Housing: Proposed Designs

Housing Report

Proposed Designs

Background

The following examines a location behind the community centre in Section C. This area has been identified by the Indlovu Project as an initial site for new housing. All parties, including the City of Cape Town, the Shaster Foundation and the Violence Protection through Urban Upgrading program (VPUU), involved are presently discussing the timing and process of this endeavor. The project would have to be privately funded and self-directed since the City of Cape Town does not have a policy to guide or the resources needed to support new housing in Monwabisi Park at this time. The goal is that this initial site will serve as a model for what housing redevelopment efforts ultimately hope to achieve on a larger scale across the entire settlement.

The area that has been identified for new housing is approximately 860 m². There are approximately ten dwellings on this lot.  The ratio is 1.2 dwellings per 100 m².

This year’s WPI Water and Sanitation Team proposed a design for a new water centre to be located behind the Community Centre in Section C.  The team proposed that there will be toilets along the back wall of the community centre. There will be a care taker’s office, composting area and bio-filter that extend out in-between the proposed new housing. More info on the water centre can be found within the Water and Sanitation Team’s section of this website.

The Unit

The images below shows a CAD model for a single unit of the proposed new housing.  The model is built to scale and accurately illustrated the ecoBEAM Building Technologies building method.  By building an accurate model, the team could effectively analyze the cost of each unit by creating a bill of materials.  Two different single units were modeled.  One has subdivided walls while the other does not.  The two floor plans are shown below as well as a isometric view of the unit and an exploded view.

Interior Layout - Walls to Subdivide Rooms

Interior Layout - No Walls to Subdivide Rooms

Preliminary Design Idea 1

The first preliminary design our team explored was two back-to-back style rows.  In the model, the tan building in the upper right is the community centre that is currently being built. Although the ventilation of middle units are significantly hindered, the back-to-back rows are cheaper to build per unit and conserves even more free space than that of a simple row. One row has 14 dwellings while the other row has 10.  Each individual unit is 48 m² (6 by 4 meters, two stories high). There are 24 dwellings in total and the model fits 2.8 dwellings per 100 m² which is over double the current condition. The benefit of this model is that you can relocate a large amount of residents into a small place.  However there is a fine line of how many people the communal areas will be able to accommodate.  The model also provides minimal room for additions.  Furthermore, the model significantly interferes with the water centre that has been proposed.  The team also tried to work with combinations of simple and back-to-back rows.  However, the team found that back-to-back rows typically interfered with the proposed water center and did not have the flexibility desired. Although this is not a viable option for this area of the park, it is still a worthwhile consideration.  This layout will be worth further exploring when developing housing on larger lots.

Preliminary Design Idea 2

The second preliminary design our team explored was two simple rows.  One row has 6 dwellings while the other row has 5.  Each individual unit is 6 by 5 meters in size. There are 11 dwellings in total and the model fits 1.3 dwellings per 100 m² which is just slightly more than the current conditions. The model is a viable option because it does not interfere with the proposed water centre and it provides room for additions.  Despite this, the team feels that it would be best to aim for a model that accommodates more dwellings.  This model would be a good consideration for areas in the settlement with different spatial restrictions or that are less densely populated.

Final Design Idea

The final design that our team proposed is two simple rows. There are two rows of 7 dwellings. Each unit is 6 by 4 meters in size for a total of 48 m² of total living space. There are 14 dwellings in total and the model fits 1.6 dwellings per 100 m² which is 33 percent more than the current conditions. By reducing the footprint of a single unit from 30 m² to 24 m² the team was able to fit three more units into the lot. Because of the smaller footprint, the team was able to fit another dwelling onto the row shown on the right.  This also closed off the courtyard area which increases safety. This model provides room for additions and parking in front of each row and allows for a significant amount of space between rows.  The space between rows can be used for the water centre and as communal space. Our team feels that this model is worth further exploring for the redevelopment seed in Section C.

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Author: WPI CT09 Buildings