguezabal
MSc. Structural Engineer
peru.elguezabal@tecnalia.com
Marc O. Rrips
Architect
Victor Snchez
MSc. Structural Engineer
Borja TelladoPhD
MSc. Physics
Figure 1. International comparison of average years Figure 2. The transformation of the percentage of
elapsed before a house is demolished in around maintenance and renovation in the total investment
2000 (Quoted: The building center of Japan 2008, in building activities (excluding civil works) during
A Quick Look at Housing in Japan, p48) 1990-2005. (Sources: Euroconstruct 1992, 1996,
2000 and 2003 and MLIT Japan 2006)
adaptable designs. The findings are then reflected adaptability to manifest. There are clear linkages
upon and augmented through further work in here extending adaptability beyond the physical
preparation for a second stage of interviews. artefact to the distributed control concept a cen-
tral principle of Open Building (Kendall et al 1999).
Japanese context
Historically the life expectancy of Japanese build-
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
ings is much shorter than that of western countries JAPANESE LONG LASTING
(see Figure 1) and the ratio of maintenance and HOUSING
renovation to the total investment lower (e.g. In
2005, only 24% of Japanese building work was The move away from traditional house construction
maintenance and rennovation compared to was originally driven by an effort to produce a large
approximately 50% in France, Netherlands and amount of houses due to the severe shortage in the
UK, Figure 2). middle of the 20th Century following WWII. In a
This implies that Japanese buildings are 1968 census, the number of total residential units
rebuilt within a short period and new construction was greater than the total number of households.
dominates the market. On the other hand, adapt- At this time, Japanese housing policies moved from
ability as a design feature has long been associat- quantity to quality (Building Center of Japan 2008)
ed with Japanese housing. Whilst the approach to with a focus on adaptability.
office design has begun to shift in recent years due
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
74
are seperated and connected to the exterior with interior and services. This is despite its origins deriv-
Toru Eguchi et al
light double sliding windows and partitions ing from the open building approach of John
(fusuma) allowing them to be shifted or stored eas- Habraken, which incorporates more of the softer
ily. Traditional Japanese rooms bore no functional issues such as decision making levels in the man-
labels, rather as multi-functional spaces or wa-shit- agement of residential areas. The NEXT 21 project
su meaning a largely empty stage deriving its iden- by Osaka Gas in 1993 is the most famous project
tity from its temporary occupants (Nute 2004). in Japan and both public and private sectors were
brought together to develop SI technologies in
KEP: Kodan-Experimental housing Project (1973- ) experimental and practical projects (Kendall et al
In the 1970s, the housing industry shifted to 1999). The Japanese government still uses SI in
respond to the demand of various types of housing their policies helping this concept gain widespread
and their quality. KEP was an experimental project dissemination in Japan.
conducted by the Japanese Housing Corporation
in order to incorporate flexibility and adaptability 200-year Housing (2006- )
into housing from 1973. They categorized the In 2006, the Basic Plan for Housing (National Plan)
building into structural frame and four subcate- indicated a transition to a stock-based housing pol-
gories of components - exterior, interior, kitchen & icy leading to the promotion of the 200-year
bath and other devices (piping, wiring etc.). The Housing initiative which aims to extend the useful
intention was to identify interface details between life of housing (Minami 2009). This concept
each category and facilitate the use of open com- involves the construction of houses that boast excel-
ponents. lent durability and are easy to manage and main-
tain (MLIT Japan et al. 2008). This most recent pol-
fetishes but from fundamental differences in culture relatively small projects, such as private housing.
and mindsets yielding different possibilities. World-famous architects offices are included in this
Buntrock (2002) makes lucid all of the small fun- category. Two design practices were interviewed
damental differences in culture which promote a from each of the three categories.
much more collaborative and integrated process A series of questions regarding adaptability
which often is facilitated through much of the same were developed and emailed to interviewees prior
technologies used in western cultures. to the interviews directed at exploring a high-level
Thus, this is not meant to be a series of understanding from a practice and professional
lessons extrapolated from Japan and recontextual- perspective (e.g. as a company, do you tend to
ized for UK implementation, but a narrative pre- think about future changes?; as an architect, how
senting a slow transition of attitudes towards a more do you design for adaptability?), and a more spe-
adaptable future. It illustrates the gap between ide- cific understanding espoused at a project level (e.g.
alistic principles (mindset) and the volatile contin- what enabled or impeded adaptability to manifest
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
gences of practice (built construct) and demon- in this project?). The aim was to understand the
strates how concepts, while potentially premature practice as an arena for change and the architec-
for implementation, can pervade thinking and tural profession as a facilitator for such change.
slowly permeate through tactical shifts towards a They were then asked to use specific projects as
better way of operating, as the evolution of policies vehicles to articulate how their practice and profes-
are not iterations of radical thinking, but grounded sional perspectives are operationalized through
in a constant refinement/ modernization of tradi- specific factors that influenced the adaptability of
tional Japanese housing. Within this context, the the design. In the email, the questions were pre-
paper offers a look at how different practice typolo- ceded by our definition of adaptability (time and
gies have adapted these concepts through three layers) and illustrated through six high-level strate-
non-domestic case studies and how physical and gies for adaptability (e.g. available, flexible,
social variables play a contingent role. refitable) that together formed part of our AF
Framework (Figure 3). In addition, a building layer
diagram (Brand 1994) was adopted to visually
76
Toru Eguchi et al
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
Figure 3. Diagram illustrating six strategies
convey how the strategies could be related to dif- cost) (Figure 4). The implementation and conver-
ferent areas of the building. gence of these three aspirations turned the conven-
Data from the interviews were tabulated tional office layout inside out by positioning more
(generating three A3 size pages) mapping the static core spaces along the periphery and opening
responses of each practice typology to each ques- the center up for communication and interaction,
tion. A thematic content analysis was conducted allowing the design to accommodate ongoing
through a systematic comparison of each cell changes in office operations and environment
revealing several themes (e.g. spatial, functional, (Figures 5-6). A key tactic was shifting to a 10.8m
Figure 5. Takenaka Corporation Tokyo Main Office, interior (Source: Takenaka Corp.)
78
Toru Eguchi et al
Figure 6. Takenaka Corporation Tokyo Main Office, plan (Source: Takenaka Corp.)
an urbanized area, especially more than three the office space to the outside environment (Figure
storeys high, is extremely rare. Wooden compo- 8). Like Takenaka headquarters, the building also
nents are used on the faade, interior and some decentralizes services to the outside which help
parts of the structure - all of which are made with allow for distributed control of the services amongst
standard sizes - providing easy availability in the different tenants. However, contrary to Takenakas
future. While the lifespan of wood is shorter than of non-uniform plan, MK utilizes a universal space
concrete, only two generic types of wooden parts which they signify through a column-free work
were used and are assembled with dry joints space.
(screws) increasing their refitability in the future. This
Figure 7. Mokuzai Kaikan, faade (Source: Nikken Figure 8. Mokuzai Kaikan, interior (Source: Nikken
Sekkei) Architect: Tomohiko Yamanashi + Takeyuki Sekkei) Architect: Tomohiko Yamanashi + Takeyuki
Katsuya / Nikken Sekkei Katsuya / Nikken Sekkei
79
Toru Eguchi et al
Figure 9. c-MA1, exterior: before (Sources: IKDS) Figure 10. c-MA1, exterior: after (Sources: IKDS)
sion of three to four story office buildings, collabo- The architect and contractor had no experi-
rating with an architect who could add unique ence in converting a building to a new use. The
value to the building (Figures 9 and 10). The busi- architects design approach was to enhance the
ness scheme aimed to accomplish two goals: 1) characteristics of the original building (e.g. provide
develop a business model for residential space; a higher floor height for residential use). The
and 2) develop an alternative model of investment designer perceived the building as part of the exist-
other than the normal upgrade, renovation or seis- ing site which allowed the building to become inte-
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
mic rehabilitation. Residential use was a profitable grated into his method of working and proposed
market conversion because living space was at a solution. The team attempted to drive market value
higher premium in that area than offices (original by emphasizing the uniqueness offered by the orig-
use), and more residential floor area could be inal characteristics - taller floor heights of rooms
added as an incentive for residential development (4.5m and 3.8m) and split floor levels with small
offered by the local government. stairs linking the spaces (Figures 11 and 12).
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
80
Toru Eguchi et al
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
Figure 12. c-MA1, section: after (Sources: IKDS)
81
Physical variables considered by two of the practices (e.g. Mokuzai
Toru Eguchi et al
The physical variables construct the buildings Kaikan) was the standardization and reuse of mate-
design structure what it is, how it is constituted. rials allowing for more efficient resource manage-
Here, designers responses are both direct (when ment and improved future availability.
asked what are the most critical physical parame-
ters) and indirect (extrapolated from comments Social variables
about projects). Floor to floor height was found to The capacity for architecture to change is not sim-
be the most critical design parameter and, on aver- ply limited to the artefact itself, but is contingent to
age, ranged from 2.5m to 2.8m. A typical concern a process of design, construction and use; and is
was with older office buildings (1960s) where the conditioned by a market, regulated by policies, and
structural floor height is not large enough due to subject to stakeholder values. The social circum-
the demand for raised flooring to equip the latest stance of greatest precedence resides in both sup-
service devices, making them difficult to renew. This ply and demand mindsets about adaptability. It was
however may change in the future with the clear that while designers admitted the need to
increased use of wireless technologies; furthermore design adaptable buildings, they presented clear
as illustrated in the case of c-MA1, conversion to reservations (e.g. possible reduction in work, a loss
residential use may be a viable option with typical- of character and identity in the building, scepticism
ly lower storey heights being the industry norm. A to its realistic implementation). Designers also per-
second explicit and common parameter was the ceived that adaptable features would cost more
structural frame - as one designer commented, If which was reflected in the clients reluctance to pay
the building has a good enough structural frame, for additional initial capital costs; however, it was
including large open spaces, there are no obstacles noted that government bodies were more amend-
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
shaping office design reflected through changing adaptability is society through a long-lasting and
user expectations including lower overall building sustainable built environment. Without shifting atti-
heights and larger floor plates (mega floor) e.g. tudes and behaviours, a demand for adaptability
Takenakas headquarters. Enlarged personal space would need to be driven from a higher level
has increased the floor module as well from 3.0m through government policies or from the bottom
to 3.2-3.6m. Linking inside and outside through through user requirements. As one designer men-
visual connection, inclusion and access of natural tioned, the easiest way to make a client do some-
elements was a common point. Takenakas office thing is to point to a law or regulation.
exhibited this characteristic through the central zone Current regulations were seen primarily as
while Mokuzai Kaikan created a buffered zone an obstacle to adaptability including planning per-
along the periphery. Interestingly in a similar desire mission, fire resistance, safety regulations and seis-
in c-MA1, it was the idiosyncrasies of the existing mic codes. However, in some cases, it was reflect-
structure beyond the ubiquitous frame that the ed on as being positive. In c-MA1, the demand for
new designer wanted to capture. A final aspect housing in the area created a government incentive
82
to accommodate an increase in the floor area ratio to their own design freedom pulled by their social
Toru Eguchi et al
calculation (FAR) allowing the developer to increase role as designers; whereas, the larger, more busi-
the scale of lettable space (by changing use). ness orientated, practices were shaped by the client
Additionally, in the case of Mokuzai Kaikan, the or project specifics.
National Government changed the law regarding
design requirements from specification to quality
allowing easier compliance for wooden compo- LEARNING FROM/ MOVING
nents. The ways in which regulations or incentives FORWARD
are operationalized in the design process can play
a significant role in adaptability. A developer can The analysis of these exploratory interviews in Japan
receive incentives allowing them to exclude an have not only produced these insights into critical
amount of area from the FAR increasing their net dependencies, but have also informed the develop-
lettable space (e.g. c-MA1) or to include more of a ment of the research through the refinement and
particular use (e.g. retail) by providing undersup- expansion of the AF framework and shaping of the
plied space (e.g. affordable housing) increasing questions and format of future interviews. With
their overall profitability. These incentives, along regards to the framework, some interviewees had
with the reality that commercial buildings tend to be difficulty pinpointing what we meant by adaptabili-
driven to maximize profitable space allowances, ty. It was clear that amongst the six interviews there
lock buildings into specific uses, making change of were broader interpretations of adaptability and
use difficult and reliant on shifts in government reg- how it could be applied in industry either through
ulations. the adaptability of process, product or people.
Other points arose concerning the design This was made evident from their responses includ-
ranging from more timeless aspects (intelligence, product where control is inevitably distributed - it
culture) to more time bound (products, market). relies on the owners wiliness, government agen-
With respect to our ongoing design practice das, the capacity of constructors and manufactur-
investigation, the revised definitions and diagrams ers, societys appreciation, and most importantly
were summarized on an A4 sheet, distilling the core the users appropriation. As a practice, perceived
concepts as an invaluable tool for clarification and roles and values, types of clients and scales of
reference throughout the second stage of inter- buildings will inevitably influence the perception
views. Questions have been posed to elucidate the and application of adaptability, as shown through
role of the practice as an arena for adaptability. the three case studies offering distinct solutions in
This tactical shift is captured and conveyed through the context of modern office facilities - illustrating
the use of the project pull and practice disposi- there is no one solution for adaptability. Further
tion diagrams that have enabled conversations unpacking of the static building into the design
around the practice and served as a convenient and use processes moving architecture - is imper-
method for characterizing practice typologies. The ative to understand the influence of design practice
research reported here has thus enabled a richer culture in shaping the evolving solution.
conversation to take place within stage two. Research into adaptability requires the effec-
tive communication of sufficiently sophisticated
descriptions of key concepts to allow an informed
CONCLUDING REMARKS conversation between professionals and with clients
and users. Expanding the black box of adaptabil-
The cultivation of adaptability in Japan has a long ity and unfolding the critical dependencies that link
The Cultivation of Adaptability in Japan
history from traditional construction to more recent adaptability to a multitude of contextual dimensions
government led initiatives to promote the longevity - placing architecture in context and time - is essen-
of their housing stock. Historically, the adaptable tial for its successful manifestation. Like many other
attributes found in traditional designs were primari- philosophical design concepts in complex process-
ly driven as methods to accommodate the diversity es, adaptability benefits from a mutual understand-
of everyday life at the scale of the component ing, good relationships, communication, integra-
(change of task, space or performance), as tion, and shared goals amongst team members.
opposed to increasing the longevity of the building Whilst economic and regulatory obstacles are com-
through additional types of changes at a building monly cited, we should not underestimate the soci-
scale (change of scale, use or location). The sus- ological impact of professional and practice atti-
tainability agenda has brought new interest in the tudes and mindsets shifting architectural dictums
latter, and many of the principles established by from form follows function to form accommodates
Japans traditional housing design provide an inter- change.
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Toru Eguchi et al
Adaptable futures: A 21st century challenge, Paper presented
at Changing Roles - New Roles; New Challenges, Rotterdam.
BARLOW, J., CHILDERHOSUE, P., GANN, D., HONG-MINH,
S., NAIM, M., OZAKI., R., 2003. Choice and delivery in
housebuilding: Lessons from japan for UK housebuilders. SCHMIDT III, R., AUSTIN, S. and BROWN, D., 2009b.
Building Research & Information 31(2), pp. 134. Designing Adaptable Buildings, Harnessing the Power of
Information, Oct 12-13 2009, South Carolina, USA.
BARLOW, J. and OZAKI, R., 2005. Building mass customised
housing through innovation in the production system: lessons SCHMIDT III, R. EGCUHI, T. AUSTIN, S. GIBB, A. 2010. A crit-
from japan. Environment and Planning A, 37, pp. 9. ical look at the meaning of adaptability in the building indus-
try. CIB W104 16th International Conference Open and sus-
BOTTOM, D., GANN, D., GROAK, S. and MEIKLE, J., 1996. tainable Building, Bilbao (downloadable at www.adaptablefu-
Innovation in Japanese Prefabricated House-Building tures.com).
Industries. 139. London: CIRIA.
SCHNEIDER, T. and TILL, J., 2007. Flexible Housing. 1st edn.
BRAND, S. 1994. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.
Theyre Built, Penguin Books. SLAUGHTER, E.S., 2001. Design strategies to increase build-
ing flexibility. Building Research & Information, 29(3), pp. 208.
BUNTROCK, D., 2002. Japanese Architecture as a
Collaborative Process. London: Spon Press. TAKENAKA CORPORATION. 2005. Takenaka Corporation;
Tokyo Main Office Building Department, TAKENAKA DESIGN
DOUGLAS, J., 2006. Building Adaptation. 2nd edn. Great WORKS TOKYO 03 Winter 2005.
Britian: Elsevier Ltd.
THE BUILDINDG CENTER OF JAPAN, 2008. A Quick Look at
DUFFY, F., 1990. Measuring Building Performance. Facilities, Housing in Japan, 6th Edition, The Building Center of Japan.
8(5), pp. 17.
TILL, J., 2009. Architecture Depends. Cambridge: MIT Press.
GANN, D., 1996. Construction as a manufacturing process?
UTIDA, Y. 2002, The Culture and Construction of Architecture
MINAMI, K. 2006. A Study on the Continues Customization of open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
an adaptable housing by KEP System, International
Conference on Adaptable Building Structures, Einthoven.
Authors Addresses
MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) Toru Eguchi, Assistant Professor,
JAPAN, URBAN RENAISSANCE AGENCY, JAPAN HOUSING Yokohama National University, Japan
FINANCE AGENCY, THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN, t.eguchi@ynu.ac.jp
2008. A Quick Look at Housing in Japan, 6th Edition, The t.eguchi@lboro.ac.uk
Building Center of Japan.
Robert Schmidt III, Research Associate,
NEXT 21 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE, 2005. NEXT 21, X- Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Knowledge Co., Ltd. (Japanese)
Andrew Dainty, Professor, Loughborough University,
NUTE, K., 2004. Place, Time, and Being in Japanese United Kingdom
Architecture. London: Routledge. Simon Austin, Professor, Loughborough University,
United Kingdom
RUSH, R.D., ed, 1986. The Building Systems Integration Alistair Gibb, Professor, Loughborough University,
Handbook. New York: John Wiley & Sons. United Kingdom
85
DEVELOPMENTS TOWARD A RESIDENTIAL FIT-OUT
INDUSTRY
Stephen Kendall
Abstract
This paper outlines some of the background of and constraints facing the emergence of a new industry, focused not
on buildings as such but on residential fit-out the integrated kit-of-parts behind your front door. Residential appli-
cation of the distinction between base building (support) and fit-out (infill), although sharing the same principles as the
well-established office building and shopping mall sectors, is particularly important because it affects a very large mar-
ket whose potential is not yet exploited but is arguably nascent.
It is well understood that industrial manufacturing processes now becoming product service systems in the con-
sumer sector are most effective and dynamic where individual users are directly served, as seen in the automotive
and electronics/communications sectors. Construction of base buildings understood as infrastructures for living is
capable of stimulating the evolution of a fit-out industry that will itself accelerate innovation and distribution of new
domestic fit-out services and systems.
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
In general, the creation of a genuine fit-out industry is not a technical or industrial design problem. Material sub-
systems and components like partitioning, bathroom and kitchen equipment, as well as plug-and-play piping and
wiring are available or are being invented and approved in regulatory regimes internationally. While some smart prod-
ucts are still needed, the problem now is essentially a business proposition. By shifting to the provision of benefits rather
than simply manufacturing products, companies may find a competitive advantage in a sector of the building indus-
try now poised for an innovation leap. In the US and other developed countries, this is particularly compelling given
the sustainability agenda, smart growth and increased demand for consumer-oriented production. In this perspective,
the trend toward base building architecture allows the building industry to effectively come to terms with new and cre-
ative modes of industrial production.
people bring in furniture, cabinets and appliances, Thousands upon thousands of companies
paint the walls and put flowers on their balconies. offer products and services in response to the
In owned flats, families upgrade kitchens and bath- demand for personalization. These companies are
rooms and rearrange spaces with new equipment constantly improving their products and services to
even before the old equipment is obsolete. maintain a competitive advantage. The national
Considered in the aggregate, this is a mas- show organized in the United States each year by
sive economic reality. In a development or building the National Association of Home Builders is a
of identical dwelling units, a visit to the same place remarkable display of this phenomenon. The equiv-
in 10 20 years will reveal customization and per- alent showcases occur everywhere if not at the
sonalization no two dwellings will be the same for same scale.
long. The evidence for this is ubiquitous, in all Since personalization is ubiquitous, and the
countries. In the United States alone, more money worldwide building industry is deeply committed to
is spent each year by families at home project do- it, investing heavily to develop new products, tools,
it-yourself centers and in hiring contractors to and methods, what, then, might be the next steps
upgrade and modify houses, apartments and con- for an industry already deeply involved in personal-
86
ization and customization? tomization and personalization in support of physi-
Stephen Kendall
cal environment improvement processes without
recognizing both forces.
BALANCE In what follows, trends in the building prod-
ucts and services sectors are discussed, indicating a
Because personalization never occurs in a social new understanding of how to release the tensions
vacuum, there are important constraints that must so often found between the individual and the
be spelled out. Most importantly especially in the group in the realization of personal preferences in
context of multi-family buildings, where the difficul- housing. The release of such tensions will inevitably
ties of personalization are most pronounced - there release new energy to solve the problems that have
is always the reality of the other family next door, here-to-fore hampered the full application of mass-
upstairs or downstairs exercising the same initiative. customization and personalization to the built field.
And there is the larger social system, i.e. the com-
munity involving building codes and standards,
legal and financing regulations, as well as more TRENDS
local constraints such as home owner association
or condominium rules. To survive in the competitive global market place,
To be specific, an electrical appliance attach- manufacturers and suppliers have to develop new
agement should encompass designing and pro- small parts ready to assemble, connoting the idea
ducing artifacts, producing services through those of boxes of parts small enough to get in a pick-up
artifacts, and planning for deconstruction (or dis- truck and through the front door or window of the
posal) of those artifacts. According to the same house.
authors, the central idea of introducing through-life This is not particularly new. Examples of
management is to create an understanding of all product bundles include a kitchen from IKEA
those stages as one unit of analysis and as one inte- (Norman, 1993) or even a plastic - wrapped toilet
gral object of management. bowl valve-replacement kit. Often, these products
are not made entirely by the company doing the
bundling (although they can be), but may be prod-
PRODUCT BUNDLING ucts brought together from a variety of manufactur-
ers or suppliers. The bundler is an intermediate
Homebuilders watching service-oriented business service company.
trends will undoubtedly notice a development It is characteristic of a product bundle or kit
called product bundling or kitting, a version of that it arrives at the site ready for assembly, rather
PPS. This means that product manufacturers and than pre-assembled. This means that further value
service providers are adding value and gaining must be added at the site, but that the on-site
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
profit in the supply channels by preparing certain assembly work is facilitated by the bundling togeth-
packages of building parts off-site, for easy on-site er of just the right parts designed for assembly and
installation. Sometimes this is called prefabrica- sometimes also the tools for the job. The on-site
tion or kitting, for example when an electrical work is a form of construction.
contractor pre-wires all the boxes and terminations
in his shop, packs all the cable whips and associat-
ed parts needed for the entire wiring installation in KINDS OF BUNDLES
boxes, and brings them to the site for installation. In
these instances, no new products are needed, There are two kinds of product bundles. One is
only a new way of organizing the work. project independent. This kind of bundled product
The term product bundling can have several is made off-site, but in this case, the product is not
meanings. One is characterized by the legal battle made specifically for the project but for ANY project
involving Microsoft, charged with monopolistic that is, it is made at the initiative of the producer,
practices by its bundling several discrete pieces of for a particular market segment. This kind of prod-
software into a unified package the parts of which uct is often called manufactured. Examples of this
cannot be purchased separately. The business liter- are a Velux roof window kit; a lighting fixture with
ature concentrates on this definition. all the cables, hangers, fasteners, etc in the box; a
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
In the context of the building industry, passage door hardware kit with a variety of strikes
bundling refers to bringing together a number of and other parts to fit a variety of door installation
discrete products (made or purchased) into a coor- conditions; a faucet/ drain/ overflow kit; and so on.
dinated (integrated) package by a single company. The other kind of product bundle is project
Normally, this process occurs at a distance from the dependent. This kind of bundled product is also
site of final installation, signifying that value is made at a distance from the building site and is
added both off-site (in preparing the bundle or kit) prepared to facilitate on-site assembly with
and on-site (in installing it). increased speed and quality with reduced depen-
Product bundling is similar to prefabrication, dence on site labor. This is the kind of production
which means assembling elements ordered by the that is initiated for the project at hand. Again, the
user rather than initiated by the producer in an bundle is ready-to-assemble when it reaches the
off-site location, to be installed as a whole when it site it is intended for. Such project bound bundles
reaches the construction site it was prepared for. But can and usually do use manufactured parts made
there is a difference. Product bundling or kitting for the market, and brought together (cut, bent,
88
Stephen Kendall
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
Figure 1. One of the Sears Catalog Houses
shaped) for the particular installation. Examples through mail order by Sears Roebuck and
include a sunroom extension from a local win- Company, an American retailer. Over 70,000 of
dow/patio enclosure company; a set of kitchen these were sold in North America between 1908
cabinets the selection of which is specific to the job and 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits
at hand including the countertop; and so on. included all the materials needed to build a house.
The key distinction is a business distinction - Sears offered the latest technology available to
the locus of initiative. In the former case the pro- house buyers including central heating, indoor
ducer takes the initiative and risk. In the latter case, plumbing, and electricity. As demand increased,
the user takes initiative and assumes the risk. Sears expanded the product line to feature houses
that varied in expense to meet the budgets of vari-
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
ous buyers. Sears began offering financing plans in
BRIEF HISTORY OF WHOLE BUILDING the 1920s. However, the company experienced
PRODUCT BUNDLES OR KITS steadily rising payment defaults throughout the
Great Depression, resulting in increasing strain for
The housing industry in the US has experienced a the catalog house program. Over the program's
number of efforts during the past 50 years at whole 32-year history, 447 different house models were
house kitting. Some have failed because they were offered. The mortgage portion of the program was
out of touch with the market and because they tried discontinued in 1934; the entire program ceased
to introduce too many product substitutions out of altogether in 1940. (Stevenson, K.C. and Jandl,
the ordinary. H.W. 1986)
89
Stephen Kendall
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
Figure 2. A Lustron house kit spread out on an airport runway to demonstrate the extensive contents of a Lustron
House kit of parts. (ca 1950)
and public sector investments in the late 40s and
early 50s.
In 1947, the Lustron Corporation received a
U.S. government $12.5-million Reconstruction
Finance Corporation loan to manufacture mass-
produced prefabricated homes (a contradiction in
terms authors note) featuring enamel-coated
steel panels. The Lustron Corporation set out to
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Matura
Between 1990 - 95, Infill Systems BV in the
Netherlands introduced an integrated interior fit-out
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
product for the European market called Matura.
It was based on a decade of research at the Delft
University of Technology and was designed for new
construction and the renovation of older buildings.
It offered fully customized residential interiors just-
in-time. Two new products were developed to orga-
nize the assembly of off-the-shelf products used
commonly in the European market. With newly Figure 5. The Matura concept of lower and upper
developed software that provided seamless IT man- systems
agement from design through installation with
bundling or kitting products for the multi-family
pricing, fabrication, packaging and installation
(apartment or condominium) residential market. It
information and drawings the two new products
focused only on the interior. The base building and
make a proprietary system that had patents in seven
main service / utility access (shown at the bottom of
countries including Japan, the US and Canada.
Figure 5) in which these packages are installed is
It was one of the most advanced product
91
the responsibility of a development company. The
Stephen Kendall
Matura 2
Now, the developers of Matura are introducing a
new set of products, one of which, CABLESTUD, is
in the market in Europe introduced by GYPROC.
Whereas in the early Matura Infill System the
partition and the matrix tile were technically inter-
dependent, the new products keep them separate,
as the drawing at the right shows. (intellectual prop-
erty rights belong to Infill Systems BV)
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
Next Infill
Originating in Japan as a product innovation ini-
tiative of Sekisui Heim, in response to the emerging
demand for efficient and consumer-oriented reno-
vation of obsolete but still useful large housing Figure 6. Cable Stud
blocks, Next Infill was a product bundle including a thin raised floor under which pumped drainage and
water supply piping would be placed. It also includ-
ed a partitioning system within which electrical and
data cabling would be placed, and dropped ceil-
ings to accommodate other cabling, light fixtures,
air conditioning pipes and the variable beams of
many of the concrete buildings needing renewal.
Later, the concept was taken outside of Sekisui
Heim and now operates as an independent com-
pany successfully selling product bundles in the
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Figure 8&9. Next Infill Partitions (left) Next Infill raised floor with piping (right)
92
Figure 7. Matura 2 matrix tile for horizontal pipe routing
93
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011 Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry Stephen Kendall
Japanese market. (Next Infill -http://www.next- CONCLUSION
Stephen Kendall
infill.com/index.html)
The number of newly built private housing With the passage of new laws in Japan encourag-
units for sale has been decreasing for the last five ing 200-year housing; with the trend in Warsaw,
years in metropolitan areas of Japan. At the same Poland toward open building as the Warsaw
time, the stock of second hand houses is increasing. Standard; with the initiative of the Sato
In this context, the business practice of "buy, refur- Development Company in Finland; and with the
bish and sell " is growing rapidly. "Intellex" is one continued adaptive reuse of obsolete office and
company serving this new market. They have warehouse buildings world-wide into housing, it is
already sold 8,000 units over the last few years, only a matter of time before new companies dis-
with 1,000 -1,500 units sold each year. Their share cover the pent-up demand for product service sys-
of the stock renovation market is 5.2% in metro- tems and enter the market with residential fit-out.
politan areas. They call their commodity " Renovex A well-developed consumer market is, however, a
Mansion." The period from buy to sell is under 120 prerequisite, supported by sensible financial and
days including 20 days of design and 30 days of regulatory reforms.
work. They always remove all existing infill parts
(including plumbing and wiring) and fill in with new REFERENCES
infill. They call this way of refurbishing "Full Skeleton
BAINES et al. 2007, State-of-the-art in product-service systems.
Developments toward a Residential Fit-Out Industry
Two systems are delivered. One is the wooden KENDALL, S. 1996, Open Building: An Approach to Sustainable
(under layer) frame system without surface panels, Architecture. Journal of Urban Technology. December.
applied to walls, ceilings and floors. The second Ibid. 1996, Europes Matura Infill System Quickly Routes Utilities
system is the equipment system of plumbing and for Custom Remodeling. Automated Builder, May.
wiring. They call this the "infra" of the infill. KOCH, C. 1958, At Home With Tomorrow. NYC: Rinehart
Another distinguishing movement of the Rinehart and Company, Inc.,
stock renovation market in Japan is "full body ren-
KOSKELA, L.J. & HOWELL, G. 2008, The Underlying Theory of
ovation of one building". "Revita" is the leading Project Management is Obsolete, Engineering Management
company. They are one of the subsidiary compa- Review, IEEE, Vol. 36, Issue 2, pp.22-34.
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nies of Tokyo Electric Power Company. They buy MORELLI, N. 2002, Designing product/service systems: a
company-owned (apartment) houses for employees methodological exploration. Design Issues: 3-17.
that are not so old but which the company wishes Next Infill. (http://www.next-infill.com/index.html)
to sell for economical reasons. They renovate and
refurbish the entire common area and associated NORMANN, R. & RAMIRAZ, R. 1993, From Value Chain to
Value Constellation, Harvard Business Review, July-August, pages
piping and electrical equipment. Then they sell 65-77.
each unit to the people who want to live there, with
STEVENSON, K.C. and JANDL, H.W. 1986, Houses by Mail: A
each unit having its old, existing infill. Then the Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company. National
inhabitants (to be) order the renovation of their units Trust for Historic Preservation, Wiley and Sons, Inc.
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Authors Address
coordination guidelines. Revita is paid a coordina- Stephen Kendall, PhD
tion fee. "Intellex" and "Revita" are two typical busi- Professor of Architecture
ness styles of the Japanese infill Industry today. Ball State University, Muncie
Indiana, USA
(Chikazumi, 2010) skendall@bsu.edu
94
MODULAR ECOTECHNOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE:
A Response to The Demands of the 21st Century
INTRODUCTION: THE CONTEXT FOR Besides singular buildings, the demand for
CHANGE adaptability has reached the wider building stock,
triggered by constant change in market and social
A growing demand for more adaptable buildings conditions. The most widespread need today for
The adaptation of buildings once designed for a adaptability is either within or between residential
specific use in a specific time to a different use in a and tertiary uses. For instance, large dwelling units
different time, is not new. The European urban are being split and turned into smaller units, as the
landscape of the end of the 20th century holds average household size has decreased and smaller
numerous examples of an industrial, merchant, and units result more marketable due to high real estate
military age which, having fallen into disuse, have
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
values. At the same time, many municipalities in the
become available architectures that have adapted Basque Country are currently modifying their
to the most unlikely projects, lending themselves bylaws to allow residential uses in street-level floors
readily for modification (Bordage 2002). Industrial, formerly planned for tertiary uses, mainly office and
commercial, and military buildings are now cultur- commercial. Again, a combination of new market
al centers, concert halls, and museums, among and social demands, as these spaces, under their
others. The Reina Sofia Museum, in Madrid, is an former land use designation, remain undeveloped.
example of a former military hospital converted into This situation has its opposite in many residential
a museum. In Bilbao, a 1600s baroque church buildings, in which dwelling units are often used as
now hosts a popular concert hall, Bilborock. While offices for a certain period of time. The capacity to
the natural lighting and acoustics may make these assume and accommodate change has thus
types of buildings ideal for certain activities, it is the become a new requirement for buildings, which
great structures and absence of partitions what must adapt to different uses and situations through-
enables a physical polyvalence to host a variety of out their lifespan.
uses. The current building industry fails to achieve
95
such goal. Most buildings in the Basque Country Waste generation
Jone Belausteguigoitia, Jon Laurenz, & Alberto Gmez
are built with post and beam concrete structures, Buildings directly generate waste materials during
where interior partitions have no significant struc- the building phase, renovation, and demolition. In
tural role, and could therefore allow for change in this sense, the building sector in the Basque
the floor plan layout. However, the extended use of Country generates around 1.8 million tons of waste
brick for interior partitions makes adaptation a per year, representing 15% of the regions total
complex process that involves time and user dis- waste (Ihobe 2009).
comfort, as well as a significant generation of waste
material. The recent use of lighter solutions for inte- Building codes and certification standards
rior partitions, such as plaster boards or dry walls, The negative impact of the current buildings stock
contributes to adaptability. According to Pladur, the in the environment has generated a trend of envi-
most popular plaster board company in Spain, their ronmental consciousness in both the public and the
system has been used for over 20 years in over private realms. In Spain, the new recent building
250.000 dwellings and hundreds of office, hospi- code (Cdigo Tcnico de la Edificacin, CTE)
tal, hotel, cultural buildings, etc. includes specific energy consumption considera-
The need for a more environmentally con- tions, as well as the use of energy efficient utilities
scious building industry and renewable energy production in buildings.
Buildings have a significant impact in the Apart from legislation, the government has set up
environment, both as great consumers of resources the incentive-based Spanish Energy Efficiency
(e.g. energy, water, materials) and as generators of Saving Plan, which in the Basque Country is carried
waste (e.g. CO2, waste materials). out by EVE (Ente Vasco de la Energa). On the other
hand, the private sector is slowly beginning to
Modular Ecotechnological Architecture...
8%, positioning the housing-services sector as the incentives towards saving energy and cutting down
fastest growing one per year in terms of energy con- emissions, leaving buildings responsibility on water
sumption (EVE 2009). and materials aside. Bioclimatic and ecological
practices and certification standards such as LEED,
Water consumption Living Building Challenge, HQE, provide a more
Buildings in the Basque Country, again represented holistic approach towards sustainability and build-
by the housing and services sector, are by far the ings environmental performance.
highest water consumers. They represent almost
70% of the urban demand, and 45% of the regions The context for change
total water consumption demand (Ihobe 2009). Either market, socially, or environmentally - driven,
Within the sector, domestic consumption is 5 times there is a growing demand for an adaptable and
greater than the services one, making residential more environmentally conscious building stock.
buildings a key player to reduce the regions over- These concerns, related to the way buildings per-
all water consumption. form over time, are generating a context in which a
96
substantial change in the building industry is need- means. There are different variants, such as net-
materials should end up in landfills. based on components which has made possible the
compliance of new energy saving legislation and
Modularity and industrialization, a consequence of responses to demands for other types of architec-
environmental consciousness ture (Salas 2008). Modularity in these components
The modular in modular ecotechnological archi- facilitates the design and construction / assembly
tecture is a consequence from the concern to process (and thus, time and money), while at the
reduce consumption of building materials and gen- same time offers a vast range of end-user solutions.
eration of waste (materials) throughout a buildings Within the different structural solutions of
lifespan; during construction, renovation, and open building systems, those with less structural ele-
deconstruction processes. On the one hand, indus- ments in plan provide the maximum adaptability to
try and thus industrialized systems have always been different user-activities. Providing a clear plan with
more material-efficient than the construction indus- few master partitions enables versatility for a variety
try. On the other hand, reducing waste in renova- of uses (e.g. residential, office, educational), within
tion and demolition basically entails the use of the same space and over time. This is a critical
dry systems that can be recuperated at a certain aspect for adaptability and flexibility of use.
point in time. Traditional use of concrete and brick
on-site would therefore not meet the goal, as the A word on adaptability and sustainability
materials used are not able to be recuperated, end- Modular ecotechnological architecture intends to
ing up in landfills. enhance adaptability and environmental perfor-
Modularity and industrialization through mance through the integration of design and tech-
open building systems are ideal to accomplish the nology, using modular open building industrialized
Modular Ecotechnological Architecture...
zero waste goal. These systems are constituted by systems. The concept is intrinsically sustainable, as
elements or components from different prece- it contributes socially, environmentally, and eco-
dence; are able to be collocated in different types nomically. Socially, it responds to changing social
of buildings (industrialized or not) and in different demands (e.g. smaller household size, related to
contexts; usually make use of pretentiously univer- need for space, and housing size, related to afford-
sal joints, delimited modular ranges, offering an ability). Environmentally, it reduces buildings ener-
almost total project flexibility (Salas 2008). gy, water, and material consumption and waste
According to J. Salas, the development of these sys- generation. Last, economically, it responds to
tems, particularly between 1990 and 2000, has changing market conditions, enabling different
been the germ for a new building philosophy, a economic activities, and reducing cost (through
term he has coined as subtle industrialization. increased time, labor, and materials efficiency).
Research findings indicate significant con-
struction waste can be cut down through open
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
such as valley views, and orientation, to optimize ular system (Figures 1 and 3).
solar gain and reduce energy demand. The build- Green roofs provide a horizontal garden for
ing is mainly open to the South, with glazing and the dwelling; an outdoors usable space in a site
solar protection (Figure 3). To the North and West, with a steep slope. The roofs include a shallow
prefabricated wood panel ventilated faades with water deposit that covers the whole roof. The system
Modular Ecotechnological Architecture...
few openings and extra insulation, as the North not only reduces heat gain in the summertime, but
West winds are the coldest in the area. Openings also retains rain water in periods of heavy rain, and
on opposite faades allow for cross ventilation. most importantly stores water for toilet use. Thermal
Faade panels and openings respond to the mod- panels on the roof provide energy for heating and
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
100
Wai Kin Lau & Daniel Chi Wing Ho
Figure 4. Clear plan for flexible use
buildings significantly impact the environment: TAM, V.W. Y. TAM, C. M. 2007, Cutting Construction Waste by
Prefabrication, Chapter 15 in Open Building Manufacturing:
energy, water, and waste. Such goals are meant to Core Concepts and Industrial Requirements, ManuBuild and
be objectives towards which to work and be able to VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland.
measure performance and (hopefully) progress.
TORCELLINI, P. PLESS, S. DERU, M. CRAWLEY, D. 2006 Zero
Lessons learned from the case study presented sug- Energy Buildings: A Critical Look at the Definition, Conference
gest key elements to provide adaptability are mod- Paper, ACEEE Summer Study, Pacific Grove, California.
ularity, structural system, and interior partitions. For
environmental performance, envelopes and utilities
are key for the energy and water goals, while struc-
ture, envelopes, and interior partitions are key for
the waste goal. Ultimately, modular ecotechnolog-
ical architecture is based on the integration of
design and technology, and requires substantial
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
Authors Addresses
Jone Belausteguigoitia, Architect
jbelauste@ametslab.com
Alberto Gmez
AmetsLab, Arquitecturas Modulares Ecotecnolgicas
Bizkaia, Spain
102
Book Review
Book Title :THE
PLACEMAKERS
GUIDE TO
BUILDING
COMMUNITY
Authors Name : Nabeel Hamdi
Publisher : Earthscan
Reviewer : Yonca Hrol
ISBN Number : 978-1-84407-803-5
Dimensions of the Book : 15cms x 21cms
Type of Cover : Soft Cover
Number of Pages : 252
Order Address : www.earthscan.co.uk
Price of the Book : www.earthscan.co.uk
Number of Illustrations : 56
KEY WORDS :Participation,
Responsibility, Poverty,
Community Action Plan,
Strategic Action Plan,
Architectural Education
The Placemakerss Guide is useful for architects,
The objective of Nabeel Hamdi in writing The who work in the field of urban design or who are
Placemakers Guide to Building Community was interested in social responsibility of architects. The
to share his experiences about making and sustain- book can also be useful for sociologists. It is one of
ing the quality of settlements of poor and to share the rare books about social responsibility in archi-
his knowledge about social responsibility of archi- tecture. Thus, it can also be useful for architects
tects. The introduction of the book contains a criti- who undertake research about architectural theory.
cism of the World Bank and housing applications in
general and this part can easily be related to the Dr. Yonca Hurol
criticisms in Mike Daviss Planet of Slums. The first
part derives lessons from existing examples of
human settlements and explains the concept of vul-
nerability. The second part explains Action Planning
methods and toolkits to improve a poor urban area
through participation of people. Part three explains open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
the relationship between Community Action Plans
(CADs) and Strategic Action Planning (SAP). Part
four focuses on architectural education and
explains Hamdis experiences about bringing the
issue of place making practice into the classroom.
The last part contains a code of conduct for place-
makers. The author has achieved his objective
especially because of the details given in the book
and the strong sense of truth the book gives.
The book contains a large reference list as
well as an index. It has fifty six photos, drawings or
schemas, which help a lot to clarify the subject.
103
Notes to Authors
Notes to Authors
Manuscript formatting requirements
All manuscripts must meet the following in TIFF format and not be less than 300 dpi.
requirements: Photos should be scanned as multi-colour (8 bit
colour) and then transferred to grey scale.
1. The title of the paper should not exceed ten Width=12cm, the height is free.
words. 11. All tables, graphs and line drawings should
2. There must be an abstract of between 200 be in rich text form or .doc format using Word,
and 300 words. Power Point or Excel original programs. Please
3. The manuscript must have a maximum of only use grey scales (no colour).
five keywords following the abstract. 12. In the first instance and for refereeing pur-
4. The manuscript must have a reference sec- poses send a copy of your article to the Editor
tion at the end with the author's names in upper with all images embedded in the text in PDF
case followed by the year, the title of the refer- format to the Editor in Chief.
ence in italics and the source or publisher in 13. For the final submission i.e after refereeing
normal lower case e.g JACKSON N.1999, and revising of the manuscript please ensure
Reconstructing Architecture for the Twenty First
that all illustrations whether tables, graphs, pho-
Century, Toronto University Press, Toronto,
tographs, maps or line drawings must NOT be
Canada. In this case the whole book/article is
embedded in the text of an article. Authors
being referred to i.e no pages numbers are
MUST put all illustrations on a separate file and
given.
only put the figure number with caption in the
5. The citation format in the body of the text
text to show where the illustration should be.
must have the author's name in lower case fol-
lowed by the year in brackets e.g (Hamdi Any article which does not follow this guide line
N.1999). Where a specific page or pages are will not be published.
being referred to then the page number or Finally when the manuscript is cleared for
numbers must be cited after the author's name publication it must submitted on a CD (text and
e.g (Wills, 2002:31. or Wills 2002:31-44) images on separate files please) and sent to the
6. There must be a conclusion at the end of the following address. Nicholas Wilkinson, Eastern
open house international Vol 36, No.1, March 2011
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