Housing as a Study 

HOUSING

  • Shelter and Protection

  • Community Dwellings

  • Provision of Residences 

  • Social Artifact


  • Act of providing a shelter/ lodging 

  • Local government community physical stock or dwellings

  • Related to PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, and SERVICING of physical dwelling

  • An evolving process that is affected by the changes in the technology of a society and the changes in values and goals of individuals within the society in the provision of dwellings. 

(*It is dynamic!)

HOUSE

  • A PHYSICAL STRUCTURE that serves as living quarters for families

  • A SHELTER or REFUGE

  • A NATURAL COVERING that encloses and protects

HOME

  • A family’s place of residence 

  • The social unit formed by a family living together

  • An established congenial environment 

  • A familiar ground; being in the harmony with the environment

Ecological Approach in the Study of Housing


  • MAN → ENVIRONMENT 

    • Relationship

    • Interaction

    • Interdependence

      • Individual

      • Families


  • Natural, Human-Built, Social-Behavioral Environment

  • Biophysical, Social-Behavioral Environment

  • Physical and Social Environment


Natural Environment

  1. Cosmic Forces

  • Sun’s heat

  • Energy

  • Climate

  1. Physio-geographic

  • Mountains

  • Rivers

  • Soil, etc.

  1. Biological 

  • Living organisms

  • Flora & fauna

Social Environment 

  • Humans

  • Individuals

  • Communities

  • Settlements

  • Socio-physiological:

    • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs





Human Needs


James Montgomery

  • Protection from man and nature

  • Rootedness-familiarity with the place

  • Self-concept

  • Relating with others

  • Socio-psychological stimulation

  • Transcendental -creative expression

Margaret Mead

  • Physiological Need:

    • Food, water, space, sleep, rest

    • Continuity in human relationships 

    • Familiarity with physical/social environment


Social Environment


Social Institutional Factors


   Laws                     Rules

        Cultural Factors


        

               Values

Beliefs | Traditions | Orientation 


Institutional factors: Laws and Rules

Cultural factors: values, beliefs, traditions, orientations



Human Built Environment 

  • Socio-physical

  • Socio-biological


Constantinos A. Doxiadis

  • “Ekistics” - Science of Human Settlements 

    • Nature

    • Man

    • Society

    • Shells

    • Networks


DOXIADIS

  1. Safety

  2. Happiness


HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF PHILIPPINE HOUSES


Tribal Houses

  1. Caves

  • largest and oldest cave dwelling is found in Tabon located in South West of Palawan

  • basic amenities

  1. Lean-to

2 variations

  1. windshield/ l-sided lean to with or without flooring

  2. Single-pitched roof supported by rafters

  • type of dwelling used by Negritos, Akta, Ati

      3.   Tree house

  • built-in forked branches of 6-18m high trees/atop 4.5-6m high stumps which served as foundations

  • made of bamboo for framing, flooring, walls


Traditional Filipino Hut

  • One-room dwelling structure

  • Usual plan was arranged with the following parts:

    • Bulwagan- area for entertaining guests

    • Silid- private room for sleeping

    • Paglutuan or gilir- kitchen or cooking area

    • Silong- space found underneath the house used as storage space for farming and fishing implements and also where the animals were kept

*(dapogan, bangahan, batalan (banyo) - usually outside; open latrine)

  • this area was often fenced off with bamboo slats

  • The kitchen, found at the rear of the house:

  • Dapogan - table on top of which the river stone, stove or kalan

  • Bangahan- “bangguera or banggerahan” place for drying and storing pots and pans, drinking glass, place and other kitchen utensils

  • Batalan - underoofed area where water jars are placed

Bahay Kubo

  • House on stilts 1.8 to 4.2m high

  • Floor of bamboo slats

  • 4 main posts: bamboo, wood-molave or ipil

  • Posts inserted in deep holes, 9m deep; rocks were also inserted for reinforcement

  •  Walls-sawali, secured by rattan and bamboo studs

  •  Floor sills (gililan) placed on floor joists, provided to support walls


INFLUENCES IN PHILIPPINE HOUSING

Geographical

  • Situated in Southeast of Asian continent

  • Archipelago of 7,100 islands, total of 115,707 sq. miles in the land area

  • Location at the crossroad of the East and West (Enabled Asian neighbours to establish commercial and cultural relations)

  • Passing of Spanish trends in the country in search of oriental spices: the discovery strengthened Spain’s desire to extend her empire to propagate culture and Christian religion

  • Strategic location of the country in Asia and the Pacific was a major reason for America’s colonization of the country. Philippines became bastion of democracy in Asia.


Geological

  • Philippines is a tropical country 55% of land is covered with forests. Thus, the abundance of wood with a variety of 3800 species

  • Rich in minerals like gold, silver, iron, tin, nickel, copper, zinc, lead, aluminium, etc. 

  • Rich in clay used to manufacture of bricks, limestone, marble, adobe, granite, coral stone, asbestos, gravel and sand


Climate

2 types:

  1. Dry seasons- Nov to June

  2. Wet seasons- July to October

 

Influences in PH culture:

 ● Pre-colonial

 ● Spanish-baroque designs








Perspective in Housing

Humans: 

  1. Biological

  • Morphology: form and structure (anatomy of man)

  • Physiology: function and activities of man

 Nature of Man: 

  1. Biophysical characteristics of man:

  • Life span

  • Sensory system: vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell

  • Life sustaining characteristics: reproduction, digestion, assimilation, circulation, excretion, movement

  1. Psychosocial

  • Man is a social animal

  • Man has a sense of place or rootedness or identifies in a particular home and community

  • Man is an organism who tries to defend his spatial possessions or territory

  • Man has his own self-concept

Human Activities and Space

  • Biophysical concerns

  • Thermal comfort level

  • Illumination

  • Protection against diseases

  • Protection against accidents- safety


Meeting man’s needs and activities

    Qualities: Thermal, Tactile, Visual


Dimensions of Space

  • Cultural

  • Socio-economic

  • Location or geographic

  • Socio-physical (morphological)

  • Psycho-social

Different Housing Perspectives


1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL

- use data from many different societies; scientific and humanistic study of human species, of human biology; explores origin of and changes in human

Description of housing: “Housing reflects human evolution and cultural diversity, adapting to meet the biological and societal needs of communities”

Analysis of housing: “Housing is analyzed through the lens of human survival”


2. CULTURAL - understanding society and the individual in it and to properly understand their actions

 According to origin:

  1. Formal - codes or rules according to nationality/race 

  • Ave. area per person (4.5-5.0 sqm)

  • Height of floor to ceiling (8-10 feet)

  1. Informal - based on individual perception, satisfaction, or dissatisfaction about housing conditions. 

According to orientation:

  1. Goal-oriented norm: product of housing research with the objective to determine standards/substandard, adequate or inadequate, expensive or inexpensive based on cultural norms

  2. Means resource

  • Material resource-based on housing affordability

  • Behavioral means norm-socially acceptable behavioral strategies/means of obtaining or meeting housing norms




LEVELS OF NORMS:

  1. Societal: every family should have a dwelling provision that ensures the physical and mental well-being of members

  2. Community: different communities have different housing norms for their own functional motive

  3. Family: a family may prefer or differ in their own norm for home ownership


3. SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

  • There is an increasing recognition that housing comprises much more than physical shelter that it especially encompassess the broader residential setting.

  • Housing comprises complex considerations: including location, environment, and investment

  • House comprises a complex bundle of considerations, including privacy, location, environmental amenities, symbolic characteristics, and investments.

The Functional Analysis Framework

  1. Functional requirements of organisms (eating, defecating, sleeping)

  2. There is an arrangement of structure and processes to meet these requirements under normal conditions.

  3. When these structure processes are inadequately functional, man becomes aware of situation through body temp., blood pressure, threshold for crowding and social relations. 


Sociopetal: gathers people together

Sociofugal: discourages interaction


Design: intended and with a function

Art: expression 


Social limit: Environmental change

Social deficit: Disequilibrium

Social stress: bio/physiological

Adjustments: adaptation


4. ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

“Housing is both private and public concern”


Housing is an investment

  • Capital investment (amount cannot be recovered)

  • Priority need

  • Hedge against inflation (value always increases)

Housing as consumption

  • Need for shelter

  • Infrastructure provisions, roads, bridges, terminals, markets, etc. 

House building as Industry

  • Creation of jobs

  • Development of house bldg. materials

  • Improved technology

  • Social upliftment of people


5. POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

“Ideology of a country determines the kind of housing, program, patterns, trends, and shapes of their cities”


  • Political science is about studying politics and policy. The central concepts of political science (‘power’, ‘democracy’, ‘citizenship’, ‘social justice’ etc.) are relevant to housing, and housing issues are still generally considered to be of political interest.



Capitalistic:

  • tries to achieve concern for the general welfare of people

  • State allocates

  • Who builds the houses? Private companies

  • You buy your own house with your own money

Communist:

  • The state determines the rule of the game and people are supposed to conform

  • Does not recognize private ownership

  • Government has authority over individual decisions.

Socialist: 

  • Housing is a government concern

  • Housing units owned by government

  • People pay for their housing rental on a socialized scale- dependent on income.


6. CLIMATE

Basic Parts

  1. ROOF

  • Roof Reflectivity - light color and smooth textured materials reflect solar radiation as it hits roof surface (Example: Aluminium - reflects 70-85% sun's heat; Brick - reflects 25-50% sun's heat)

  • Insulation Property - heat protective property of materials to trap or contain the heat in its molecules that enable heat to dissipate - THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

  • Selection of Roof Structure - air gaps below or under the roof can cool the heated air coming from the roof

  • Roof Materials

    • Density of Materials

    • Specific heat

    • Thickness of material

  1. WALL

  • Solar Radiation - how it may be reduced

  • Reduce high humidity

  • Control of entry of elements

    • Rain, Insect, Burglar

  • Ground Treatment


Basic Parts of the house and control of climate stress


  1. Roof design & Climate Control

  1. Roof reflectivity

  2. Insulation property

  3. Roof structure

  4. Protection from rain and winds

  5. Roof material (density, specific heat,


7. TECHNOLOGY


Technology in Housing Building

  1. Efficient use of materials

  • Use materials more strategically, reducing waste, and maximizing functionality

  1. New application of traditional materials

  • Engineered bamboo

  • Compressed Earth Block’s (CEB’s)

  1. Use of new or non-conventional materials

  2. New technique (innovations in construction techniques)

  • Modular construction

  • Green building techniques

    • Solar panels

    • Rain water harvesting systems

    • Energy efficient windows

Factors to consider in Housing Technology 

  1. Performance

  2. Ease and maintenance 

  3. Life expectancy

  4. Ease of installation

  5. Cost