Affordable Honeycomb Housing 3

8/14/2019 Affordable Honeycomb Housing 3

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Abstract

In the Honeycomb layout, attached housing is arranged in a cul-de-sac arrangement

such that small lots, built-areas and high densities are achievable with both land titleand strata-title situations. It can be an alternative to the ubiquitous terrace house and

parallel rows of flats, and can provide better social and environmental solutions.

Moreover, this layout uses up less roads compared to the terrace layout and release

more land for sale. Therefore it can be used to overcome the present defects of the

conventional low-cost designs.

AFFORDABLEHONEYCOMB HOUSING

Mazlin GhazaliArkitek M Ghazali

[email protected]

Mohd. Peter DavisInstitu t Teknologi Maju (ITM A), Universiti Putra Malaysia.

[email protected]

Generated by Foxit PDF Creator Foxit Softwarehttp://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.


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Introduction

Instead of rows of terrace houses,

Honeycomb Housing offers a lay-

out which every house is in a cul-de-

sac with a garden in the middle

(Figure 1), where tall giant shady

trees will be planted. The courtyard

in the surrounding garden is

not just a street for transit: it is a

place safe enough from speeding

cars and criminals, for even pre-

schoolers to play on.

Of course houses in cul-de-sacs

(Figure 2) are very much sought af-

ter in countries like the United States

of America and Australia. But what

we propose is suitable not only for

high-cost houses but can even be

applied to find alternatives to the ex-

isting low-cost housing solutions.

Figure 1Honeycomb cul-de-sac with gardens

in the middle.

Figure 2

High-cost horseshoe cul-de-sac

in Subang Jaya.



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Detached single houses may be built

around the cul-de-sac, but it is also

possible to construct buildings

consisting of two or three houses,

each of which faces a different cul-

de-sac (Figure 3). We can also slice

up the buildings into four or six units

so that each pair of houses faces on

to a different cul-de-sac. As we

partition each building into more

units, we are reducing the size of

each unit, increasing their num-

ber and the density of the devel-

opment, but it is to be noted that we

are not reducing the quality of the

external environment found in the

cul-de-sac.

Our aim is to recreate the best

elements of kampong and small-

town life so that children can play

outside their homes with friends with-

out fear of crime or traffic, in a com-

munity where people know and talk

to each other. We are trying to cre-

ate a more suitable environment for

the kampong boy of the future

something better than our existing

terrace houses. Honeycomb hous-

ing can deliver all the benefits of the

cul-de-sac layout but with the cost

advantages of the densely packed

terrace housing.

Figure 3

As each building is partitioned, density increases while the external spaces are maintained,

creating a kampong style environment.



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Low Cost Housing

Existing housing for the low and

middle income group in Malaysia

suffers from various defects. Studies

done by UPM at an estate with sin-

gle storey houses has shown that

there are three major complaints

from the consumers: the houses

are too hot, the kitchens are too

small and the roof leaks.

Safety is another problem. A na-tional survey undertaken by

Institute of Malaysian and Interna-

tional Studies (IKMAS) and The

New Straits Times (NST)1 last year

showed that the main concern of

Malaysian citizens is crime (Figure

4). Another aspect is safety from

traffic: the straight roads found in

terrace housing are too hazardous

for small children (Figure 5).

Figure 4

Crime and public safety tops the main concern of citi-

zens in Malaysia.

Figure 5

Straight roads and heavy traffic in t errace

townships cause concern for small children.



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Not only is the inside of houses hot,

but the external environment too is

getting hotter and hotter. Records

show that Kuala Lumpur has grown

hotter by 0.6oC per decade, faster

than other cities in the world owing

to the heat island effect2 (Figures 6

and 7). This is undoubtedly due to

the transformation of the natural

environment into a concrete jungle.

Despite attempts at tree planting

and landscaping, the typical subur-

ban housing estate is an ecological

desert, where crows and mosqui-

toes seem to be the only wildlife that

thrives.

Figure 6

Kuala Lumpur has grown hotter through only two decades.

Figure 7

Many cities are getting hotter,

but Malaysia holds the record!



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EXISTING LOW COST APPROACH

NEEDS REVIEW

Straight line terrace houses are not

only aesthetically boring (Figure 8),they dont function very well and they

become social and environmental

slums.

Developers subsidize low-cost hous-

ing, yet many units go unsold. An

anonymous developer laments the

Government is forcing us to build low-

cost houses which people dont want

to buy. The Government also builds

low-cost housing and sells it at a

loss, but the houses are unloved.

Squatter kampongs usually fly BN or

UMNO flags proudly before resettle-

ment. Where are they on the new

flats?

The auction notices in the daily papers

illustrate another problem: many low-

cost houses do not seem to appreciate

in value. For example, the reserve

prices of three properties shown in the

New Straits Times (4th August 2005)

Figure 8

Terrace houses in straight lines are

aesthetically boring.



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ALTERNATIVES TO

CONVENTIONAL PLANNING

Developers, planners and architects

have come up with several alternatives

to overcome the drawbacks of linear

planning. In trying to improve on the

monotony of housing in rows, they

have devised various strategies:

Strata-title development

Groups of houses share ownership of

the communal facilities allowing

greater freedom in designing the ac-

cess route and also allowing high den-

sities. The Desa Park Homes develop-

ment in Petaling Jaya (Figure 9) is an

example of this type of approach,

which is able to achieve densities as

high as conventional terrace house lay-outs. However, strata-titles are not

considered as valuable as land titles.

Organic Layouts

Following a trend from developed

countries, local planners have devised

organic layouts where winding roads

and occasional cul-de-sacs break the

boredom of the rectilinear grid, but

density is sacrificed. A Guthrie

development at Bukit Jelutong (Figure

10) is an example of this trend.

However, the houses there cost

RM 500,000 or more.

Figure 9

Desa Park Homes, Petaling Jaya achieves high

densities in strata-title but its land is not

considered as valuable as land titles.

Figure 10

Organic planning in Jelutong, Shah Alam breaks

the monotony of the terrace layout but at the cost

of density and affordability.



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Clustered Layouts

Similarly, the cluster approach can

produce interesting outcomes but, in

most cases, loses out on efficiency.

The circular clustering of houses at

Brondby near Copenhagen in Den-

mark (Figure 11) shows a wide ex-

panse of green area between the

clusters.

New Urbanism

From America comes a new trend

against suburban sprawl. The Neo-

Traditional Development (Figure 12)

seeks to rediscover the vitality found

in small towns by re-introducing the

rectilinear grid, but with important

modifications e.g. diagonal streets to

link focal points.

Most of these efforts to produce a

better environment require additional

resources: more land, more

infrastructures and more money. The

honeycomb concept can help

improve the design of housing withoutnecessarily increasing the cost.

Central to the honeycomb concept is

tessellation.

Figure 11This cluster layout in Brondby, Denmark produces

interesting outcome but at the expense of land

efficiency.

Figure 12

A neo-traditional approach introduces diagonal

streets to link with focal points. (Seaside, Florida.

Laid out by Duany & Plater-Zyberk in 1983)



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We start with a simple hexagonal tile

designed to comprise houses, the

plots of land they sit on, an access

road and a communal green area. A

small number of houses, 16 in this

case (Figure 14), arranged around a

small park in a looping cul-de-sac, like

friends sitting around a table. The

neighbourhood is bounded by a

hexagonal perimeter at the back of

the houses. There is only one en-

trance road. These factors help create

a sense of belonging to a place and to

the group of people that reside in

there.

Figure 14

This hexagonal tile creates an enclosed community and a sense of be-

longing to a neighbourhood of about 16 families.



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This tile is tessellated, by translating

and rotating the basic pattern, to form

a courtyard community in the shape of

a hexagon. This hexagon can be

tessellated to form a cul-de-sac

community of 42 homes (Figure 15),

and further tessellated to form a block

community consisting of over 300

homes bounded by a distribution road

(Figure 16). From these elements a

layout for a township on any given

shape of land can be produced.

Figure 15

Each courtyard community in turn forms a

cul-de-sac community of about 42 houses.

Figure 16

Further tessellations creates a block

community of about 300 homes.



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In the example shown (Figure 17) a

150 acre site is tiled with the hexago-

nal blocks, then the tiles are trimmed

at the edges. A road hierarchy is cre-

ated by introducing a main road that

traverses the whole site, with secon-

dary connecting or looping roads

that all branch from the main road. All

houses are in cul-de-sacs or clusters

that are accessed from the main or

secondary roads, making the plan

easy to understand and navi-

gate.

Figure 17From these tiling elements, any township on any given shape of land could be tessellated.



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CREATING COMMUNITIES

Creating an urban environment

conducive to community life has long

been a central aim of the planning

profession, from the time of Unwin and

Parker right up to present day New

Urbanists. They have tried to achieve

this through the quality of the design

of the public spaces the streets,

communal amenities, shopping areas,

play areas, control of traffic, central

focus and clear boundaries. Another

aspect is the size of the community.

The population of Ebenezer Howards

Garden City is capped at 30,000. The

size of Clarence Perrys concept of the

neighbourhood unit corresponds to

the number of homes that would

support an elementary school, i.e.

6,000 to 9,000 people.

Honeycomb Housing adopts a

hierarchical concept of neighbour-

hood. A family may belong simulta-

neously to a courtyard neighbour-

hood (of say, 16 houses, refer Figure

14), a cul-de-sac neighbour-

hood (of say, 42 homes, Figure 15), a

block neighbourhood (250

houses, refer Figure 16), a town

community of around 1500 houses

(Figure 18). The latter is what corre-

sponds most closely to Perrys

neighbourhood unit.

Figure 18

Town Community corresponds to number of

houses that would support an elementary school

within the neighbourhood.



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However, we argue that it is at the

level of the courtyard community that

the sense of neighbourhood would be

strongest. A cluster of 16 houses with

a population of 80 persons is a setting

that individuals can easily relate to.

The courtyard is only 60m across.

Within that distance resident can easily

discern the facial features and expres-

sions of his neighbours who are out-

side their homes. The resident would

not know each one of his neighbours,

but he would at least recognise their

faces and be acquainted with some of

them.

Shared Streets

The Netherlands in the 70s pioneered

the Woonerf where play areas and

green were brought to cramped work-

ing class areas by making the roads in

front of the houses into mixed use

zones, where vehicular movement is

curtailed by traffic-calming design fea-

tures changing the road surfaces,

placing chicanes and humps, placingtrees and planting beds in the street. In

this and other countries that have

adopted the shared street concept, so-

cial use of the streets has increased

and the rate of traffic accidents has

been reduced.

In honeycomb housing the network of

roads comprises looping cul-de-sacs

and short connecting roads leading to

distributor roads. This pattern slows

down traffic naturally, rendering it safe

for pedestrians and children playing,

giving the cul-de-sac the air and feeling

of a shared street4 (Figure 20). The

short connecting roads with no access

to houses provide space for visitors

parking.

Figure 19

Looping cul-de-sacs and short connecting

roads slows traffic naturally.

Figure 20Shared street concept



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Defensible space

The honeycomb layout produces a

hierarchy of private space, semi-

private space and public space, where

residents are able to exercise influ-

ence over the environment just out-

side their homes5: visitors know when

they are entering a semi-private do-

main. The environmental design as-

sists in providing natural surveillance

of the external spaces; every house

lies in a cul-de-sac, which naturally

produces defensible spaces (Figure21). Furthermore, back-lanes which

from 30% of break-ins in Malaysia

originate are completely eliminated6.

Communal space for all

The spaces outside the home (Figure

22) are conducive to the growing-up

process because they are safe for

smaller children, with ample play

amenities. Football fields several min-

utes away from the home do not serve

the needs of pre-schoolers or young

primary school children, who need

closer supervision.

The communal garden in front of

every home is also accessible to the

less mobile people in society, the

elderly and disabled. It is this socially

friendly and safe environment that ex-

isted in the kampongs and is now so

lacking in our modern urban areas.

Figure 21

Every house lies in a cul-de-sac, which naturally and

spontaneously produces defensible spaces.

Figure 22

The courtyard outside the houses makes it ideal and safe for pre-schoolers, the elderly

and the disabled.



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APARTMENTS

The Honeycomb Concept can also be

applied to the design of apartments.

For an alternative to the 5-storey walk-

up flats, instead of long parallel slabs

of block apartments, we have compact

point blocks arranged in a hexagonal

cluster (Figure 23) so that a kind of

courtyard is created in the centre of

the blocks. This is where we can

create a communal focus, a small park

with tall shady trees and childrens

playground equipment (Figure 24 and

25). This courtyard is analogous to the

courtyard in the Honeycomb cul-de-

sac.

Figure 23

Honeycomb Apartments.

Figure 24

Communal courtyards in

the centre of a hexagonalcluster of flats.

Figure 25

This application to design of

honeycomb apartments

provides an alternative to

long parallel slabs of block

apartments.



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In addition, on every floor, the units

are not strung out along a corridor, but

instead, circle around a lobby area

(Figure 26). The long narrow corridor

is suitable only as a circulation space;

even worse when there are no win-

dows overlooking them, they become

blind corridors. Not subject to casual

surveillance from residents in the

apartments, these spaces attract

vandalism.

But a hexagonal lobby having the

same area can be a communal area.

In the design shown (Figure 27 and

28), there is a small item of play-

ground equipment placed in the cen-

tre; it could equally well be an indoor

garden or fountain instead. The apart-

ments are designed to have windows

facing the lobby so that mothers can

look at their children playing outside,

subjecting it to natural surveillance.

The lobby can become a semi-private

space that residents are able to feel

as their own to look after.

Figure 26

The lobby in the honeycomb apartment.

Figure 27

A playground, indoor garden or fountain could be

placed in the hexagonal lobby, tu rning it in to a

communal space.

Figure 28

Windows facing the lobby w ill avoid

public security problems of blind

corridors which att racts vandalism.



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The design of the apartments in a

hexagonal block need not be

problematic. Though it is more difficult

to handle for those who are so used to

the rectilinear grid, it can produce

efficient yet pleasant results. The

example (Figure 29) shows an

apartment of an area of 850 square

feet.

There is a main entrance into the

dining and living room. There is also a

second entrance through the drying

yard, into the spacious kitchen. All the

service areas, kitchen, bathrooms and

drying yard are grouped together for

easy plumbing; the 3 bedrooms are

accessed from a semi-private family

area. The dining and living open out

into a balcony with wide sliding doors.

The overall shape appears unduly

complicated, however the funnel

shape corresponds well to the natural

flow of movement in an apartment

the rooms fan out towards the external

Figure 29

Honeycomb apartment of 850 square feet.



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IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

Contour housing

Building long rows of terrace houses

cheaply requires hills to be cut and

streams to be filled. In honeycomb

housing, buildings containing several

units have compact footprints that

allow more level changes to be placed

between the blocks (Figure 30). In this

respect the buildings are very much

like big detached houses, and it is

evident from existing townships that

the typical developer flattens large ex-

panses of land for his terrace houses,

but lets the bungalows go up and

down to better suit the original con-

tours.

Mitigating the heat is land effect

The road shoulder in front of terrace

houses, with its underground cables

and pipes, is not suitable for trees:

but big shady species can thrive in the

small communal gardens of honey-

comb housing. The clearing of trees

to create concrete jungles is the main

cause of the heat-island effect. The

canopy of big trees, far larger than the

area of the honeycomb courtyards

shades the roads and hard landscape

(Figure 31). Evaporation from leaves

will further cool the external environ-

ment.

Figure 30

Honeycomb houses containing several units

now have more compact footprints and allows

for more level changes.

Figure 31

Large canopies from trees in the central courtyard will

reduce the heat island effect by shading roads and hard

landscapes and further improve local biodiversity.



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Biodiversity

The islands of big trees together with

smaller trees and shrubs around the

homes can become microhabitats for

small animals, birds and insects.

Suitable species of introduced

butterflies, birds and small mammals

will gradually adopt this environment

as their natural home and thus im-

prove the local biological diversity.

A NEW GENERATION OF HOME

DESIGNS

Tessellation Planning, without

incurring any cost penalty, allows new

townships to break free from the

mental grid-lock that produces rigid

rows of housing. To most architects,

designing yet another terrace house isa boring chore. Honeycomb housing

represents a new and refreshing

challenge for architects. It leads to

new generic house-types. These new

forms give architects more room for

creativity.

Wide frontage detached homes

The honeycomb detached house

comes with wider, more articulated

frontages, as compared to bungalows

in rows (Figures 32 and 33).

Figure 32

The narrow frontage of a conventional

detached house.

Figure 33

Honeycomb units with wide frontages.



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Individual frontages

Linked units like the duplex and triplex

give the impression of being detached

units when viewed from the entrance

o f

Figure 34

Honeycomb courtyard community

consist ing of duplexes and triplexes.

Figure 35Duplexes appear to

look like detached

houses.

Figure 36

Triplexes also appear

to look like detached

houses.



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Semi-detached frontages

The quadruplex and sextuplex struc-

tures give the impression of being

semi-detached units (Figures 37, 38

and 39). These two building types are

the honeycomb alternatives to the

low and low-medium cost terrace

house. In the equivalent honeycomb

layout, every house is a corner unit,

with a front yard and side garden.Figure 37

Honeycomb courtyard community

consist ing of sextuplexes and quadruplexes.

Figure 38

Quadruplexes give the

impression of being semi-

detached house.

Figure 39

Every house in this sextuplex

or in a quadruplex is a corner

unit with front and side

gardens.



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USING LAND MORE EFFICIENTLY

In Figure 40, a honeycomb

neighbourhood comprising 5 units

(four quadruplexes and one duplex) is

compared with a terrace house

arrangement of an equivalent 5 units.

Figure 40 also compares a honey-

comb neighbourhood comprising 12

quadruplexes and 4 duplexes against

a terrace house arrangement of an

equivalent 16 units. It is demonstrated

in Table 1 that the honeycomb layout

is more efficient in respect of land-use.

Figure 40

Comparisons of equivalent units of honeycomb neighbourhoods and terrace houses; its layout

and efficiency.

Table 1

Comparison table highlighting

honeycombs efficient land-use

from that of conventional terrace

layout.



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It is more efficient because the total

area of roads has been reduced: in

the 5-unit comparison the area of road

reserve is reduced from 41% of the

total area to only 26%; consequently,

because the green area is maintained

at 7%, the saleable house land is

increased from 52% to 67 per cent. In

the 16-unit case, the road area of the

honeycomb layout is 23% compared

to 35% for the terrace layout; the

house land is 70%, up from 58 per

cent.

We next compared two theoretical

sites on efficient layout of terrace

houses on an island site and an

equivalent honeycomb alternative.

Here again, the honeycomb alterna-

tive needs less land for roads and al-

lows more residential land (Figures 41

and 42). In this example, the pub-

lic green area and density (units per

acre) are kept the same; conse-

quently, the average lot sizes are 30%

larger (Table 2).

Figure 41

Terrace houses on a theoretically efficient site.

Figure 42

Honeycomb block community on a

theoretically efficient site.Table 2

The honeycomb layout increases saleable land lot

size by 30%!



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We have done several comparative

studies to illustrate how honeycomb

layouts are more efficient than

conventional rectilinear grid layouts.

The study of alternative layouts at

Demak Laut, Kuching (Figures 43

and 44) is one example.

Figure 43

Comparative analysis of honeycomb

layout at Demak Laut, Kuching,

Sarawak.

Figure 44

Comparative analysis of conventional

terrace layout at Demak Laut, Kuching,

Sarawak.



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In this example, there are equivalent

numbers of units. The green areas

and provisions for amenities are about

the same. The terrace alternative

yields only about 40.7% saleable resi-

dential land. This yield is quite

common for any landed prop-

erty development. However, the

honeycomb layout can yield

about 43.3% saleable land. The rea-

son for this can be seen in the re-

duction in road reserve from 41.2%

to 35.2% (Table 3).

Table 3

The honeycomb layout increases yield of saleable land through reduction in road reserve.

TERRACE

HOUSE

HONEYCOMB

HOUSING

NOTE

NO. OF HOUSES 224 224 Same number o f houses

% OF ROADS 41.2% 35.2% 15% Less Road

% HOUSE + COMPOUND 40.7% 43.3% 7% Larger Co mp ound s

% GREEN 7.6% 10.9% 43% Mo re Green

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HONEYCOMB LAYOUT AT

DEMAK LAUT, KUCHING, SARAWAK.



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It is possible to build a mathematical

model where distances and areas of a

sextuplex honeycomb layout and an

equivalent terrace layout are expressed

in terms of variables x, y, and so on. Us-

ing Pythagoras Theorem and the Solu-

tion to Quadratic Equations, a spread-

sheet model of the two alternatives is built

up. We are interested in land-use effi-

ciency, which is the ratio of sellable land

to total land, and in density which is the

number of units per acre. Both these out-

put variables are made to relate to

buildable footprint, which is the net land

area in a house lot that can be built, tak-

ing into account the building setback

requirements. This mathematical model

shows that, within the range of practical

limits, the sextuplex honeycomb form ofhousing is more land-use efficient and

can provide more units per acre than the

terrace (Figures 45 to 48).

Figure 45

A honeycomb block consisting of sextu-

Figure 46

Equivalent amount

of units in terrace

layout

Figure 47

Percentage of land sold related to buildable footprints.

Figure 48

Densities related to buildable footprints.



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WEALTH-CREATING HOMES

Almost everyone aspires to own a

home, and for those that do, it is

probably their biggest asset. The three

factors that most affect the resale

value of a home are location, location

and location.

It is not so much the bricks and mor-

tar, or even the granite tiles or the

architectural style of the house that

make up the bulk of the value of a

house, but rather the quality of its

physical and social environment.

Location is more than just a simple

geographical matter: In Central Kuala

Lumpur near the fashionable Bangsar

area is Bangsar Baru Flats but the

value of the apartment are depressed.Who wants to live in a slum?

Homes that are comfortable, in a safe,

friendly neighbourhood, seen as a

private and exclusive location, set in a

mature and lush landscape will attract

higher prices (Figure 49). Owners of

honeycomb homes living in harmony,

maintaining and improving the spaces

outside their homes, creating a sense

of place and belonging will not only

enjoy living in a good neighbourhood,

but will benefit from the financial ap-

preciation of their valuable asset.

Figure 49

Homes that are comfortable, in a safe, friendly neighbourhood, seen as a private and exclusive

location, set in a mature lush landscape will attract higher values thus increasing prices.



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References

1 New Straits Times (18thSeptember 2004)

2 Davis, M.P., et al. (2004) Thermal Comfort Housing for Hot Climates.Commonwealth Association of Planners Conference, 7th July, 2004, Renais-sance Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

3 New Straits Times (4thAugust 2005)

4 Ben-Joseph, Eran (1995) Changing the Residential Street Scene. Journal of the

American Planners Association.

5 Newman, Oscar (1972) Defensible Space. New York: Macmillan.

6 Abas, A.B.; Sugianto,I.N., (2004) Break-ins in Malaysian Houses. ProceedingsSilpakorn Architectural Discourse 3rd Symposium. (Discussion with main au-thor.)

All drawings and illustrations are the copyright of Arkitek M. Ghazali except:

Figure 2 Sime UEP Berhad (2005)

Figure 4 New Straits Times (18 September 2004)

Figure 6 & 7 Outdoor temperatures in KL by Mohd Peter Davis, Nor Azian Nordin,Gregers Reimann (1999)

Figure 8 Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur (Google Earth 2005)

Figure 9 Desa Park, Petaling Jaya from Taman Desa Brochure (2004)

Figure 10 Jelutong, Shah Alam from Kumpulan Gutherie Group (2004)

Figure 11 Housing in Denmark from The Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2003)

Figure 12 Kostof, Spiro (1991) The City Shaped Urban Patterns and MeaningsThrough History. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson.

Figure 20 Defensible Space by Oscar Newman (1972)



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List o f Figures

Figure 1 Honeycomb cul-de-sac model

Figure 2 Horseshoe cul-de-sac in Subang Jaya

Figure 3 Kampong style environment model

Figure 4 Crime and public safety issue

Figure 5 Straight roads and heavy traffic

Figure 6 Meteorological station chart

Figure 7 Heat island effect

Figure 8 Terrace houses in straight lines, Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur

Figure 9 Desa Park Homes, Petaling Jaya

Figure 10 Jelutong, Shah Alam

Figure 11 Brondby, Denmark

Figure 12 Florida, United States

Figure 13 Single tile tessellated

Figure 14 Neighbourhood tile of about 16 families

Figure 15 Courtyard community tile of about 42 houses

Figure 16 Block community tile of about 300 homes

Figure 17 Any given shape or land could be tessellated

Figure 18 Courtyard community tile slows traffic

Figure 19 Town community tile

Figure 20 Shared street concept

Figure 21 A cul-de-sac naturally produce defensible spaces

Figure 22 The external courtyards make safe environments

Figure 23 Honeycomb apartments

Figure 24 Communal courtyards

Figure 25 Honeycomb apartments as an alternative to long parallel block apart-



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ments

Figure 26 Lobby in honeycomb apartment

Figure 27 Alternatives in communal lobby

Figure 28 Problems of blind corridors addressed

Figure 29 Honeycomb apartments of 850 square feet

Figure 30 Honeycomb houses with compact footprint

Figure 31 Large canopies from trees reduces heat island effect

Figure 32 Narrow frontage of conventional detached house

Figure 33 Honeycomb units with wide frontage

Figure 34 Honeycomb courtyard communities with duplexes and triplexes

Figure 35 Duplex appears to look as detached houses

Figure 36 Triplexes also appear to look as detached houses

Figure 37 Honeycomb courtyard communities with quadruplexes and sextuplexes

Figure 38 Quadruplexes gives an impression of being semi-detached house.

Figure 39 Honeycomb units with front and side gardens

Figure 40 Comparison of layout and efficiency

Figure 41 Terrace house on theoretically efficient site

Figure 42 Honeycomb block community on theoretically efficient site

Figure 43 Comparative analysis of honeycomb layout in Kuching, Sarawak

Figure 44 Comparative analysis of terrace layout in Kuching, Sarawak

Figure 45 Honeycomb block consisting of sextuplexes

Figure 46 Equivalent amount of units in terrace layout

Figure 47 Percentage of land sold related to buildable footprints

Figure 48 Densities related to buildable footprints

Figure 49 Honeycomb attracts higher values of neighbourhood


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Affordable Honeycomb Housing 3