Design of Innovative Low Cost Housing
Low Cost Housing Design
Introduction
The client has requested a design of a low-cost housing estate in the coastal region of Tamil Nadu. They are particularly interested in seeing how costs can be minimized and how health and safety can be improved through the housing
Design Approach
The approach taken is by considering 3 aspects of a design – functional, economic and eco-friendly. Obviously in the case the functional aspect is to improve the public health and safety.
Climate in Tamil Nadu (1)
The typical climate of Pondi Cherry (a town in coastal Tamil Nadu) is taken to be the reference. The reference climate is classified as hot and humid. The minimum and maximum temperature depends on the season but is typically 23 °C and 33°C respectively. The min-max spread of temperature is roughly 10 degree Celsius. Therefore it can be concluded that the priority of the house climatic design is to reduce the max temperature. Providing adequate ventilation is also a priority because of the uncomfortable humidity.
Solar design
Solar analysis is done to ensure that sunlight has the least impact on the house. This shows that the sun in Tamil Nadu tends to be skewed to the southern side of the east-west axis. Therefore evidently the house is oriented in such a way which minimizes incident direct sunlight. (2)
Housing Estate Layout
The average human walking speed of people above 65 years old is 1.25m/s according to a research published by US Roads, then walking end-to-end at the longest perimeter (160m) requires only 160/1.25 = 128 seconds so walking time is not an important consideration in the housing estate (3).
The housing estate layout is also designed in consideration of the convenient and conservative (with regard to risks to public health) placement of services.
Internal Road
As shown by the ‘Typical Road Plan’ and ‘Typical Road Section A’ drawing, the road is 5m wide. The road layers is underlain by a 100mm thick lateritic soil
Introduction
The client has requested a design of a low-cost housing estate in the coastal region of Tamil Nadu. They are particularly interested in seeing how costs can be minimized and how health and safety can be improved through the housing
Design Approach
The approach taken is by considering 3 aspects of a design – functional, economic and eco-friendly. Obviously in the case the functional aspect is to improve the public health and safety.
Climate in Tamil Nadu (1)
The typical climate of Pondi Cherry (a town in coastal Tamil Nadu) is taken to be the reference. The reference climate is classified as hot and humid. The minimum and maximum temperature depends on the season but is typically 23 °C and 33°C respectively. The min-max spread of temperature is roughly 10 degree Celsius. Therefore it can be concluded that the priority of the house climatic design is to reduce the max temperature. Providing adequate ventilation is also a priority because of the uncomfortable humidity.
Solar design
Solar analysis is done to ensure that sunlight has the least impact on the house. This shows that the sun in Tamil Nadu tends to be skewed to the southern side of the east-west axis. Therefore evidently the house is oriented in such a way which minimizes incident direct sunlight. (2)
Housing Estate Layout
The average human walking speed of people above 65 years old is 1.25m/s according to a research published by US Roads, then walking end-to-end at the longest perimeter (160m) requires only 160/1.25 = 128 seconds so walking time is not an important consideration in the housing estate (3).
The housing estate layout is also designed in consideration of the convenient and conservative (with regard to risks to public health) placement of services.
Internal Road
As shown by the ‘Typical Road Plan’ and ‘Typical Road Section A’ drawing, the road is 5m wide. The road layers is underlain by a 100mm thick lateritic soil