Affordable Honeycomb Housing 3

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AFFORDABLE
HONEYCOMB HOUSING
Mazlin Ghazali
Arkitek M Ghazali
admin@tessellar.com
Mohd. Peter Davis

Institut Teknologi Maju (ITMA), Universiti Putra Malaysia.
mohd_peter@hotmail.com
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 title
and 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.
1
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
Figure 1
high-cost houses but can even be Honeycomb cul-de-sac with gardens
applied to find alternatives to the ex- in the middle.
isting ‘low-cost housing’ solutions.
Figure 2
High-cost ‘horseshoe’ cul-de-sac
in Subang Jaya.
2
Detached single houses may be built Our aim is to recreate the best
around the cul-de-sac, but it is also elements of kampong and small-
possible to construct buildings town life so that children can play
consisting of two or three houses, outside their homes with friends with-
each of which faces a different cul- out fear of crime or traffic, in a com-
de-sac (Figure 3). We can also slice munity where people know and talk
up the buildings into four or six units to each other. We are trying to cre-
so that each pair of houses faces on ate a more suitable environment for
to a different cul-de-sac. As we the ‘kampong boy of the future’ –
partition each building into more something better than our existing
units, we are reducing the size of terrace houses. Honeycomb hous-
each unit, increasing their num- ing can deliver all the benefits of the
ber and the density of the devel- cul-de-sac layout but with the cost
opment, but it is to be noted that we advantages of the densely packed
are not reducing the quality of the terrace housing.
external environment found in the
cul-de-sac.
Figure 3
As each building is partitioned, density increases while the external spaces are maintained,
creating a kampong style environment.
3
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
Figure 4
4). Another aspect is safety from Crime and public safety tops the main concern of citi-
zens in Malaysia.
traffic: the straight roads found in
terrace housing are too hazardous
for small children (Figure 5).
Figure 5
Straight roads and heavy traffic in terrace
townships cause concern for small children.
4
Not only is the inside of houses hot, the transformation of the natural
but the external environment too is environment into a concrete jungle.
getting hotter and hotter. Records Despite attempts at tree planting
show that Kuala Lumpur has grown and landscaping, the typical subur-
o
hotter by 0.6 C per decade, faster ban housing estate is an ecological
than other cities in the world owing desert, where crows and mosqui-
to the ‘heat island’ effect2 (Figures 6 toes seem to be the only wildlife that
and 7). This is undoubtedly due to thrives.
Figure 6
Kuala Lumpur has grown hotter through only two decades.
Figure 7
Many cities are getting hotter,
but Malaysia holds the record!
5
EXISTING LOW COST APPROACH Developers subsidize low-cost hous-

NEEDS REVIEW ing, yet many units go unsold. An
anonymous developer laments ‘the
Straight line terrace houses are not
Government is forcing us to build low-
only aesthetically boring (Figure 8),
they don’t function very well and they cost houses which people don’t want
become social and environmental to buy’. The Government also builds
slums. 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.
6
ALTERNATIVES TO Following a trend from developed

CONVENTIONAL PLANNING countries, local planners have devised
Developers, planners and architects ‘organic’ layouts where winding roads
have come up with several alternatives and occasional cul-de-sacs break the
to overcome the drawbacks of linear boredom of the rectilinear grid, but
planning. In trying to improve on the density is sacrificed. A Guthrie
monotony of housing in rows, they development at Bukit Jelutong (Figure
have devised various strategies: 10) is an example of this trend.
However, the houses there cost
Strata-title development RM 500,000 or more.
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
Figure 10
Organic planning in Jelutong, Shah Alam breaks
the monotony of the terrace layout but at the cost
Figure 9 of density and affordability.
Desa Park Homes, Petaling Jaya achieves high
densities in strata-title but it’s land is not
considered as valuable as land titles.
7
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.
Figure 12
A neo-traditional approach introduces diagonal
streets to link with focal points. (Seaside, Florida.
Laid out by Duany & Plater-Zyberk in 1983)
Most of these efforts to produce a

better environment require additional
r e so u r ce s: mo r e land, mo r e
infrastructures and more money. The
honeycomb concept can help
Figure 11 improve the design of housing without

This cluster layout in Brondby, Denmark produces
necessarily increasing the cost.
interesting outcome but at the expense of land
efficiency. Central to the honeycomb concept is
tessellation.
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.
8
TESSELLATION PLANNING Looking at the example shown (Figure

13), we may think it is a difficult task to
In mathematics, to tessellate means to lay the multiple shapes of tiles. The
cover a plane with a pattern without nine-pointed star, the four-pointed
having any gap or overlap. For centu- star, the spear head, the leaf-like
ries artists and craftsmen have used shape, etc. But in fact the seemingly
tessellation as a tool to create visual complex pattern is built up from a sin-
effects on surfaces. Tiling is the most gle basic square pattern. In tessella-
common form of tessellation, and in its tion planning this creative power is ap-
simplest form the tiles are regular plied to town planning, where the
polygons. The Muslim craftsmen in colours are not merely decorative but
Spain in the 15th century created represent functional space.
beautifully complex visual effects by
tessellating a small basic tile pattern.
Intricate and complex designs can be
built up from simple, basic tile patterns
by this process.
Figure 13
At first glance the final pattern may seem complex but upon closer observation, it is made
up of a single tile which is then tessellated many times over creating a complex pattern.
9
We start with a simple hexagonal ‘tile’ the houses. There is only one en-
designed to comprise houses, the trance road. These factors help create
plots of land they sit on, an access a sense of belonging to a place and to
road and a communal green area. A the group of people that reside in
small number of houses, 16 in this there.
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
Figure 14
This hexagonal tile creates an enclosed community and a sense of be-
longing to a neighbourhood of about 16 families.
10
This tile is tessellated, by translating community consisting of over 300

and rotating the basic pattern, to form homes bounded by a distribution road
a courtyard community in the shape of (Figure 16). From these elements a
a hexagon. This hexagon can be layout for a township on any given
tessellated to form a cul-de-sac shape of land can be produced.
community of 42 homes (Figure 15),
and further tessellated to form a block
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.
11
In the example shown (Figure 17) a that all branch from the main road. All
150 acre site is tiled with the hexago- houses are in cul-de-sacs or clusters
nal blocks, then the tiles are trimmed that are accessed from the main or
at the edges. A road hierarchy is cre- secondary roads, making the plan
ated by introducing a main road that easy to understand and navi-
traverses the whole site, with secon- gate.
dary connecting or looping roads
Figure 17
From these tiling elements, any township on any given shape of land could be tessellated.
12
CREATING COMMUNITIES the number of homes that would

Creating an urban environment support an elementary school, i.e.
conducive to community life has long 6,000 to 9,000 people.
been a central aim of the planning
profession, from the time of Unwin and Honeycomb Housing adopts a
Parker right up to present day New hierarchical concept of neighbour-
Urbanists. They have tried to achieve hood. A family may belong simulta-
this through the quality of the design neously to a ‘courtyard neighbour-
of the public spaces – the streets, hood’ (of say, 16 houses, refer Figure
communal amenities, shopping areas, 14), a ‘cul-de-sac neighbour-
play areas, control of traffic, central hood’ (of say, 42 homes, Figure 15), a
focus and clear boundaries. Another ‘block neighbourhood’ (250
aspect is the size of the community. houses, refer Figure 16), a ‘town
The population of Ebenezer Howard’s community’ of around 1500 houses
‘Garden City’ is capped at 30,000. The (Figure 18). The latter is what corre-
size of Clarence Perry’s concept of the sponds most closely to Perry’s
‘neighbourhood unit’ corresponds to neighbourhood unit.
Figure 18
‘Town Community’ corresponds to number of
houses that would support an elementary school
within the neighbourhood.
13
However, we argue that it is at the been reduced.

level of the ‘courtyard community that In honeycomb housing the network of
the sense of neighbourhood would be roads comprises looping cul-de-sacs
strongest. A cluster of 16 houses with and short connecting roads leading to
a population of 80 persons is a setting distributor roads. This pattern slows
that individuals can easily relate to. down traffic naturally, rendering it safe
The courtyard is only 60m across. for pedestrians and children playing,
Within that distance resident can easily giving the cul-de-sac the air and feeling
discern the facial features and expres- of a “shared street”4 (Figure 20). The
sions of his neighbours who are out- short connecting roads with no access
side their homes. The resident would to houses provide space for visitors’
not know each one of his neighbours, parking.
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 Figure 19
curtailed by traffic-calming design fea- Looping cul-de-sacs and short connecting
roads slows traffic naturally.
tures – changing the road surfaces,
placing chicanes and humps, placing
trees 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
Figure 20
‘Shared street’ concept
14
Defensible space
Communal space for all
The honeycomb layout produces a
hierarchy of private space, semi- The spaces outside the home (Figure
private space and public space, where 22) are conducive to the growing-up
residents are able to exercise influ- process because they are safe for
ence over the environment just out- smaller children, with ample play
side their homes5: visitors know when amenities. Football fields several min-
they are entering a semi-private do- utes away from the home do not serve
main. The environmental design as- the needs of pre-schoolers or young
sists in providing natural surveillance primary school children, who need
of the external spaces; every house closer supervision.
lies in a cul-de-sac, which naturally
produces defensible spaces (Figure The communal garden in front of
21). Furthermore, back-lanes which every home is also accessible to the
from 30% of break-ins in Malaysia less mobile people in society, the
originate are completely eliminated6. 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.
15
APARTMENTS the blocks. This is where we can

The Honeycomb Concept can also be create a communal focus, a small park
applied to the design of apartments. with tall shady trees and children’s
For an alternative to the 5-storey walk- playground equipment (Figure 24 and
up flats, instead of long parallel slabs 25). This courtyard is analogous to the
of block apartments, we have compact courtyard in the Honeycomb cul-de-
point blocks arranged in a hexagonal sac.
cluster (Figure 23) so that a kind of
courtyard is created in the centre of
Figure 23
Honeycomb Apartments.
Figure 24
Communal courtyards in
the centre of a hexagonal
cluster of flats.
Figure 25
This application to design of
honeycomb apartments
provides an alternative to
long parallel slabs of block
apartments.
16
In addition, on every floor, the units But a hexagonal lobby having the
are not strung out along a corridor, but same area can be a communal area.
instead, circle around a lobby area In the design shown (Figure 27 and
(Figure 26). The long narrow corridor 28), there is a small item of play-
is suitable only as a circulation space; ground equipment placed in the cen-
even worse when there are no win- tre; it could equally well be an indoor
dows overlooking them, they become garden or fountain instead. The apart-
‘blind’ corridors. Not subject to casual ments are designed to have windows
surveillance from residents in the facing the lobby so that mothers can
apartments, these spaces attract look at their children playing outside,
vandalism. 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 27
A playground, indoor garden or fountain could be
Figure 26 placed in the hexagonal lobby, turning it into a
The lobby in the honeycomb apartment. communal space.
Figure 28
Windows facing the lobby will avoid
public security problems of ‘blind’
corridors which attracts vandalism.
17
The design of the apartments in a yard, into the spacious kitchen. All the
hexagonal block need not be service areas, kitchen, bathrooms and
problematic. Though it is more difficult drying yard are grouped together for
to handle for those who are so used to easy plumbing; the 3 bedrooms are
the rectilinear grid, it can produce accessed from a semi-private family
efficient yet pleasant results. The area. The dining and living open out
example (Figure 29) shows an into a balcony with wide sliding doors.
apartment of an area of 850 square
feet. The overall shape appears unduly
complicated, however the funnel
There is a main entrance into the shape corresponds well to the natural
dining and living room. There is also a flow of movement in an apartment –
second entrance through the drying the rooms fan out towards the external
Figure 29
Honeycomb apartment of 850 square feet.
18
IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

Contour housing Mitigating the heat island effect
Building long rows of terrace houses The road shoulder in front of terrace
cheaply requires hills to be cut and houses, with its underground cables
streams to be filled. In honeycomb and pipes, is not suitable for trees:
housing, buildings containing several but big shady species can thrive in the
units have compact footprints that small communal gardens of honey-
allow more level changes to be placed comb housing. The clearing of trees
between the blocks (Figure 30). In this to create concrete jungles is the main
respect the buildings are very much cause of the heat-island effect. The
like big detached houses, and it is canopy of big trees, far larger than the
evident from existing townships that area of the honeycomb courtyards
the typical developer flattens large ex- shades the roads and hard landscape
panses of land for his terrace houses, (Figure 31). Evaporation from leaves
but lets the bungalows go up and will further cool the external environ-
down to better suit the original con- ment.
tours.
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.
Figure 30
Honeycomb houses containing several units
now have more compact footprints and allows
for more level changes.
19
Biodiversity new generic house-types. These new

The islands of big trees together with forms give architects more room for
smaller trees and shrubs around the creativity.
homes can become microhabitats for
small animals, birds and insects. Wide frontage detached homes
Suitable species of introduced The honeycomb detached house
butterflies, birds and small mammals comes with wider, more articulated
will gradually adopt this environment frontages, as compared to bungalows
as their natural home and thus im- in rows (Figures 32 and 33).
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 is
a boring chore. Honeycomb housing
Figure 32
represents a new and refreshing The narrow frontage of a conventional
challenge for architects. It leads to detached house.
Figure 33
Honeycomb units with wide frontages.
20
Individual frontages of
Linked units like the duplex and triplex
give the impression of being detached
units when viewed from the entrance
Figure 34
Honeycomb courtyard community
consisting of duplexes and triplexes.
Figure 35
Duplexes appear to
look like detached
houses.
Figure 36
Triplexes also appear
to look like detached
houses.
21
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
consisting 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.
22
USING LAND MORE EFFICIENTLY Figure 40 also compares a honey-

comb neighbourhood comprising 12
In Figure 40, a h o n e yco mb quadruplexes and 4 duplexes against
neighbourhood comprising 5 units a terrace house arrangement of an
(four quadruplexes and one duplex) is equivalent 16 units. It is demonstrated
compared with a terrace house in Table 1 that the honeycomb layout
arrangement of an equivalent 5 units. is more efficient in respect of land-use.
Table 1
Comparison table highlighting
honeycomb’s efficient land-use
from that of conventional terrace
layout.
Figure 40
Comparisons of equivalent units of honeycomb neighbourhoods and terrace houses; its layout
and efficiency.
23
It is more efficient because the total We next compared two theoretical

area of roads has been reduced: in sites on efficient layout of terrace
the 5-unit comparison the area of road houses on an island site and an
reserve is reduced from 41% of the equivalent honeycomb alternative.
total area to only 26%; consequently, Here again, the honeycomb alterna-
because the green area is maintained tive needs less land for roads and al-
at 7%, the saleable house land is lows more residential land (Figures 41
increased from 52% to 67 per cent. In and 42). In this example, the pub-
the 16-unit case, the road area of the lic green area and density (units per
honeycomb layout is 23% compared acre) are kept the same; conse-
to 35% for the terrace layout; the quently, the average lot sizes are 30%
house land is 70%, up from 58 per larger (Table 2).
cent.
Figure 41
Terrace houses on a theoretically efficient site.
Table 2 Figure 42
The honeycomb layout increases saleable land lot Honeycomb block community on a
size by 30%! theoretically efficient site.
24
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.
25
In this example, there are equivalent honeycomb layout can yield

numbers of units. The green areas about 43.3% saleable land. The rea-
and provisions for amenities are about son for this can be seen in the re-
the same. The terrace alternative duction in road reserve – from 41.2%
yields only about 40.7% saleable resi- to 35.2% (Table 3).
dential land. This yield is quite
common for any landed prop-
erty development. However, the
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HONEYCOMB LAYOUT AT

DEMAK LAUT, KUCHING, SARAWAK.
TERRACE HONEYCOMB NOTE

HOUSE HOUSING
NO. OF HOUSES 224 224 Same number of houses
% OF ROADS 41.2% 35.2% 15% Less Road
% HOUSE + COMPOUND 40.7% 43.3% 7% Larger Compounds
% GREEN 7.6% 10.9% 43% More Green
Table 3
The honeycomb layout increases yield of saleable land through reduction in road reserve.
26
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-
Figure 45
put variables are made to relate to A honeycomb block consisting of sextu-
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 of
housing is more land-use efficient and
can provide more units per acre than the
terrace (Figures 45 to 48).
Figure 47
Percentage of land sold related to buildable footprints.
Figure 46
Equivalent amount
of units in terrace
layout
Figure 48
Densities related to buildable footprints.
27
WEALTH-CREATING HOMES Homes that are comfortable, in a safe,

Almost everyone aspires to own a friendly neighbourhood, seen as a
home, and for those that do, it is private and exclusive location, set in a
probably their biggest asset. The three mature and lush landscape will attract
factors that most affect the resale higher prices (Figure 49). Owners of
value of a home are location, location honeycomb homes living in harmony,
and location. maintaining and improving the spaces
outside their homes, creating a sense
It is not so much the bricks and mor- of place and belonging will not only
tar, or even the granite tiles or the enjoy living in a good neighbourhood,
architectural style of the house that but will benefit from the financial ap-
make up the bulk of the value of a preciation of their valuable asset.
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?
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.
28
References
1 New Straits Times (18th September 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 (4th August 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. Proceedings

Silpakorn 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 Meanings
Through History. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson.
Figure 20 “Defensible Space” by Oscar Newman (1972)
29
List of 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-
30
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
31

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Affordable Honeycomb Housing 3

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Mohd. Peter Davis

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

Instead of rows of terrace houses,

Of course houses in cul-de-sacs

isting ‘low-cost housing’ solutions.

Low Cost Housing

Existing housing for the low and

EXISTING LOW COST APPROACH Developers subsidize low-cost hous-

The auction notices in the daily papers

ALTERNATIVES TO Following a trend from developed

Most of these efforts to produce a

Figure 11 improve the design of housing without

TESSELLATION PLANNING Looking at the example shown (Figure

This tile is tessellated, by translating community consisting of over 300

CREATING COMMUNITIES the number of homes that would

However, we argue that it is at the been reduced.

APARTMENTS the blocks. This is where we can

IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

Biodiversity new generic house-types. These new

A NEW GENERATION OF HOME

USING LAND MORE EFFICIENTLY Figure 40 also compares a honey-

It is more efficient because the total We next compared two theoretical

We have done several comparative

In this example, there are equivalent honeycomb layout can yield

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HONEYCOMB LAYOUT AT

TERRACE HONEYCOMB NOTE

NO. OF HOUSES 224 224 Same number of houses

% OF ROADS 41.2% 35.2% 15% Less Road

% HOUSE + COMPOUND 40.7% 43.3% 7% Larger Compounds

% GREEN 7.6% 10.9% 43% More Green

It is possible to build a mathematical

WEALTH-CREATING HOMES Homes that are comfortable, in a safe,

1 New Straits Times (18th September 2004)

3 New Straits Times (4th August 2005)

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

6 Abas, A.B.; Sugianto,I.N., (2004) Break-ins in Malaysian Houses. Proceedings

Figure 2 Sime UEP Berhad (2005)

Figure 4 New Straits Times (18 September 2004)

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-