Urban design lecture 10

URBAN DESIGN IV
Lecture 10: Urban Housing

Lawrence Ogunsanya
lawrencesanya@yahoo.com
ogunsanya@ukzn.ac.za

INTRODUCTION & DEFINITION

DEFINITION
The phrase urban housing can mean many different things.
It can represent a small, multi-family structure, a large scale

housing project or a high rise building that scrapes the sky.

It is a type of housing which is defined by its location in
an urban area and the density of people residing in the

area.
In the design of housing, neighbourliness is the first principle.
All housing schemes involve the design and development of a
number of homes together often a large number

INTRODUCTION
The homes/units have to relate to each other.
The homes can only face in two directions and sometimes
only in one, giving critical importance to orientation.
Housing developments must share a common access

system.
This must be secure and easily maintained.
There must be a shared system of service delivery and
waste removal.

INTRODUCTION
The individual homes will collectively define form and

space.
The complexity of housing design lies not in the planning
of individual houses, flats and maisonettes but in the
way they interact.
It is this interaction that determines the nature of our

towns and cities in terms of their vitality, security,

community and, not least, in the quality of the external
spaces where we lead the public parts of our lives

BENEFITS OF HIGH DENSITY LIVING

Economic: Essentially, high-density areas are easier to

service. The cost of providing infrastructure service such

as gas, electricity, water and sewage disposal
progressively reduces as more and more homes can be
served by each kilometre of pipeline.
Environmental: Greater economic efficiencies have

environmental benefits. More efficient transport and

distribution uses less energy. High-density housing is
inherently more energy efficient.

BENEFITS OF HIGH DENSITY LIVING

Social: Larger concentrations of people create greater

demand for communal facilities. A larger number of

customers makes more services viable and means that
a more diverse range of minority requirements can be
met.
More efficient transport: People living in high-density

urban areas travel less that those in smaller settlements.

With less usage of private cars.

URBAN HOUSING FORMS & TYPES

Building types can be adapted to fit specific urban

contexts. They take different forms depending on the

size of the site or the density required.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

There are seven identified types of urban housing

Big house/townhouse apartments
Row/terrace apartments
courtyard apartments
stepped apartments
Slab (block) apartments
Tower apartments.
Hybrid buildings

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Big House
A big house apartment is a residential flat building, which
has the proportion and scale of a large detached
dwelling.
It is a freestanding building in a landscape setting. The
big house can range in size from one to three dwelling
units per floor and is typically two or three storeys high.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Row Housing:
Row apartments are suited to a range of lot sizes
because they can be limited to four units around a
central stair or can be extruded along a street to allow
multiple collective entries and longer street edge
development.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Courtyard Apartment:
A courtyard apartment is a residential flat building, which
wraps around and defines an open space (courtyard) or
multiple open spaces on a site.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Stepped apartments
A stepped apartment is a residential flat building
characterised by a built form which steps down the lot in
relation to the natural ground slope. Stepped apartments
often provide large outdoor terraces.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Slab block:
A slab or block apartment is a residential flat building
with an elongated plan and a controlled building depth.
Units are usually arranged along a corridor with a single
or multiple cores depending on the building length. Slab
buildings are often greater than six storeys in height

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Tower block/Apartment:
A tower apartment is a residential flat building, which is
vertically proportioned and has a limited number of dwelling
units arranged around a central core.
The floor plates are typically repetitive and the tower is free
standing except for the base, which may have a podium.

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Hybrid building
Residential hybrid building types are a combination of
two or more building types. For example row and
courtyard apartments

TYPES OF URBAN HOUSING

Questions