THE DESIGN AGENDA (an approach to

the sequence of house design issues)

Making connections

•Homes should be connected to facilities and amenities

•Grids facilitate connections. They do not have to be
orthogonal and rigid and can take on many forms and
shapes. The key is that grids provide permeable
movement networks
•Permeable or connected movement networks (streets,
paths and public spaces) provide choices for pedestrian
routes. Maximizing choice encourages people to walk or
cycle
•If public spaces like parks and squares are absorbed into
these networks, pedestrian activity is further encouraged.
And these spaces become more interesting as places to
linger and watch the world go by
•Activity in public routes and spaces makes them safer.
These spaces can then become a focus for local residents,
adding to the vitality of the public realm
Making Connections: Connected routes and spaces
Providing green areas and corridors

•Green areas are important elements in place-

making: they enhance the legibility of a place and
increase the variety of users in a place
•Green areas and corridors can be for biotic
support and public amenity – these can be part of
the public or private realm, and some can be
specifically for biotic support only
•These areas need to be as connected as possible
to each other – they can even form another
network layered over or part of the permeable
network for people
Providing green areas and corridors Cont.

•The key to a pedestrian friendly neighbourhood is the

reduction of vehicle speed and the reclamation of much
more of the street area for pedestrians
•Accommodating parking in the street also keeps eyes on
the cars and activity in the street
•Pedestrian friendly neighbourhoods also rely on the
landscape of the streets. The environmental quality of
streets needs to be delivered through good landscape
design where all elements – paving, lighting, seating,
street furniture and signage, trees and planting – are well
considered and form a legible street character
•Finally, just as with any public space, one of the most
important ways of making a street into a place is by
considering the relationship of the street with the
buildings that frame it
Providing green areas and corridors Cont.

•Designing with landscape concepts from the

outset gives schemes a landscape language to tie
buildings and spaces together as integral
components of the place

Treating the street as a place

•With permeable movement networks and the
focus on choice and pedestrian activity, it is
important to minimize car dominance and make
streets into safe and attractive places to be
•This can be done by accommodating all users in
the realm of the street and treating the street as a
positive space
Laying out the built form

•Permeable movement networks are not effective

and safe unless they are complemented by a
building form that defines the routes and spaces
•Aligning buildings along and around public
spaces and streets gives them a sense of
enclosure, reinforcing their identity and legibility.
•By orientating “active” fronts to streets and
public spaces, and inactive “ backs ” to the
private realm, activity is encouraged in the streets
and public spaces, and security and privacy is
maintained in “back” spaces or courts
•This way of arranging buildings often generates
a perimeter block form, which can take on any
shape
Lay out the built form: Orienting fronts and backs
Lay out the built form: Built form defining the street
Absorbing diversity

•The flexibility of the perimeter block form can absorb

different residential building types from apartment
buildings to terraced houses, as well as other uses
•Perimeter blocks also facilitate the integration of
different housing tenures, without having to create
completely separate buildings, which then often have
problems with the use and management of the
spaces between the buildings. With a terraced and
perimeter block form, buildings can still have
separate accesses from the street, each with their
own entrance
•The flexibility of the terrace form and the perimeter
block also encourages a variety of architectural
treatments and a range of expressions
Absorbing Diversity: Different building types and forms in a
perimeter block
Defining public and private space

•Built form should mediate between public and private

space
•This gives residents the opportunity to choose between
activity and privacy
•The extent to which buildings make the distinction
between public and private space will depend on required
levels of security and penetration into the blocks and/or
buildings
•The boundaries between public and private space are
easy to manage with perimeter blocks, which can have
varying levels of enclosure. Some blocks only require the
suggestion of enclosure, with gaps between the buildings
where access is managed by natural surveillance or gates.
In other blocks that require more security and/or privacy,
the building form can be a solid and continuous barrier
Defining public and private space: courtyards inside the
perimeter block
Creating a relationship between buildings and spaces

•Buildings can affect the quality of public spaces in two

ways: the way the uses interface with the space; and
how volume and mass frames or encloses the space.
These are all important considerations for the legibility
of streets and spaces
•When buildings and spaces are considered together
these make a positive contribution to the quality of the
public realm
•The successful relationship relies on the firm
distinction between ‘fronts’ and ‘backs’ of buildings.
The front of the building should ideally include its
primary entrance/s and where this is not the case, the
front should most certainly accommodate the primary
aspect of the building with as many windows and
activity-generating functions as possible
Creating a relationship between buildings
and spaces Cont.

•Building fronts should always face the public

realm, whether it is a street, public walkway,
park or square
•It is not only the activity generated by the
building but also its form that affects the
quality of public spaces. Building heights
should be proportional to the spaces they
align like, wider streets need higher buildings
to define them but has to be balanced against
the negative effects of overshadowing
Arranging the building mass

•Building massing is often a factor of required

densities for housing projects. High density
need not be negative, and if the building mass
is sensitively and appropriately arranged, the
places created can be very positive
•Building mass should be arranged to ensure
that streets and public spaces are well defined,
legible and that important amenity spaces are
not overshadowed
Arranging the building mass Cont.

•The terrace form of development, as opposed to

the tower block model, performs a much more
positive role in street definition. It can often yield
similar densities to towers but with the benefit of
private garden provision and more secure
amenity space for residents inside the block and
surveillance of the street
•Tower blocks can be very positive in terms of
density and landmark status and provide good
views for the residents but with the need of good
places at the ground level just like any other
building. Developments with tower blocks have a
bigger responsibility to provide quality communal
outdoor space
 Tower design should
address what happens on
the ground
Terrace forms define the
street well
Optimizing solar potential and good aspect

•Sensitive orientation of buildings are more energy

efficient through passive solar gain, daylight, photovoltaic
modules and solar panels
•Overshadowing of public and private amenity spaces
should be avoided as this will discourage activity within
the structure. The scale and massing has a large part to
play especially when it comes to positioning taller
buildings. Allowing light penetration into blocks through
gaps between buildings or variations in building height
can also improve the quality of amenity space
•Balanced against the need to avoid overshadowing of
spaces around and between buildings is the need to
provide as many units as possible with good aspect,
whether for views or good orientation for sunlight
•Where possible, buildings should have a choice of aspect,
either front and back or on two sides for corner buildings
Optimizing solar potential and good aspect Cont.

•Single aspect dwellings should always face either a good view,

good sun orientation or ideally, both
•Single aspect dwellings are often more suitable as wide
frontages with shallow floor plans, while dual aspect dwellings
are usually suitable with narrow frontages and deep plans
•Single aspect dwellings rely on good solar orientation on
frontage while dual aspect dwellings are more flexible as it
provides choice of aspect. Ideally, dual aspect units should lie
close to an east-west access to benefit from morning and
afternoon sun
•Privacy between units should be addressed by considering
aspect across streets and courtyards and can be managed by
planning the arrangement of habitable rooms within the
dwellings appropriately, varying the building line to create
oblique views and providing screening and landscaping that
does not compromise surveillance
Allowing light into the block
Dwelling plan froms depend on aspect
Managing aspect to control privacy
Managing and integrating parking

•Ideally, with parking in the streets, pedestrian safety

should not be compromised relying on good layout and
street landscaping and still keeping good activity in the
street
•Primary entrances to buildings should still be off the
street with secondary access from private parking areas
provided if necessary
•Where parking is provided in courts or squares inside the
block, it should be designed as a legible element of the
overall landscape strategy, preferable as a shared surface
space seamlessly connected to building entrances and
other public amenities. Smaller pockets of parking(no
more than 10-15) are more easily absorbed into an
attractive outdoor space than large, dominating areas are
well overlooked and that clear and safe pedestrian routes
between parking areas and the entrances to homes are
Managing and integrating parking Cont.

•Decking over parking between buildings inside a block

can be a very positive move – parking requirements are
met, the cars do not dominate, and an amenity space for
the residents can be created on the deck. It is important to
maintain activity on the ground floor of the building
especially when it faces the public realm
•Basement parking is expensive but clears the space
between buildings for residents’ amenity. Again good
lighting, security and access are important. Basement
parking often necessitates the ground floor of the
buildings to be raised so that the basement can be
ventilated. This can be beneficial for the privacy of ground
floor dwellings but can also create bland facades if raised
so high. Disabled access also needs to be considered if
the ground floor dwellings are not level with the street
Managing and integrating parking Cont.

•Garages that are designed as integral part of houses

can be very popular, but have to be carefully
designed so that they do not dominate the facades of
the houses. This is a detailed design consideration
and can be achieved in a number of ways, for
example, by lowering the level of the garage and/or
giving as small an entrance as possible
Providing frequent and convenient access

•Entrances to buildings should be from the street (public

realm) and as frequent as possible with buildings narrow
and closer together in a terrace form
•With apartment buildings, regular points of access to
buildings mean that fewer units share lobbies, giving an
opportunity for increased ‘ownership’ of common areas
and more privacy for residents
•Allowing access to run through from the street to the
private space or courtyard at the rear of the building
allows access from the units above into the shared space
and amenities, and articulates the choices between activity
and privacy
•Addressing the needs of all when considering access,
especially the disabled and elderly, allows the flexible use
of buildings despite occupier profiles changing with time
Mixing uses/recycling/building in flexibility

•Achieving a mix of uses is a key dimension of

sustainable high density urban housing, providing
facilities and amenities for residents and a varied and
active public neighbourhood
•Where possible residential schemes should either
incorporate other uses, or be designed to
accommodate them in the future. This is energy
efficient in terms of reducing the need to pull down
and rebuild buildings as uses change over time
•Recycling and adapting existing buildings for
housing is preferable to new build where feasible.
Large industrial space to be adapted to housing often
offer opportunities for exciting mixes of dwellings
and uses
Mixing uses/recycling/building in flexibility Cont.

•Where a mix of uses is not feasible at the time of

development, future activity uses should be
encouraged with the design of flexible spaces on
at the least the ground floor level of residential
buildings. This entails ensuring that access from
the street is as direct as possible, and that the
potential use will not interfere with residential
uses adjacent or above
•Integrated garages can be very useful for
building in flexibility as these can be converted
into workspaces that are directly accessible from
the streets
Mixing uses/recycling/building in flexibility Cont.

•Houses and apartments should be designed for

future adaptability, offering occupiers the
opportunity to modify and personalize homes as
the family structure changes or when workspace
or activities are to be accommodated
•Homes can be designed to be extendable from
the sides or backs or up into the roof. Internal
layouts can be changed if structures have large
spans and internal walls are not load bearing.
Adaptability is a detailed design consideration
and an opportunity for innovation
Providing spaces around the home

•Spaces around the home form important interfaces

between inside and outside, private and public space.
These interface spaces can also be used as private
screens
•In many cases these private and semi-private spaces
become an extension of the home, giving residents further
choice on how and where to spend time
•A range of private and semi-private outdoor spaces give
residents a choice of spaces, which may be more sunny,
more private and provide better views
•Back gardens or patios should be designed to maintain
privacy but encourage surveillance. Where private
gardens abut semi-private communal spaces like play
areas, raising the private garden level helps to define the
garden as well as to facilitate overlooking of the
Meeting the ground – thresholds and interface

•Interfaces between the buildings and spaces

control the privacy of homes and safety in the
spaces beside. Where the buildings are high
enough (and perform the role of defining the
street well) buildings can be set back from the
street to create a zone of semi-private spaces that
protects the privacy of the home on the ground
floor of the building. This front interface space
can be very effective for accommodating refuse
and recycling bins. These areas when well
defined and are attractive can serve to protect the
privacy of the home
Meeting the ground – thresholds and interface Cont.

•Where buildings are only two or three storeys

high (usually houses) and the streets are not of
the narrow mews type, other mechanisms must
be used to protect privacy, while enhancing
surveillance of the street. Level changes are very
effective for this purpose but then create a new
problem of access for the disabled and the elderly.
This problem can be overcome with solutions
Meeting the ground – thresholds and interface Cont.

•Whatever design solutions are used at these

sensitive thresholds, a balance must be achieved
between creating privacy for residents and safety
for passersby on the street. Safety relies on
natural surveillance from buildings and activity
emanating from them. Different cultures, each
with their own priorities for privacy, will deal with
these interfaces in their own and different ways