Low-rise grouped and collective housing
Low-rise residential development with a repetitive grid
This design arranges repeated dwellings around shared circulation. The available documents show several configurations: a linear block, a composition with a return wing and a variant developed around a courtyard. They should be read as different applications of one collective principle, not as successive views of a building already defined.
In an LSF structure, repetition becomes genuinely useful when the load-bearing walls, the floors, the openings, the risers and the service rooms can be stacked from one level to the next. Collective housing does not therefore consist of juxtaposing independent apartments: a structure, an envelope, circulation and services shared at the scale of the whole building have to be organised.
Key details of this design
- Family
- Low-rise grouped and collective housing
- Published documents
- concept drawings
These details describe the design as presented. Floor areas, capacity and performance are not given: they are defined during the study of your project.
What this design shows
The schematic plan shows compact units repeated on either side of a central circulation. This arrangement may allow certain panel grids, certain cross walls and certain floor components to be reused. It does not mean that all the panels are identical: the facades, the ends, the openings, the vertical circulation and the plant rooms produce particular components.
To keep direct load paths, the load-bearing walls and the floor supports benefit from being aligned vertically. Where a dwelling, an opening or a circulation changes position between two levels, the loads must be transferred towards new supports. These transfers may call for reinforced lintels, built-up beams, specific panels or a localised hybrid solution.
The floors do not only carry the imposed loads. They also contribute to horizontal stability by transmitting wind actions and the other applicable forces towards the braced walls. The stair openings, the risers and the vertical circulation interrupt that continuity and must be included in the diaphragm calculation.
In a configuration around a courtyard, the different wings must remain structurally connected. The re-entrant corners, the changes of direction and the variations in length alter the flow of forces and the distribution of the bracing. A U-shaped form cannot therefore be obtained by freely folding or joining a linear block that has already been studied.
The lower level receives the accumulated loads of the storeys above. The sections, connections and anchors may therefore vary with the height of the building, even where the layout appears identical. Architectural repetition must not conceal that change in the forces.
Circulation, acoustics and fire
The shared circulation, the stairs, any vertical transport equipment and the accesses to the dwellings occupy zones that must remain compatible with the structure. Their number, their position and their dimensions depend on the capacity of the building, on its height, on its use and on the rules applicable to the project.
Between two dwellings, between a dwelling and a shared circulation, or between two levels, performance does not depend on the steel alone. It results from the complete build-up of the walls and the floors: facings, insulation, cavities, isolating layers, ceilings, fixings, doors, seals and the treatment of the penetrations.
The connections between walls and floors must limit flanking sound transmission. The passages for risers, cables and pipes must preserve the continuity of the acoustic and fire protection provisions foreseen. A build-up can only be associated with a stated performance figure where that performance is justified for the complete assembly actually chosen.
Services and plant rooms
Repeating the dwellings makes it possible to stack sanitary fittings, drainage and certain risers. This arrangement reduces horizontal runs and the number of penetrations through the joists, but it must be settled early enough.
The openings required for the services are coordinated with the sections and the floors before manufacture. A drain, a ventilation duct or a large technical passage must not be created afterwards by cutting a load-bearing component.
Shared equipment, main risers, plant units and suspended loads must have identified supports or reinforcement. Their position may also affect the acoustics of the dwellings, accessibility for maintenance and the organisation of the roof.
Envelope and facades
The renderings use pale panels, dark parts and a vertical timber-look facing. These elements describe an architectural expression; they do not constitute a validated wall build-up.
The facade of a collective residence must be defined according to its orientation, its exposure, the openings and the level of protection sought. The facing, any ventilated cavity, the continuous insulation, the water and air management layers, the substrate and the internal linings are coordinated as a whole.
A courtyard or a return wing increases the number of re-entrant corners, facade bases, edges and connections. These zones call for particular attention to run-off, to the continuity of the insulation and to the maintenance of the facings. The internal facades of a courtyard are not necessarily subject to the same winds, the same sunlight or the same run-off as the external facades.
Layout
Schematic plans
These documents are there to make the layout and the envelope shown understandable. They are schematic plans: they constitute neither construction drawings, nor structural drawings, nor a building permit.
Possible adaptations and their technical implications
The length of a linear block can be changed by adding or removing repeated bays. The ends, the vertical circulation, the foundations, the bracing and any structural separation of the building must nevertheless be restudied for the real length.
The layout of the dwellings can change, and several typologies can be combined within a single operation. Moving a separation, joining two units or modifying a sanitary zone does, however, change the stacking of the supports, the risers, the facade openings and the acoustic or fire protection boundaries.
The number of storeys cannot be changed by simple duplication. Any variation changes the accumulated loads, the sections of the profiles, the forces transmitted to the foundations, the anchors, the shared circulation and the requirements applicable to the walls and the floors.
A linear version, an L-shaped version and a version around a courtyard are three distinct structural arrangements. Panels, details or grids can be shared between them, but each must have its own study model, its own manufacturing markings and its own coordination of the interfaces.
In a development comprising several buildings, industrialisation may apply to a controlled number of dwelling types, bays, facades and service rooms. Repetition becomes less effective where each dwelling receives different openings, spans or services.
A design becomes a project only after study
Site and geotechnics, planning, orientation, climate, structure, foundations, loads, wind, seismic action, envelope, performance, services, regulations and contractual scope are defined for the real case. None of these points is guaranteed by the original documents.
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