Abstract
JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 2021, VOL. 20, NO. 5, 502–511 https://doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2020.1800472 ARCHITECTURAL PLANNING AND DESIGN Marie Kim and Chaeshin Yoon Department of Architecture, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 13 March 2020 This study aims to propose a design method to promote the flexibility of a floorplan of an Accepted 16 July 2020 apartment building. Areas which permit the change of floorplan are assigned and demarcated in some part of a floorplan to evade the conjunction with physical structures of a building. KEYWORDS These assigned areas for change can act as a mediator to extend the range of flexibility of Korean apartment plan; floorplans. The former part of this study speculate the definition of design vocabularies flexibility; supports; thematic composing the design methods of mass-housing flexibility. The flexibility of an apartment design; margin floorplan cannot but be restricted when compared to that of a detached house. Admitting this limitation, we could limit the aim of the flexibility design to accommodate a few design themes which residents would want most among diverse alternatives. The later part of the study examined variations of a Korean apartment plan. With four different design themes, the plan variations were sketched to demonstrate the process of the flexibility design. 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical background This study aims to propose a design method to 2.1. The definition of supports promote the flexibility of a floorplan of an apart- N.J. Habraken proposed the concept of “Supports” as ment building. As a design vocabulary for floor plan a kind of diagram which can be used as baselines in the flexibility, areas that permit the change of floorplan design process of a mass housing. He regarded that are assigned and demarcated in some part of the production of mass housing without any room for a floorplan to evade the conjunction with the phy- residents’ participation is an emergency measure sical structures of a building. These assigned areas adopted in the first place because of its productivity for change can act as a mediator to extend the potential (Habraken 1999, 33). He argued that it is one range of flexibility of floorplans. The former part of of the natural human right to have a control over one’s this study speculated the definition of design voca- own environment, thus, residents of mass housing bularies composing the design methods of mass- should have the opportunity to actively participate in housing flexibility. Especially the “margin”, which its design process. has not been focused, is ruminated and its typolo- To develop a design method and its process, he gical variations are demonstrated. The flexibility of distinguished non-bearing infills from bearing struc- an apartment floorplan cannot but be restricted tures and endowed controls over them to different when compared to that of a detached house. relevant subjects. He applied his design method to Admitting this limitation, we could limit the aim of the existing works to see its possibility to be developed the flexibility design to accommodate a few design into a holistic design theory. His method is well themes which the residents would want most explained in the design studies and projects examples among diverse alternatives. by Habraken (2010) and Bosma et al. (2000). This study proposes a design method for a flexible His mass housing design method is composed of floorplan of an apartment. With a few design themes, void spaces such as zones, margins, and sectors. The presumed plan variations can be generated. To accom- dimensions of their forms correspond to each other modate and guarantee the changes of physical ele- (see Figure 1). The zones represent the spatial charac- ments, “sector margins” illustrated in detail can be teristics of the corresponding area, and the most pro- used as a medium of coordination. To demonstrate minent factor is a natural lighting condition (Bosma the benefit of this proposal, the later part of this et al. 2000, 224). The zones are drawn in linear strips study examines a Korean apartment plan with the net which parallel each other. The strips follow the peri- area of 59. Plan variations are generated with two types of margins; one is the current margin and the meter of urban streets. The zone which is naturally sun- other is the proposed margin. lighted is named as α zone or otherwise β zone. CONTACT Marie Kim mform1710@gmail.com Department of Architecture, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 503 Figure 1. Types of supports in the SAR methodology; Twin, Bijlmernner, and Longitudinal (Edited based on the original source: Habraken 2010. 132, 122, 152). On this zoning band, architectural components are Habraken (2010) introduced this zoning band into arranged to form a configuration of spaces and an interior of a household unit. The SAR 65 design a structural framework mediated with the pattern of method is based on the zoning bands named, respec- zones. It is a different approach from modern archi- tively. Each Greek letter from α to δ indicates the band tects in the early twentieth century that emphasized of different environmental and social characteristics, the independency of those two components. Between and margins between the zones accommodate the zones there is a margin in which residents can organize formal change of space units anchored in the zones. their own spatial configuration. The margin is a spare The efforts to generalize the formal relationships area where the adjacent space units can vary in size. of spatial vocabularies continued after Habraken, Their physical components are movable to change the however, their focus has been changed. In the size. 1990s, finding a robust form of a building was The zoning band appears to represent the functional important to accommodate versatile changes of differences of urban blocks in the 1960s. In the layout programs of blocks in an urban context (Bentley plan of Berlin-Hauptstad (1958) by Smithsons, there are et al. 1990). In the 2000s, various types of buildings three types of lattice strips resembling a slightly wrinkled were represented in an abstract form of zones or tartan check in the 3 km diameter range (Bosma et al. strip patterns (Steadman 2003; Steadman and 2000, 59; Banham 1966), with the interlocking of greens Mitchell 2010). The viewpoint that the natural and vehicle roads. Each strip represents different func- lighting and ventilation conditions make the form tions endowed to it. Being interested in mediating gra- of a building led the typological change was inves- dual transitions between the public and the private, the tigated. Since the mid-2000s, studies on floorplan Smithsons designed a zoning band to accommodate this flexibility were focused on the estimation of life- characteristic transition of spaces. In the Golden Lane cycle cost and its feasibility, aiming to design project (1952) and Robin Hood Garden (1972), they verti- buildings easy to repair, predict the capacity of cally expanded the band-shaped intermediate zone, functional changes of buildings, and suggest the which was called streets in the air. This prominent feature amount of budget for renovation (Geraedts and was used to decorate the elevation of many Korean Prins 2016; Geraedts et al. 2014). The physical apartments in the 1970s. components were categorized into multiple levels Aldo van Eyck paid attention to their transitional according to their life-cycle and itemized as indi- zoning band and imbued a metaphysical meaning to cators to analyse their correlation with the capacity it. He termed the concept of “configurative design” which of a building. This approach aimed to quantify the acted as a counter-form of human association for each efficiency between the physical form of a building and for all, in Forum (1962) (McCarter 2015, 118). In his and its long-term cost. Yet, it was not appropriate works, the wind mill pattern of breathing squares for housing buildings which were typical in the repeatedly makes an interwoven pattern of threshold construction method but varied widely in form. spaces. The Dutch Structuralists influenced by Saussure and Levi-Strauss considered an architectural design as 2.2. The definition of a margin a process of making relationships between components. Therefore, they developed their design language for When Habraken conceived of the concept of a margin open-ended building structures employing repeated as a design vocabulary, it was a spare area between building elements, which facilitated multiple use and zones accommodating the changes in the size of space further transformations of the elements. units. It mediated two different zones and had both 504 M. KIM AND C. YOON characters of them (Habraken 2010, 46–48). Because 3.1. Types of supports the sun-light zones were linear-shaped and parallel to The configuration of spaces and a structural framework the perimeter of its urban blocks, the margin between can be categorized into the following types: (see them was also linear and parallel. The changes of the Figure 1). All of them have parallel zones and margins space boundary imply that the size of a space is not between the zones. The “Twin” type has bearing walls restricted by its structural framework. The size of the perpendicular to longitudinal direction of the zones. space is determined first and then its boundary is The zones of “Bijlmernner” type are similar to the enclosed with furniture and non-bearing walls. In mar- “Twin” type except for the structural elements of col- gins, non-bearing walls were movably arranged for umns. The bearing walls of the “Longitudinal” type residents, and bearing walls were allocated not to parallels with the zoning bands without structural ele- interrupt their change. ments in the zones, which allows freer relocation of the The idea of an autonomously-changing space functional spaces relative to other two types (Habraken was mentioned by Kahn as well (Wiseman 2007). 2010, 160). He referred to this autonomous space as Room In the longitudinal supports, there is another type of and applied it to his design works, although his margins besides the in-between one allowing the var- rooms were combined with physical structures. iations in the configuration of infills (see Figure 2), The predetermined sizes of spaces were coupled which illustrates the plan variations of longitudinal with the physical structures as a set. On the other supports. With the absence of bearing walls in the hand, Habraken kept the autonomy of space units zoning band, boundary infills for bedrooms can be from the physical structures. He described their relocated freely. The infill walls can be relocated in relationship as loosely connected to each other. The the area of small band of which the width accords form of spaces was influenced by the structural with the exterior wall between windows. These areas framework, while the structural framework did not are the margins of the supports that appear in the determine the form. The spatial buffer margin zoning bands not between them. Small margins offered a gap between space units and the struc- included in a zoning band would be termed as sector tural framework. margins. 3. Another type of margins 3.2. The supports of Korean apartments The characteristics and functions of margins are circum- Supports in Figure 1 are those of European mass hous- stantial rather than intrinsic to the shape of supports. ing designed in the tradition of perimeter block housing Figure 2. The floorplan variations of the longitudinal type of supports and their sector margins (Edited based on the original source: Habraken 2010, 160). JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 505 with a court yard in the centre. The typical form of plan for the study is the 84㎡ -plan, which occupied perimeter block housing has developed since the the majority of the households (47%, 5285 Middle Ages and went through the urbanization in the households). seventeenth century. Plots distributed to each entry A sector in the SAR methodology indicates a vacant became narrower to accommodate more entry facing area without any physical element that could hinder the urban streets. The depth of plots became deeper to spatial deployments (Habraken 2010, 60). The possible secure the usable areas. Residential blocks in Paris were number of plan variations produced from a supports is architecturalized in a similar way under the influence of influenced by the bay of the vacant area. Arranging the Latin culture. In the twentieth century, the perimeter functional programs on sectors, one can generate and block housing was built in Germany and the count the number of plan variations. This is the most Netherlands developed into the modernized version. direct method to check the flexibility of a support, The urban plan of Amsterdam south (1915) is one of named as sector analysis (Habraken 2010, 60–83). the examples. Berlage planned a semi-public park and First, for the sector analysis, the determination of green areas inside the block to afford amenity space for fixed elements which do not change their forms was pedestrians in the urban context (Sohn 2000, 287). conducted. There were a few non-changeable ele- The major form of Korean apartments is different ments by law such as bearing walls, bearing columns, from the European perimeter block housing. The build- and fire escape rooms. Also, exterior windows, the ing does not enclose a block and the width of relevant fixtures, and their pipe ducts, for example, a building is limited by law for air circulation and kitchen and air-conditioning plant room, were desig- natural lighting. With the development of construction nated as fixed elements. industry of apartments, the form of apartment build- Second, the size of functional spaces was defined. ings has continued to change, while its floor plan has Two types of data are shown in Table 1. One is the hardly been influenced by the block size or shape. statistics of room-sizes of Korean apartments since the Although the majority of Korean apartments are built 1970s, and the other is the drawing dimensions of each in high-rise reinforced concrete structure, the lighting functional space equipped with available furniture lay- condition of interior spaces resembles the Korean tradi- outs. The second data was necessary to ensure that the tional housing, Hanok, rather than the European peri- dimensions of the rooms in the statistics were applic- meter block housing (Kim 2016, 116). Koreans prefer able to new design works of planning household units. houses facing the south due to the advantages in nat- Each functional space had a range of dimensions from ural lighting and air circulation. Floor plans of the minimum to maximum; the minimum dimensions Korean apartments have developed to meet this envir- were mainly chosen from the second data to exclude onmental conditions similar to Hanok for a half century. small sizes which do not accommodate reasonable layouts of furniture. The maximum dimensions were chosen from the first statistical data to include the 3.3. The margins in Korean apartments diversity of plans. Most of the functional spaces had the minimum dimensions in the statistics, because the Kim (2016) drew the margins of apartments in rooms were actually in use and did not allow the the second development of Dongtan New Town. available layouts for their use. Dongtan New Town is one of the representative However, living room space was an exception. The urban development projects in Korea, which was minimum dimensions of living rooms in the statistics planned as a site for housing development in 2001, were larger than the furniture layouts. Given the with the apartments presold in 2004 and 2012. It was Koreans’ preference of a large living room, the mini- the largest site for housing development in Gyeonggi mum dimensions in the statistics were chosen instead province for over 15 years. The selected apartment Table 1. Sizes of functional spaces in the 84㎡ -apartments (units: mm). a Statistic dimensions Functional dimensions Adjusted dimensions Functional spaces min max min max Min max B1 width 2100 - 2400 3000 2400 3000 depth 1180 - 3500 4700 3500 4700 B2 width - 4900 3000 - 3000 4900* depth - 4740 3500 - 3500 4740* B3 width 3200 5835 3350 4950 3350 5835* depth 2800 5100 3250 3550 3250 5100* K1 width 1900 - 2400 6800 2400 6800 depth 2000 - 2700 2100 2700 2100 K2 width - 6000 3550 5450 3550 6000* depth - 5970 2800 5100 2800 5970* L width 3260 5800 2700 5000 3260* 5800* depth 2900 5850 3300 4250 2900* 5850* B1: single bedroom, B2: twin bedroom, B3: double bedroom, K1: kitchen without dining table, K2: kitchen with dining table, L: living room 506 M. KIM AND C. YOON of the furniture layouts. This is a matter of a decision The margins where the boundaries of space units whether to consider an unfamiliarly small living room vary are shown in the floorplan variations (Figure 4). accommodating a functional layout of the minimal The shape of margins can be categorized into the furniture as a Korean-style living room. The dimensions following two types: the longitudinal band and trans- of a house means more than their functions. Rather versal band. In the peripheral zone inside the southern than the functional dimensions of exceptions, general exterior bearing wall, the longitudinal bands appear dimensions, in spite of being entirely functional, were where the non-bearing walls are moveable. Moreover, chosen to define the space units of a house. The gen- the transversal bands appear where the master room eral idea of the dimensions of space units in a house size can be changeable. The transversal band is can be understood in the cultural contexts. included in 15 floorplans among 22 samples, and the There were more rules to follow to generate floorplan longitudinal bands are drawn in every samples. In case alternatives as follows: 1) access route, 2) number of a dress room is partitioned with bearing walls restrict- rooms, 3) hierarchy among rooms, 4) location of ing the changeability of the room size, the transversal rooms, and 5) size of windows. The rule on the access band does not appear. route is that all the bedrooms and living rooms should The margins in the sample floorplans have the be able to be accessed directly from an entrance and width of 600 ~ 1200 mm and a tendency to be not be hindered by another bedroom. For example, in deployed parallel according to the southern lighting Figure 3, any room allocated in the sector 6 can be zone, which is contrast to the configuration of a margin accessed through a room of the sector 4. Thus, it cannot in Twin supports in Figure 1. Compared to the three but be an affiliated room to the sector 4. If the sector 4 is supports of Habraken margins of Korean apartments occupied by a living room and the sector 6 is large are similar to the longitudinal supports, because the enough to accommodate a bedroom, then a room in supports of Korean apartments do not have fixed ele- the sector 6 can be an independent room. The rule on ments in the southern zone to supply wide open sec- the number of rooms is that a non-bedroom space is tors passing through them (see Figure 5). allocated once under the assumption of one household per a unit. Otherwise, the floorplan variations include only one living room and one dining room. 3.4. The pattern of margins The rule on the hierarchy among rooms is that the The 22 floorplans of samples are same in the floor area, largest bedroom is considered as a master room, and and all of them have four rooms in the southern lighting others are planned as a single room or a double room. zone. This kind of floorplans is called as 84 four bay plan The regulations on window size are not applied. in Korea. The depth of floorplans is approximately 12 m Exterior openings for windows determine the adequ- without much deviation. Every bedroom is deployed in ateness for the predetermined functions so that every the southern lighting zone and a dress room, dining dimension of the exterior openings indicates its func- room, and utility room are located at the northern side tion of the corresponding space in the original floor - of a unit. The 22 floorplans of samples are also similar in plan. Nevertheless, it was neglected to generate their configurations of functional spaces. floorplan alternatives in this study. Figure 3. Generation of floorplan alternatives (Edited based on the original source: Hwaseong City 2012). JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 507 Figure 4. The variations of 22 floorplans (Edited based on the original source: Hwaseong City 2012). Figure 5. The pattern of sector margins of Korean apartments (Edited based on the original source: Hwaseong City 2012). As represented in the SAR method, the diagram of explains the similarity of spatial composition grouping these floorplans is a simple rectangle with two south- spaces into a higher level. The floorplans of a similar ern and northern lighting zones. Between them, there supports diagram can be considered to have the same is no β zone or a margin. The supports diagram of SAR spatial composition. According to their spatial 508 M. KIM AND C. YOON characters, the supports diagram represents the simi- be built in 2019 and a design competition was larity of the spatial compositions regardless of the held in September 2018 for the ideas of unit flex - physical forms of architectural plans. ibility. The net area of the unit plan is 59㎡ which is On the other hand, to generate the floorplan alter- smaller than the cases of Dongtan New Town, but natives is an attempt to find the differences of the the spatial structure of them are similar in the two latency of each support in its spatial compositions. In layers of lighting zones and the four southern other words, it confirms the possibility of variations in bedrooms. the spatial compositions of each support. With the functional definition of spatial units which are auton- 4.2. Method omous from the physical forms of architectural ele- ments, the possibility of morphology can be Plan variations are generated with two types of mar- visualized. It is interesting that, even though the sizes gins; one is the current longitudinal sector margins and the locations of margins are different, the overall which is explained in previous section, and the other configuration or the pattern of their deployment is is the proposed variations of margins. And the charac- similar. Drawing margins performed to give an over- ters of the plan variations will be compared at the end view of the possible variations reaffirms the typological of this section. The following deals with the design similarity (Figure 4). process of planning the proposed margins. The 22 unit plans in Dongtan have a similarity in their configuration of margins and their result of plan variations: It is possible to change the number 4.3. Design Process of a floorplan flexibility of bedrooms, but the spatial relation of the living The range of floorplan flexibility can be extended if room, kitchen, and bedrooms hardly change. supports can take in several floorplans designed for different themes. This approach is reasonable from a viewpoint that designers of apartment floorplans 4. A case study of a flexible floorplan design have to pursuit an optimized solution for variations Habraken’s open housing theory is meaningful to under the limited range of freedom. The cases in this let residents participate in the design and leave the study show the flexible floorplans of 59㎡ -Korean space of autonomy and transformation. This case apartments. The design process of the flexible floor - study starts from the assumption that the composi- plan is as follows (see Figure 6). tional difference of spaces for transformation, mar- First, the floorplan variations with the margins for gins would cause a difference in the result of plan formative changes were drawn. These areas should not variations. And the plan variations of a floorplan be too large to handle the construction cost for remo- were expected to accompany 3 ~ 4 kinds of life- delling and simultaneously should be extended to styles which are generally demanded in the housing encompass the available changes. All of the results of market. formative changes should meet the needs of individual residents. The aim of the changes should be clear to become a designer’s design themes. 4.1. Material Four design themes of floorplan variations were A floorplan for the case study was that of an experi- planned. In every plan, the locations of walls were mental building for long-life housing by Land & different, which led to the adjustment of the lines of Housing Institute. The building was scheduled to bearing walls of the previous margins. Based on the Figure 6. The design process of a flexible floorplan. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 509 modified structural framework, the four floorplans 4.4. Redrawing sector margins were set again to examine their fitness. After two Similar to the sector margins in the longitudinal sup- modifications of floorplan and structural framework, ports in Figure 2, the four different plans were the design of a flexible floorplan was completed. explored, and the sector margins were drawn in the Plans in Figure 7 are the plan variations of a unit of area where the formative changes of physical elements 59m -apartment with four different design themes. occurred (see Figure 8). To enhance the readability, the The presumed design themes included a three- parts of Figure 7 were simplified by removing movable bedroom type, home-office type, detachable type, furniture, and then each plan was coloured with red, and a courtyard type. The three-bedroom type repre- green, purple, and blue. The coloured plans were over- sented a typical Korean apartment plan. The home- laid serially using layer blending option to highlight office type plan had a separate entry for an office the non-changeable area. The highlighted area chan- located at the northern side of a unit with kitchen. ged its colour into light blue, light green, and yellow. A bathroom for the office was placed next to Yellow indicated the non-changeable area. a master bedroom so that the wall of the bathroom The area with formative changes of the physical could not be enclosed with bearing walls to make it elements had its original colour; these areas scattered accessible to the office too. The detachable type plan like a parallel pattern of margins in Figures 2 and 5. housed two households with separate entries, bath- However, the margins in Figure 8 could be categorized rooms, and kitchens. The original master bathroom according to the rationale of generation. was slightly moved to the periphery to make public First, there were three longitudinal margins with access easier. The courtyard type plan was planned moveable non-bearing walls. These were identical to with a centre where a dining and living room con- the linear sector margins in Figure 5. Second, there verged, and an adjacent bedroom with a floated woo- were two transversal sector margins. One of them was den floor, maru, was open to the centre. Another in the middle of a plan, reflecting the size of a living floated wooden floor, toenmaru surrounded the court room varying with the changes of the composition of area and provided a space for a sitting or leaning a living room and dining room. The other transversal position instead of sofas. Figure 7. Floorplan variations of the four design themes: the three-bedroom type, home- office type, detachable type, and courtyard type. Figure 8. Redrawing sector margins: physical elements overlapped in four floor plans are highlighted in yellow, which do not need to be flexible elements. On the other hand, elements with its original colour are overshadowed with grey areas, which need to be reserved not to be hindered with bearing walls for flexibility. 510 M. KIM AND C. YOON margin in the southern end of the zone also reflected plan variations were designed. In this regard, the pro- the size of a living room varying with the size of cess of drawing margins was not purely inductive. a balcony. Third, there were rectangular-shaped sec- The area where the formative changes occurred tor margins where the sizes and the locations of bath- could be roughly predetermined because the form of rooms varied. Last, kitchen furniture, entry doors, the fixed elements of supports was generally precondi- utility room doors, and splits of floor levels made tioned by its typical solution. The constraints that deter- other forms of variations. mined the form of the fixed elements are as follows: the minimum section of bearing walls should be deployed within a maximum span. Also, bearing walls were better 4.5. Result to be set as the walls enclosing pipe ducts to maximize usable floor area. Furthermore, non-bearing walls did To illustrate the diversity of floorplans, plan variations not need to be separate channels if supported by bear- are generated with two types of margins: parallel long- ing walls. To deal with the issues of the fixed elements itudinal margins and various rectangular sector mar- and margins and the relevant constraints, optimizing gins. The floorplan had four linear margins in the balance between the fixed elements and margins rather southern zone. Figure 9 presents the schematic plan than minimizing either of them was required. variations with the original linear margins. The non- The margins were reserved at their locations prior to bearing walls located at the left or right edge of the having concrete forms. However, the process of con- four margins yield eleven variations. However, the wall firming the exact shapes of them was necessary for location is freely moveable in the margins so that the overlapping the plan variations. If a single person possible number of variations increases, even though designed all the plan variations, he or she could make the spatial organizations of floorplans are not different different forms deviating from the predetermined base- as much as the possible number of variations. The only lines. In case of a collaborative work involving multiple difference is the number of rooms. designers, such deviations would increase. To predict On the other hand, the plans in Figure 7 are different and control the extension of formative changes, the in the number of households and the layouts of kitchens process of drawing margins is necessary. and dress rooms. The rectangular margins in the north- ern zone change the pathway to bedrooms so that the character of an interior space changes accordingly. 5.2. The pattern of sector margins The current Korean apartments have linear margins in the 5. Discussion longitudinal and transversal directions. The margins in Figure 8 are different from the current one in that 5.1. The necessity of redrawing margins a new type of margin in a rectangular shape appears Like water and oil, margins and fixed elements of sup- and the transversal margin is relocated to the centre of ports cannot be mixed with each other. Based on the a unit and merges with the longitudinal direction to form provisional baselines for these two, floorplans with a pattern. Otherwise, the formative type of margins different design themes were planned. The areas with increased and a hierarchical level also increased in their formative changes were determined first, and then configurations. In the current apartments, the margins Figure 9. Plan variations of a plan with the linear margins. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 511 are dispersed in a zone, while, in the plan in Figure 8, the several types of margins: the longitudinal, transversal, margins are grouped to form their own shapes. The and rectangular types implying concrete formative pattern of the margins surrounding a living room repre- changes and extending the possibilities of floorplan sents the possibility of the bidirectional changes of forms compositions. in the area. The transversal margins in the centre of a unit Disclosure statement transform the character of the pathway passing through a living room. In the plan of the courtyard No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. type, a hall way is shortened and the pathway surrounds a dining table at the centre of a large Funding living room. Entries to adjacent rooms can exist in the middle of a roundabout. In Korea, it is common This work was supported by the National Research that sliding doors and a floated wooden floor face Foundation of Korea [NRF-2017R1A2B4012332, NRF- 2019R1I1A1A010 a semi-public space, which resembles the structure 57232]. of Hanok with anchae, a room for a housewife, and daechung, a wooden floor, facing its courtyard (Yoon 2011). This kind of living room is not Notes on contributors a place to simply pass by but a place where family Marie Kim is a researcher in Department of Archictecture of members gather together. Ewha Womans University. Chaeshin Yoon is a professor in Department of Archictecture 6. Conclusion of Ewha Womans University. The process of mass housing design involves various stakeholders, and forms of apartment buildings need References to be changed according to their lifecycle. However, Banham, R. 1966. The New Brutalism Ethic or Aesthetic?, 83–84. when it comes to new attempts in formative renova- London: Architectural Press. tions of buildings, it is hard to make consensus among Bentley, I., et al. 1990. Responsive Environments; a Manual for diverse stakeholders with different points of view and Designers. Translated by Kim, K. Seoul: Kukje books. interests. To persuade them, designers of mass housing Bosma, K., et al. 2000. Housing for the Millions. Belgium: NAi Publishers. projects usually rely on good precedents rather than Geraedts, R., et al. 2014. “Adaptive Capacity of Buildings; creating a whole new plan, which, consequently, results a Determination Method to Promote Flexible and in conservative plans. Sustainable Construction.” In UIA 2014 Architecture This dilemma is a key issue in mass housing design. Otherwhere, edited by A. Osman, G. Bruyns, and Architectural design is not a process of finding a unique C. Aigbavboa. Durban. solution but a process of making formative variations in Geraedts, R., and M. Prins 2016. “FLEX 3.0; An Instrument to Formulate the Demand for and Assessing the Supply of given conditions and constraints. In mass housing, var- the Adaptive Capacity of Buildings.” CIB World Building iations constantly occur in a lifecycle of a building due Congress 2016, Intelligent Built Environment for Life to numerous residents. Therefore, the most important May 30-June 3, 2016, Tempere, Finland issue of mass housing design is to manage the needs of Habraken, N. J. 1999. Supports. U.K: International Press. formative changes suggested by various stakeholders. Habraken, N. J. 2010. Themes and Variations. Translated by C. Yoon, et al. Seoul: CA Press. The aim of mass housing design should not be finding Hwaseong City, Gyeonggido, Korea. 2012. The Business a single fixed form but finding a way of extending or Approval of the Second Development of Dongtan New managing the possibilities of formative variations. Town. Hwaseong, Kyunggido, Republic of Korea. Planning sector margins providing floorplan variations Kim, M. 2016. “A Study on the Future Direction of Flexibility in can be an excellent compromising solution. Korean Apartments”, PhD diss., Ewha Womans University. Although it is impossible to predict all the possibi- McCarter, R. 2015. Aldo Van Eyck. New Haven, NY: Yale University Press. lities of floorplan variations, drawing sector margins Sohn, S.-K. 2000. A History of Urban Housing. Seoul: can visually help the process of accommodating the Youlhwadang Publisher. needs of design themes suggested by the residents; in Steadman, P. 2003. “How Day-lighting Constrains Access”. this process, planning sector margins restricts the 4th International Space Syntax Symposium, London. extent of variations. However, it assures the minimum Steadman, P., and L. J. Mitchell. 2010. “Architectural Morphospace: Mapping Worlds of Built Forms.” extent for formative changes and can leave a room for Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 37: further changes. 197–220. doi:10.1068/b35102t. Sector margins of this study offered more diverse Wiseman, C. 2007. Louis I. Kahn, beyond Time and Style. New configurations of margins as the comparison of Figures York, NY: W.W.Norton & Company. 7 and 9 demonstrates. Margins in Figure 7 are different Yoon, C. 2011. The Evolution of Hanok. Anyang, KR: from that of the precedent diagram of SAR. They deploy Architecture & Urban Research Institute.
Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: Sep 3, 2021
Keywords: Korean apartment plan; flexibility; supports; thematic design; margin
