A personally owned garden for every cliff dweller

Community and housing complex Habitat 67 situated in Montreal, Canada, may be, is one of the best architectural creations and inventions. This is a strange building elaborated not for beauty but to satisfy functional people needs. Over 50 million people visited and attended it during the first year it was opened. “Fantastic experiment”, “architectural wonder” or “useless expenses”, let’s look. 

This Habitat was built as a pavilion for Expo 67, primarily it was just master’s thesis of Israeli architect Moshe Safdi. The base of this building is cube, it’s everywhere, the whole Habitat consists of these elements symbolizing steadiness, longevity, wisdom and perfection in the end. The building is designed only in one color – grey, no more, and it’s not surprising that Habitat bears a strong resemblance to ancient Babylonian or Assyrian constructions, or even modern Arabic houses built in hot and dry deserts. 

In spite of that Habitat got a great popularity as one of the most functional and purposeful constrictions all over the world. The original project calculated upon 1000 apartments (including schools and shops), but in result it was built 158 flats in this complex, and each of them has from one to four bedrooms and also verandas, balconies and small gardens. 354 cubes are arranged such way that it seems very irregular but protuberances and niches are situated very adroitly and every apartment has its own garden on the roof of its lower neighbour. It’s somewhat difficult to count up a number of the floors but in sum they are 12.

 

Moshe Safdi didn’t like suburban and dreamt about new perspective type of city housing which could provide dwelling for maximally great number of people and with it wide personal spaces for everyone. Every apartment is unique and inimitable and which is more it seems that you live apart, in your personal out-of-town mansion, without neighbours. From windows and small yards residents can admire the landscapes of Saint Lawrence River.

The architect organized mass production of building blocks and slabs; straight here, on the peninsula la Cité du Havre was a factory where details were being constructed into the models and placed according to the project. The whole cost of all these construction is $22 195 920, average price for the flat is near $140 000. This factor and sizable Habitat’s remoteness from the Montreal’s centre made dwelling here very popular and not affordable for people. Architect wanted to offer a “fragment of paradise for everyone”, for families, couples or retried people, but prices here increased very quickly.

Now this building is a bright example of futurism and brutalism and it’s possible that next generation of designers and architects will borrow Safdi’s ideas at new places.

 

by Valentin Ivanov

For more information please visit ID-reel.com 

Or join us on Facebook and LinkedIn

Energy and ecology: to preserve and to multiply

Today North Europe comes nearer to new standards of house-building. There are a lot of experimental projects which test “green” technologies widely.

The “green” technologies market in Denmark and Sweden increases and accelerates a pace. These countries try to outrun German and Great Britain in the sphere of eco-building.

Today we will get to know with the Danish settlement Stenlose-South – one of the most energy-efficient European settlement.

In 2004 Danish municipality Egedal bought a dale near of Copenhagen. This area was sold retail to the developers for low-rise building. The architecture of houses can be absolutely various, but it was only one experimental condition – all houses must be up to the ecological requirements.

And now there are 750 cottages and townhouses on the area of 76 hectares. Stenlose is ecologically appropriate and economically sound. Firstly it is forbidden to use here faulty technologies and unhealthy materials (such as PVC, phenol). Secondly it is energy efficient place: all houses consume energy here on 35% less than it is stipulated by the Danish building code.

From the outside all cottages seems simple and have just all necessary. There are no fences. But streets public spaces are too wide. Probably in Denmark it is not done to boast of your dwellings. Most of them have only one floor, because it will be too hard to live in two-storeyed house in old age. Windows don’t have curtains. It is considered that in the past neighbors could see what does sailor’s wife do when her husband went to the sea. Such are traditions.

Such houses are interesting first of all by their engineering inside. Strong heat insulation system and energy-efficient windows keep warmth. Recuperators gather heat from air leaving the house. Especial thermocompressors get 3–4 kW of heat from 1 kW of electricity and hot water comes out of it. One more technology is the rainwater gathering system. This water is used for domesticity completely.

For example, some houses have solar batteries. Other cottages are like thermoses: they have very strong heat insulation systems and high-powered recuperators. As result they needn’t individual heating.

There are also social townhouses for people with a small wealth. But Russians will be shocked by prices here: 1700 euros for square meter.

Beginners who risked to buy the energy-efficient house here now only hope not to miscalculate. The building of such cottage is more expensive than the building of the usual one in 7–10%. But costs must be repaid in 15–20 years. And if to take into account the growth of prices for energy resources, Stenlose has great perspectives.

Sure that Stenlose is an experiment. And it also has some disadvantages. Most of them are connected with building mistakes. Take for example a local kindergarten. There was a big glassy atrium right above the warm floors. All warmth just left rooms though the ceiling. Later it was covered by big piece of cloth. Here is other example: a lot of houses have wide windows and don’t have lobbies to defend rooms of wind and cold.

Research of the optimal decisions continues now. Generally an experimentation spirit hovers in Denmark. There are a lot of trial projects with houses-thermoses or eco-settlements where people use only natural material and live just by farming. Some projects test renewable energy.

by Valentin Ivanov

For more information please visit ID-reel.com
Or Join us on Facebook  and Linkedin