A model of participatory housing

Phase: competition design, 2018

Design team: Ewelina Siestrzewitowska, Mateusz Gierszon, Antoni Surowiak

..

energy standard: energy-efficient

additional: participation in the design and construction of the buildings

1 Description of the architectural ideas and design solutions:

The main idea of the project, around which the individual solutions are shaped, is a construction model referring to the building method promoted by Walter Segal and to the SAR method developed by John Habraken, based on

a structural division of the building into parts:

THE FRAME

the basic load-bearing structure with fire-separation walls, roofing and utility connections

THE INFILL:

the external curtain walls adapted to local conditions, with window and door joinery, and the interior finishing with the construction of partition walls.

The structural division of the building can also be reflected in a division between investors:

the operator (

THE FRAME

, an institutional investor who provides a structure based on prefabrication, ensuring normative, ergonomic and fire-safe solutions. The operator sets the limits of the building's quality.

the resident (

THE INFILL

who brings their own labour to the investment, thereby lowering the unit costs of the investment for the Operator.

The resident's contribution to the investment may be returned to them through a reduction of the rent or by crediting this contribution towards the purchase of the flat.

Thanks to the flexibility of the structure, the resident can adapt the building to their needs both in terms of function and (to a certain extent) aesthetics.

The structural division also reflects

the degrees of resident participation:

THE FRAME

is a design prepared by the designers and adapted, unified and repeatable

the development of the estate site

can be designed on the basis of participatory workshops, but with priority given to the expert decisions of the architects and engineers,

THE INFILL

on the other hand, on the basis of designing for an individual investor, with priority given to the decisions of the individual residents.

The proposed solutions have the following features:

flexibility and diversity:

– the proposed prefabricated structure, and the spans and width of the buildings, assume the existence of load-bearing elements only within the external walls; in addition, the installation design assumes that the installation risers are routed only along the external walls. Thanks to these solutions, the interiors can be shaped freely,

– the proposed FRAME and INFILL principle makes it possible to freely shape the elevation and adapt it to functional changes (including later ones, during the family's use of the building) and to local conditions.

– the above-mentioned elements make it possible to build an estate of houses characterised by a certain order resulting from the scale, the shape of the volume and the form of the roof, while at the same time being diverse in form,

flexibility of location:

– the buildings are shaped on the principle of adding successive elements, thanks to which the building can be adapted to conditions by mutually shifting and rotating the elements,

– thanks to the entrance to the building being signalled by arcades running from the corner of the building, the buildings can be rotated relative to the front of the plot, so that the living part is always on the S or E/W side and the technical part on the N or E/W side

– thanks to the small width of the buildings and the point foundations, the design can be adapted to difficult locations on narrow, sloping plots, or plots with a high groundwater level,

– the pitched roof at an angle of 40° used in the project complies with the recommendations of the vast majority of local plans in Poland,

– the adoption in the project of a boiler room with a pellet/eco-pea-coal furnace makes it possible to locate the building in areas not connected to the district heating or gas network.

simplicity:

– point foundations – this solution reduces the labour intensity of the investment by reducing the scale of earthworks; it also makes it possible for residents to carry out more of the work (a floor on beams) and reduces the costs of founding on sloping plots,

– repeatability of the structural elements – the components of the prefabricated reinforced-concrete skeleton are repeated in every type of building. This solution reduces the costs of prefabrication and labour input and facilitates the logistics of construction,

– the external curtain walls can be made in any technology adapted to local conditions or to the residents' skills (including local, traditional technologies); the partition walls are designed in lightweight timber-frame technology,

– if the idea of resident participation in the construction is abandoned, it is possible to use prefabricated curtain walls, both reinforced-concrete and those made on the basis of a lightweight timber frame,

– the installation space – thanks to the use of a timber frame and timber floors and the space beneath the ground-floor slab, the installation of services is facilitated, which simplifies and reduces the labour intensity of the investment,

– the whole structure, thanks to the small spans, is very simple, based only on columns, beams and rafters.

2. Description of the adopted technical and technological solutions:

Structure of THE FRAME:

a reinforced-concrete, prefabricated single-storey skeleton (the house in rural areas and the annexes) and two-storey skeleton (the remaining houses), made of:

– foundation pads (3 types)

– columns (5 types in 1/2 lengths)

– beams (1 type in 5 lengths) – span up to 4.8/6 m

– rafter beams (1 type)

a timber purlin roof truss, gabled, at an inclination angle of 40° – span up to 4.80 m

a flat roof based on timber beams at an inclination angle of 3.5° – span up to 3 m

In connection with the adopted structure and technology, the solutions have the following features:

lower labour input:

– the use of a prefabricated skeleton reduces labour input and speeds up the execution of the works,

– the proposed structure makes it possible to execute diverse development using a small number of repeating elements, which lowers the costs of prefabrication

– the small roof spans make it possible to use the simplest roof-truss structures, which reduces material consumption, costs and labour input

– the two-storey building limits the outlay on building the roof and foundations,

– the use of point foundations reduces material consumption and labour input and speeds up the execution of the works owing to the reduced scope of earthworks, the reduced surface of thermally and waterproof-insulated foundation walls, and the facilitated assembly of utility connections. Point foundations lower the costs of executing the investment owing to the reduced labour input and the ability to use difficult, cheaper sloping plots or plots with a high groundwater level,

– the flue and ventilation chimneys are fixed to the reinforced-concrete structure, which makes it possible to dispense with building additional foundations,

– load-bearing elements occur only around the perimeter of the skeleton, which facilitates flexible arrangement and later rebuilding.

structure of THE INFILL:

the external curtain walls can be made in any technology, including heavy, masonry ones. It is also possible to use prefabricated curtain walls, both reinforced-concrete and those made on the basis of a lightweight timber frame. Within the presented project, 3 different technologies were used:

– a lightweight timber curtain wall (SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE),

– a wall of clay blocks with straw bales as insulation (SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE IN RURAL AREAS)

– a masonry wall of ceramic or silicate blocks / a prefabricated reinforced-concrete wall with a layer of EPS or mineral wool as insulation (TERRACED AND SEMI-DETACHED HOUSES)

the partition walls are planned in lightweight framed technology

the floors and the ground-floor slab, timber, beam – span up to 4.80 m

the stairs, timber, stringer

In connection with the adopted structure and technology, the solutions have the following features:

lower labour input:

– the freedom of choice of the INFILL technology makes it possible to adapt the building to local conditions and to changes in the market prices of materials (e.g. timber), which lowers the execution costs

– the use of small structural elements, thanks to the small spans of 4.8 m and the structural spacing of 60/80 cm, makes it possible to dispense with using cranes to build the INFILL structure, which lowers the execution costs,

– the use of lightweight framed structures to build the partition walls facilitates later rebuilding and rearrangement,

– thanks to the use of a timber frame and timber floors and the space beneath the ground-floor slab, the installation of services is facilitated, which simplifies and reduces the labour intensity of the investment

energy efficiency:

- reduction of the energy outlay on building the structure:

– the prefabricated structure

– the point foundations

– the small spans

– the possibility of using low-energy technologies in the structure of THE FRAME, such as straw-bale technology

reduction of the energy outlay on maintaining the building:

- a high standard of the thermal-insulation layer meeting the conditions contained in the regulations: walls 17 cm EPS/mineral wool, 15 cm PIR foam; roof: 25 cm mineral wool,

– no thermal bridges: a continuous layer of thermal insulation, the columns insulated down to the level of the foundation pads

– the layout of rooms facilitating the acquisition of passive solar energy sources

– the two-storey layout and the small net storey heights make it easier to heat the house

– short sections of the central-heating and domestic-hot-water installations.