Housing and Space Management

Housing And Space Management 3(2+1)

Lesson 07 :Building Plan For Family Living

Space Planning Concepts

The two basic concepts of organizing dwelling space are closed plan concept and open plan concept.

• A series of tightly arranged rooms with minimum intercommunication is the closed plan concept, and results in a compact effect
• In open plan concept, a large room encompass space for most of the family activities such as living, dining, entertainment, cooking and at times sleep without any interruption and can produces a spacious feeling.

Open planning:
This concept of planning space is more suitable for places along the sea coast, at Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Vishakapatnam etc. for example, where it is the moisture and not heat which mainly affects comfort. The object here is to expose as much area of the house to the outside air and admit as much breeze into the rooms as possible. Hence an open and extended plan resembling letters L, E, U or H with large windows on outside walls is very suitable. Further there should be as much open space in front and around buildings as possible. Areas of rooms in such conditions should also be larger; it does not matter if the height is curtailed. By shaping the space with partial walls, different floor levels, and furniture arrangements, incompatible functions can be segregated

Advantages of open plan:

1. Reduced construction costs
2. Reduced time for cleaning & upkeep
3. Perception of larger space
4. Increased utility value to the space available
5. Flexibility to reorganize space
6. More effective transmission of air.

Disadvantages of open plan

1. Noisy activities may interfere with those requiring quiet
2. Retiring soul finds little opportunity for solitude
3. Planning for noise control with surfaces that absorb sound waves should be planned
4. They also call for provision for some segregated areas – multipurpose or family rooms for active pursuits, seclusion rooms for quiet study, meditation, and relaxation.

Closed planning:
This is the conventional concept of allocating space in any residential buildings. It divides available space into separate rooms for specific activities such as drawing, dining, puja etc that ensures desired privacy. At places where temperature, either very cold or very hot is deciding factor, the plan needs to be closed and compact.

• In the plains, at Allahabad the extreme heat in the summer is the governing factor and it makes obligatory to design a house with one or two central lofty apartments, ventilated and lighted by means of clerestory windows below the ceiling. These apartments are grouped including other rooms, and beyond these rooms are built verandahs on the west and south, to shelter the walls of these rooms from then direct sunrays of the afternoon sun. During the hot days the outer is excluded by closing the apertures, so that the inner rooms, particularly the central apartments remain cool.
• On a hill station like Simla, on account of the extreme cold obtaining there, a closed, compact plan – a square or a rectangle approaching a square in shape with an inner central passage to serve the rooms, instead of outside verandahs is a very convenient one.