design: Klaas Vermaas
The Netherlands is faced with a large increase in the amount of refugees. This creates an immediate need for reception and shelter as well as a pressing need to house refugees with a residence permit for the long term.
The uncertain nature of the size and duration of the influx, current long waiting lists for social housing, combined with the contrary development of a shrinking native Dutch population in the future, requires flexibility and temporality to be part of any solution proposed.
Existing solutions for modular (container) housing are mostly expensive to long time buy or rent, require land, and offer little in the way of comfort, build quality and sustainable energy use.
Yet, there is a huge surplus of (outdated) empty office space in the Netherlands which might be put to use as housing (nearly 8.000.000 m2 or 16 % in 2014). These conversions do happen already but are often complicated and therefore relatively expensive as well as insufficiently rewarding for real estate owners who value a building according to its theoretical yield from office floor space.
In order to better compare possibilities, this is a study into the (temporary) conversion of empty office space into housing in as standardised a way as possible. Any adaptations are reversible. A 10 year span of use opens possibilities within current legislation for deviating from zoning plans.
These are the basic principles of this study:
- Strict adherence to the usual 1,8m office grid structure (with 3,6m to 5,4m to a standard office).
- Different size units of similar design for optimal filling of pre-existing structures and to serve different family sizes.
- Prefabrication to the extent that components can easily be entered into the building without damaging the facade. All parts to be dry-assembled.
- Vents and piping for unit services are to be retrofitted onto the building using insulated exterior shafts.
- Different size units of similar design for optimal filling of pre-existing structures and to serve different family sizes.
- Prefabrication to the extent that components can easily be entered into the building without damaging the facade. All parts to be dry-assembled.
- Vents and piping for unit services are to be retrofitted onto the building using insulated exterior shafts.
This minimises piping and duct lengths, perforations of the building’s main structure and removing the need for suspended ceilings or raised floors.
- Only water supply will be distributed from within.
- A heat pump per unit will supply energy for low temperature underfloor heating and hot water supply. The outside units are placed behind a cover onto the exterior shafts.
- The insulation underneath the dry system underfloor heating will provide contact-soundproofing to the underlying unit
- The heat pumps can be serviced from the corridor for maintenance. They can be fed by a collective Pv array on the building’s roof.
- Only water supply will be distributed from within.
- A heat pump per unit will supply energy for low temperature underfloor heating and hot water supply. The outside units are placed behind a cover onto the exterior shafts.
- The insulation underneath the dry system underfloor heating will provide contact-soundproofing to the underlying unit
- The heat pumps can be serviced from the corridor for maintenance. They can be fed by a collective Pv array on the building’s roof.
As a test I have applied these units to the original state of a recently renovated office building (see more here) to get an idea of the housing capacity and exterior impact of the design.
For my design, art & architecture pictures, influences, interests and references see my Flickr site
