C H A P T E R 1

C H A P T E R 1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
TO HOUSING
INTRODUCTION TO
– DEFINITION
H O U S IAND
N G HISTORY
–
DEFINITION AND
HISTORY
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
II.Concept of Housing
III.Definition of Housing
IV.Brief History of Housing
Preurban Housing
Ephemeral Dwellings
Episodic Dwellings
Periodic Dwellings
Seasonal Dwellings
Semi-permanent Dwellings
Permanent Dwellings
Urbanization
V.Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
Medieval Houses
Renaissance Houses
Modern Houses
VI.Summary
Learning Objectives
• After this chapter, you are expected to:
1.Be acquainted with the basic foundation of housing
2.Be familiar with the roots of housing, including its timeline
and evolution
 Introduction

• “Safe, affordable housing is a basic necessity for every family. Without a

decent place to live, people cannot be productive members of society,
children cannot learn and families cannot thrive.”
Introduction

• SHELTER
-defined as a structure that provides
cover or protection.
- a place giving temporary protection
from bad weather or danger.
- an example of a shelter is a house.
Introduction

• HOUSING
- Housing, or more generally living
spaces, refers to the construction
and assigned usage of houses or
buildings collectively, for the
purpose of sheltering people — the
planning or provision delivered by
an authority, with related
meanings. 
Introduction

• The term “shelter,” which is often used to define housing, has a strong
connection to the ultimate purpose of housing throughout the world.
The mental image of a shelter is of a safe, secure place that provides
both privacy and protection from the elements and the temperature
extremes of the outside world. This vision of shelter, however, is
complex.
Introduction

• We should think of our homes as a

legacy to future generations and
consider the negative environmental
effects of building them to serve only
one or two generations before razing or
reconstructing them.
• Homes should be built for sustainability
and for ease in future modification.
Introduction
• The earthquake in Bam, Iran, before
dawn on December 26, 2003, killed in
excess of 30,000 people, most of whom
were sleeping in their homes. Although
the homes were made of the simplest
construction materials, many were well
over a thousand years old. Living in a
home where generation after
generation had been raised should
provide an enormous sense of security.
Nevertheless, the world press has
repeatedly implied that the
construction of these homes destined
this disaster. The homes in Iran were
constructed of sun-dried mud-brick and
mud.
Introduction

• We need to learn the lessons of the

earthquake in Iran, as well as the 2003
heat wave in France that killed in excess
of 15,000 people because of the lack of
climate control systems in their homes.
• We must use our experience, history,
and knowledge of both engineering and
human health needs to construct
housing that meets the need for
privacy, comfort, recreation, and health
maintenance
Introduction
• Shelter is the basic human requirement that needs to be met on
priority basis. It is much broader concept than housing. Investments
in shelter not only improve and expand the available stock of housing
units, but also improve both the working and living environment.
While it may be difficult to prove, there are impressionistic links
between improvements in housing and increased productivity, health,
and other measures of well-being.
• Housing sector is employment intensive; it generates employment
during its construction period and also during its life for proper
maintenance.
Concept of Housing
Concept of Housing

• A house is a building with a kitchen, a bathroom and bedrooms,

built sturdily and having a municipal address. But many city dwellers
do not live in such places. Poor live in hutments, cubicles; those
with more income live in flats rented out by their employer, a
private landlord or public housing agency. In higher income groups
larger dwellings are found with trees, gardens, neighborhood
security, watchmen in attendance, well-furnished spacious home
with servants' quarter and a range of modern amenities. Therefore,
a house can be many things in both appearance and in its meaning
and significance to those who live there.
Concept of Housing
Housing as shelter:
• The simplest and the most traditional definition of housing is 'shelter’.
Undoubtedly, every human being requires shelter, a roof over his
head, and for most of the individuals, it means a home, a permanent
'base' where a greater part of one's life is spent. Obviously, then it is a
great force molding the mind, character, attitude and behavior of the
people. The location of housing determines the social and economic
development of the citizens. For example, crime rate is observed to
be higher in slums.
Concept of Housing
Housing as an industry:
• Some past studies have argued that housing industry plays a
crucial role in the political, economic and social order. It
provides employment for thousands of people who are
involved in the construction of new houses, manufacturing
components and supplies. It contributes nearly one-fourth of
our national wealth. Further, it is also identified that housing in
an urban setting plays an important role in the use of energy,
the design of transport networks and communication system.
Concept of Housing
Housing as Production:
• Becker (1973) sees house as a production unit, intent upon
maximizing utility or satisfaction, because, it combines market goods
and household labor as inputs to produce goods and services of
ultimate satisfaction.
• Stretton (1976) also emphasizes the economic value of social
exchange in housing. He views 'housing' as the central social and
economic asset in the 'domestic sector', which utilizes capital,
resource, time and energy. Therefore, omission of this domestic
sector leads to understatement and distortion of economic activity.
Concept of Housing
• For plot housing, infrastructure facilities, such as
roads, drainage, electric supply, water supply, etc. are
made by the housing society or the municipal
authorities, and each house owner is free to build his
house, on a discrete piece of developed land, to his
own taste, within the provisions of the building bye-
laws.
• In group housing, the idea of private ownership of
land does not hold good, and houses as well as
infrastructure facilities have to be provided
cooperatively. This results in a certain amount of
standardization in houses designs and types;
inevitably, every house owner's precise
requirements may not be fully translated into the
house provided to him.
Concept of Housing
• Housing in the modern concept, includes not only the “physical
structure” but also the immediate surroundings and the related
community services and facilities.
• Housing is your Near Environment, a small and distinct part of the
total environment in which you live. Your total environment includes
all your interactions with people and buildings as well as different
geographical areas outside your dwelling place, neighborhood, and
local community. Housing affects your actions, and in turn, your
actions affect your housing.
 LEARNING ACTIVITY

For you, what important role does housing play in the society, aside
from it is a basic need of man? Explain elaborately.
Explain your thoughts about the three concepts of housing,
respectively (housing as a shelter, housing as an industry, and housing
as a production)
DEFINITION OF
HOUSING
DEFINITION OF HOUSING

•Although the definition of housing varies, majority of scholars

define housing as a building or a part of building which is designed to
be occupied by a single family or an individual.
•R. Neutra (1951) broadly described housing as 'interior and exterior
spaces' and specifically as "a nursery in which a child spends its
formative years, the bath in which essentials of cleanliness are taught,
the structure containing the rooms, the streets to which the structure
belongs." (C.S. Yadav, 1987, Page no.4).
DEFINITION OF HOUSING
•"Housing is more appropriately defined as a process involving the
interaction between an organism and its environment. The organism
may be single individual, a family or a communal group. The
environment refers to natural surrounding along with political,
economic, social and cultural environments surrounding the
organism." (C.S.Yadav, 1987, page no.4)
 DEFINITION OF HOUSING
• A comprehensive definition of housing is provided by Samuel Aroni
(1978) who postulates that "every society, developed or developing, has
a basic need for housing. For many individuals, alone or as a part of a
family unit, a house be it a cave or castle, is hopefully more than just
physical shelter. It should be a home, a residing place in which to try, to
fulfill the fundamental purpose of human society, namely a scheme
rewarding happy or at least livable life still based on the family as its
fundamental unit, a house and home also represent an extended womb
for the young during the formative years, during their physical,
psychological, educational and emotional development, so vital both to
the person and to the community.
DEFINITION OF HOUSING
• Through its nature, physical location and characteristics, a house
provides the enabling or constraining influence on a variety of
important services.
• These include:
 physical services such as power, water, transportation or sewage;
social services such as health, education or recreation
economic services such as opportunity for work and income.
DEFINITION OF HOUSING
• For the individual or the family, the house is both, shelter
and symbol of physical protection and physiological identity
of economic value and foundation for security and self-
respect." (C.S. Yadav, 1987, page no. 4)
DEFINITION OF HOUSING

Architectural Definition:
• Housing, or more generally living spaces, refers to the construction
and assigned usage of houses or buildings collectively, for the purpose
of sheltering people — the planning or provision delivered by an
authority, with related meanings.
DEFINITION OF HOUSING

• Housing, by simple definition, is any dwelling that provides

shelter. It is one of the most important life components
giving shelter, safety and warmth, as well as providing a place
to rest. It includes auxiliary services like lighting, water,
security, fire prevention, sewerage, waste management, and
greenery.
DEFINITION OF HOUSING
It includes auxiliary services like lighting, water, security, fire
prevention, sewerage, waste management, and greenery.
 LEARNING ACTIVITY

• In your opinion, which is the most important and

relevant definition of housing? Explain.
Brief History of Housing

• Little is known about the earliest

origin of the house and its
interior; however, it can be
traced back to the simplest form
of shelters.
Brief History of Housing
Preurban Housing

• Early dwelling designs were probably the result of cultural,

socioeconomic, and physical forces intrinsic to similarities among
civilizations separated by vast distances may have been a result of a
shared heritage, common influences, or chance.
Brief History of Housing
Preurban Housing
• Caves were accepted as dwellings, perhaps because they were ready
made and required little or no construction. However, in areas with
no caves, simple shelters were constructed and adapted to the
availability of resources and the needs of the population.
Classification systems have been developed to demonstrate how
dwelling types evolved in preurban indigenous settings.
Brief History of Housing

A research team led by Professor Michael Chazan, director of the

University of Toronto's Archaeology Centre, has discovered the
earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors at the
Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.
 Brief History of Housing

Preurban Housing
• Stone tools found at the bottom level
of the cave — believed to be 2 million
years old — show that human
ancestors were in the cave earlier
than ever thought before. Geological
evidence indicates that these tools
were left in the cave and not washed
into the site from the outside world.
Brief History of Housing
Ephemeral Dwellings
•The term “ephemeral” means
temporary, not constant, not lasting,
momentary, and short-lived. Ephemeral
dwellings, also known as transient
dwellings, were typical of nomadic
peoples.
Brief History of Housing

Ephemeral Dwellings
•The African bushmen and
Australia’s aborigines are examples of
societies whose existence depends on
an economy of hunting and food
gathering in its simple form.
•Habitation of an ephemeral
dwelling is generally a matter of days.
 Brief History of Housing

Episodic Dwellings
•Episodic housing is exemplified by the Inuit igloo, the tents of the
Tungus of eastern Siberia, and the very similar tents of the Lapps of
northern Europe. These groups are more sophisticated than those living
in ephemeral dwellings, tend to be more skilled in hunting or fishing,
inhabit a dwelling for a period of weeks, and have a greater effect on the
environment.
 Brief History of Housing

Episodic Dwellings
•These groups also construct
communal housing and often practice
slash-and-burn cultivation, which is the
least productive use of cropland and
has a greater environmental impact
than the hunting and gathering of
ephemeral dwellers.
 Brief History of Housing
Episodic Dwellings
Igloo, also spelled iglu, also called aputiak, temporary
winter home, snow house, or snow hut are the hunting-
ground dwelling of Canadian and Greenland Inuit (Eskimos).
The term igloo, from Eskimo igdlu (“house”) is related to
Iglulik, a town, and Iglulirmiut, an Inuit people, both on an
island of the same name. The Igloo is a type of shelter built
when the snow is suitable.
 Brief History of Housing
Episodic Dwellings

Yurt, the tent of the Tungus (Evenki) group in

Siberia, Russia, 1901. The Evenki is recognized
as one of the indigenous peoples of the Russian
north.
 Brief History of Housing
Episodic Dwellings

The hut of the Lapps (Sami people or Lapplanders).

The Lapps are the indigenous peoples of the Sapmi,
which today encompasses parts of Northern Sweden,
Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
They are one of the largest indigenous groups of
Europe.
 Brief History of Housing
Periodic Dwellings

Periodic dwellings are also defined as regular temporary dwellings used by

nomadic tribal societies living in a pastoral economy.
These groups’ dwellings essentially demonstrate the next step in the evolution
of housing, which is linked to societal development.
 Brief History of Housing
Periodic Dwellings
Pastoral nomads are distinguished from
people living in episodic dwellings by their
homogenous cultures and the beginnings of
political organization. Their environmental
impact increases with their increased
dependence on agriculture rather than
livestock.
 Brief History of Housing
Periodic Dwellings
This type of housing is reflected in the yurt used by the Mongolian
and Kirgizian groups and the Bedouins of North Africa and
western Asia.

Mongolian yurt (left), Kirgizian yurt (middle), and a Bedouin camp in

the Morocco desert (right).
 Brief History of Housing
Seasonal Dwellings
Schoenauer describes seasonal dwellings as reflective of societies
that are tribal in nature, seminomadic, and based on agricultural
pursuits that are both pastoral and marginal. Housing used by semi-
nomads for several months or for a season can be considered
semisedentary and reflective of the advancement of the concept of
property, which is lacking in the preceding societies. This concept of
property is primarily of communal property, as opposed to individual
or personal property.
 Brief History of Housing
Seasonal Dwellings

This type of housing is found in diverse environmental conditions

and is demonstrated in North America by the hogans and armadas
of the Navajo Indians. Similar housing can be found in Tanzania
(Barabaig) and in Kenya (Masai).
 Brief History of Housing
Seasonal Dwellings
The Hogan of the Navajo Indians

The Hogan is a traditional dwelling and

ceremonial structure of the Navajo Indians of
Arizona and New Mexico. Early hogans were
dome-shaped, with log, or occasionally, stone
frameworks covered with mud, dirt, sometimes
sod.
 Brief History of Housing
Semi-permanent Dwellings

According to Schoenauer, sedentary folk

societies or hoe peasants practicing
subsistence agriculture by cultivating staple
crops use semi-permanent dwellings. These
groups tend to live in their dwellings various
amounts of time, usually years, as defined
by their crop yields. When land needs to lie
fallow, they move to more fertile areas.
 Brief History of Housing
Semi-permanent Dwellings

Groups in the Americas that used semi-permanent

dwellings included the Mayans with their oval houses and the
Hopi, Zuni, and Acoma Indians (collectively known as Pueblo
Indians) in the southwestern United States with their pueblos.
Brief History of Housing
Semi-permanent Dwellings

A traditional Mayan house that is still used today.

Brief History of Housing
Semi-permanent Dwellings

Native adobe house of the Pueblo Indians of

America
Brief History of Housing
Permanent Dwellings
The homes of sedentary agricultural societies, whose political and
social organizations are defined as nations and who possess surplus
agricultural products, exemplify this type of dwelling. Surplus
agricultural products allowed the division of labor and the
introduction of other pursuits aside from food production; however,
agriculture is still the primary occupation for a significant portion of
the population.
Brief History of Housing
Permanent Dwellings
English Cottages

Suffolk Cornwall Kent

 Brief History of Housing
Urbanization
Permanent dwellings went beyond
simply providing shelter and protection
and moved to the consideration of
comfort. These structures began to find
their way into what is now known as
the urban setting.
 Brief History of Housing
Urbanization

The earliest available evidence suggests that towns came into

existence around 4000 BC. Thus, began the social and public
health problems that would increase as the population of cities
increased in number and in sophistication.
 Brief History of Housing
Urbanization

In preurban housing, the sparse concentration of people allowed

for movement away from human pollution or allowed the
dilution of pollution at its location. The movement of
populations into urban settings placed individuals in close
proximity, without the benefit of previous linkages and without
the ability to relocate away from pollution or other people.
 Brief History of Housing
Urbanization

Urbanization was relatively slow to begin, but once started, it

accelerated rapidly. In the 1800s, only about 3% of the
population of the world could be found in urban settings in
excess of 5,000 people. This was soon to change. The year 1900
saw the percentage increase to 13.6% and subsequently to
29.8% in 1950. The world’s urban population has grown since
that time.
 Brief History of Housing
Urbanization
By 1975, more than one in three of the world’s population lived
in an urban setting, with almost one out of every two living in
urban areas by 1997. Industrialized countries currently find
approximately 75% of their population in an urban setting. The
United Nations projects that in 2015 the world’s urban
population will rise to approximately 55% and that in
industrialized nations it will rise to just over 80%.
 Brief History of Housing

Urbanization
In the Western world, one of the primary forces driving
urbanization was the Industrial Revolution. The basic source of
energy in the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution was
water provided by flowing rivers. Therefore, towns and cities
grew next to the great waterways. Factory buildings were of
wood and stone and matched the houses in which the workers
lived, both in construction and in location.
Brief History of Housing
• Workers’ homes were little different in the urban setting than the
agricultural homes from whence they came. However, living close to
the workplace was a definite advantage for the worker of the time.
When the power source for factories changed from water to coal,
steam became the driver and the construction materials became brick
and cast iron, which later evolved into steel. Increasing populations in
cities and towns increased social problems in overcrowded slums. The
lack of inexpensive, rapid public transportation forced many workers
to live close to their work. These factory areas were not the pastoral
areas with which many were familiar, but were bleak with smoke and
other pollutants.
Brief History of Housing
• Workers’ homes were little different in the urban setting than the
agricultural homes from whence they came. However, living close to
the workplace was a definite advantage for the worker of the time.
When the power source for factories changed from water to coal,
steam became the driver and the construction materials became brick
and cast iron, which later evolved into steel. Increasing populations in
cities and towns increased social problems in overcrowded slums. The
lack of inexpensive, rapid public transportation forced many workers
to live close to their work. These factory areas were not the pastoral
areas with which many were familiar, but were bleak with smoke and
other pollutants.
Brief History of Housing
• The inhabitants of rural areas migrated to everexpanding cities looking
for work. Between 1861 and 1911 the population of England grew by
80%. The cities and towns of England were woefully unprepared to
cope with the resulting environmental problems, such as the lack of
potable water and insufficient sewerage.
 LEARNING ACTIVITY

• Summarize the transitioning of the dwellings from

Prehistoric times up to the urbanized world
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
20,000 BC: Occasional caves and temporary tents

Early humans are often thought of as dwelling in caves, largely

because that is where we find traces of them. The flints they used, the
bones they gnawed, even their own bones - these lurk forever in a
cave but get scattered or demolished elsewhere.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

Once human beings settle down to the business of

agriculture, instead of hunting and gathering, permanent
settlements become a factor of life. The story of architecture
can begin. The tent-like structures of earlier times evolve
now into round houses.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

Jericho is usually quoted as the earliest

known town. A small settlement here evolves
in about 8000 BC into a town covering 10
acres. And the builders of Jericho have a new
technology - bricks, shaped from mud and
baked hard in the sun. In keeping with a
circular tradition, each brick is curved on its
outer edge.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

Jericho is usually quoted as the earliest known town.

A small settlement here evolves in about 8000 BC
into a town covering 10 acres. And the builders of
Jericho have a new technology - bricks, shaped from
mud and baked hard in the sun. In keeping with a
circular tradition, each brick is curved on its outer
edge.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

The round tent-like house reaches a more complete

form in Khirokitia, a settlement of about 6500 BC in
Cyprus. Most of the rooms here have a dome-like roof
in corbelled stone or brick. One step up from outside,
to keep out the rain, leads to several steps down into
each room; seats and storage spaces are shaped into
the walls; and in at least one house there is a ladder to
an upper sleeping platform.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

And there is another striking innovation at Khirokitia. A paved road

runs through the village, a central thoroughfare for the community,
with paths leading off to the courtyards around which the houses are
built.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
8,000 BC: Tents to round houses

The round house has remained a traditional shape. Buildings very

similar to those in Khirokitia are still lived in today in parts of
southern Italy, where they are known as trulli (see gigure 1.12.).
Whether it is a mud hut with a thatched roof in tribal Africa, or an
igloo of the Eskimo, the circle remains the obvious form in which to
build a roofed house from the majority of natural materials. But
straight lines and rectangles have proved of more practical use.
 Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
6,500 BC: Straight walls with windows

One of the best preserved Neolithic towns is Catal

Huyuk, covering some 32 acres in southern Turkey.
Here the houses are rectangular, with windows but no
doors. They adjoin each other, like cells in a
honeycomb, and the entrance to each is through the
roof. The windows are a happy accident, made possible
by the sloping site. Each house projects a little above its
neighbor, providing space for the window.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
6,500 BC: Straight walls with windows

Not surprisingly, an idea as excellent as this catches on elsewhere and

brings with it other improvements. In a walled village or town, on a
flat site, windows require the introduction of lanes and courtyards.
They too will become standard features in most human settlements.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
4,000 BC: Houses with interior walls

In the Bronze Age, metallurgy is developed. The houses, which share

the exterior wall and are separated by walls, are narrow and elongated.
The base is made of stone and the walls of adobe; the almost
horizontal deck, built with mud and reeds, rests on wooden beams.
The interior walls are revoked and decorated with paintings. Copper
was one of the first metals used by man, initially used in its natural
state for tools of peasants, etc.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
2,000 BC: Huts with courtyards

Rich people in Iraq live two story houses

arranged around a courtyard. Poor
people live in one room huts
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
1,500 BC: Round wooden huts

People in bronze age England live in

round huts made of wattle and daub with
thatched roofs
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
1,200 BC: Round stone huts

In the Iron Age, the houses of the poor

were made of adobe and straw, those of the
rich of stone and brick. They were a unique
stay with a hole in the ceiling as a chimney.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
400 BC: Brick and plaster houses

People in Greece live in houses of brick

and plaster with tiled roofs
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
100 AD: Brick and plaster houses

In Roman Britain, rich people live in villas with

mosaics, murals on their walls and glass
windows. They even have a form of central
heating called a hypocaust. Poor people live in
simple wooden huts
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Medieval Houses
800 AD: Wooden Saxon huts

Saxons live in wooden huts with no panes

of glass in the windows. There are no
chimneys.
 Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Medieval Houses
1200: Huts and stone castles

Peasants in England live in simple huts of one or

two rooms. There are no panes of glass in
windows and no chimneys. Rich people live in
stone castles. In a castle the main rooms are the
great hall and the solar, which is used by the lord
and his family. In towns rich merchants live in
stone houses.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Medieval Houses
13th Century: Houses with glass windows

Well off people have glass windows

Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1540: Houses of comfort

Life is safer now so rich people live in houses

designed for comfort rather than defense.
Houses are divided into more rooms so there is
more privacy.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1580: Glass windows and chimneys

Glass windows are becoming common. So are chimneys. However

poor people continue to live in simple huts.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1630: Wood replaced by stone

Brick or stone houses are becoming

common. They are replacing wooden
ones.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1680: Ornate furniture

Furniture is much more ornate with inlaying,

veneering and lacquering. The rich have new
types of furniture such as bookcases and chest
of drawers. By now even poor people usually
have glass windows and chimneys. However,
some poor families still live in one room.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1750: Upholstered furniture

Rich people have very comfortable upholstered

furniture. Furniture for the rich is beautifully
decorated. Poor people continue to live in simple
houses with very simple furniture.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1840: Industrial Towns

Many houses for the workers in

the new industrial towns are
dreadful. Some houses are
back-to-backs.
 Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1880: Mass production and gas lighting

Houses for the poor are getting much better. For

the middleclass mass production of furniture
and carpets makes it much easier to create
comfortable homes. In a working-class home,
the family spend most of their time in the
kitchen. They can only afford to properly
furnish one room, which is kept for best. Many
towns are building sewers and piped water
supplies. Most homes have gas lighting.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1900: Gas cookers and flushing toilets

Some rich people have electric light. Gas cookers are

becoming common for cooking. Flushing toilets are
now usual (although outside lavatories are common)
However, some houses for skilled workers are built
with inside toilets and bathrooms.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1935: Electric light and demolishing of slums

Electric light is common in Britain. Rising

incomes mean more and more people can afford
comfortable furniture. Some people can afford
electric fires but most still use coal. In many
towns, slums are demolished and replaced by
more modern houses.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1965: Central heating

In most British cities slum clearance

continues. Central heating is becoming
common
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Ancient Houses
1979: Council houses

The British government introduces a policy

of selling council houses. A council house is
a form of British public housing built by
local authorities. A council estate is a
building complex containing a number of
council houses and other amenities like
schools and shops.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Renaissance Houses
1950: Post-industrialization

The cities are bigger, there is very little population that lives
in the field, because in them they find facilities of work in
factories, stores and offices. After industrialization, new
types of factories buildings, railway stations. Most are far
from the suburbs. The constructions are of greater
dimensions and with increasingly sophisticated materials.
Timeline and Evolution of Housing
Modern Houses
1950: Post-industrialization
Modern homes reference a style popular in the 1950s
and ‘60s. Modern houses use flat or lower slope
roofs, horizontal windows and large, undecorated
fireplaces. They embrace the horizontality of the
landscape and automobile culture. Modern houses
eschew fussy details and often employ high-quality
materials such as marble, wood floors/paneling, and
stone, Snider said. The overall effect creates clean
lines.
SUMMARY
Shelter is the basic human requirement that needs to be met on priority basis.
Housing, or more generally living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of
houses or buildings collectively, for the purpose of sheltering people — the planning or
provision delivered by an authority, with related meanings.
Housing, by simple definition, is any dwelling that provides shelter. It is one of the most
important life components giving shelter, safety and warmth, as well as providing a place to
rest.
Although with limited data regarding the exact origin of houses, the earliest types dates back
to the prehistoric times in the form of caves. Housing changed based on the way of life of the
people during that period. Prehistoric dwellings were replaced by ephemeral dwellings, which
then transformed into episodic, periodic, seasonal, semi-permanent, permanent, until the
period of urbanization.
Evolution of houses can also be classified into ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern
houses of the present.
END OF CHAPTER 1