7 Space Saving Strategies:
A Case from Baan Mankong and other social housing around the world

1. The Elevated Houses

An elevated house costs the same as a typical 1 story detached housing; but it holds twice the amount of floor space. With slightly longer pillars, you could gain the entire ground floor space with little or no additional cost. Bathrooms could be situated on the ground floor so as to minimize the length of plumbing lines. The open space underneath the housing unit could then be used for a variety of activities.

In Thailand elevated houses are part of the people's traditional way of living. They are called Ruen Thai. People use the open spaces below the unit as public living rooms. Traditionally, these spaces are social spaces for the community. They are places where people could get to know one another, spread important gossips, and prepare meals.

You could still find this type of housing in the rural area. In the city, where land is limited, elevated houses are disappearing quickly - as well as the public space underneath them.

In the newly formed Soviet Union (back in the late 1920s), a committee of architects headed by Moisei Ginzburg (and a sociologist, Mikhail Okhitovich) had come up with prototype housings for the development in suburban settlements. The prototypes proposed by the Russian Constructivists were similar to the traditional elevated Thai house.

The space below was to be used as continuous public space and walkways alongside strips of public park.(Selim O. Khan-Magomedov. 1983. "The Socialist Pattern of Settlement" In: Pioneers of Soviet Architecture)

2. The Hidden Corridor

Ginzburg and his committee of architects had also come up with several prototype dwellings in which the corridor space is 'hidden' between the two floors. In this prototype, the living room is 3.25-3.50 meters high, and a 2.15-2.25 meters high sleeping nook with adjacent bathroom is also provided. Le Corbusier reportedly took the blueprint of this Narkomfin Housing - given to him by Ginzburg in 1930s - with him to France; and had applied some of its space-saving ideas on the Unite d'Habitation. With a fine-grained division of sectional space, 100% of the unit area is usable. The space underneath the stairs are also being used as storages. The entire building is 6 stories high.



Another prototype proposed by Ginzburg and his team is a temporary housing for singles or new couples. In this housing plan, the sleeping space is placed right above the 2.0 meters high corridor. Like most dormitories, there are common bathroom and kitchen facilities that are separated from the dwelling units. This idea could be used for multi-stories building as well as elevated single-story housings.




3. Overlapping Spaces

Overlapping area of different functions can save space.
The kitchen, for example, requires a clear access space for
cooking activities. The entry to the unit usually requires about the same amount of access space as shown in Figure I.

If the two spaces could be combined in one place (Figure II), it could free up more living space for the unit. In this case, the kitchen is the place where the overlapping occurs. In practices, however, architects often overlook this small but significant space saving potential.

This housing layout was used throughout China from 1950s to the early 1960s. The political philosophy during this era was one of "self-reliance and hard work". Public toilets are provided separately outside of the living units.

The wall of the houses were made out of compressed mud-bricks which required less energy input to make; and they could be made locally. The pilot housing project was built for the workers of Daqing oil field. It was done under Premier Zhou Enlai's instruction of "combining cities with the countryside, workers with peasants; creating a favorable conditions for production and convenience in life."



4. Unstacked Stairs
Having unstacked stairs could actually save space. In most conventional designs however, the stairs are stacked one above the other. The rational behind this approach is that building functions (stairs, bathrooms, storages, etc.) should be separated. It was the old Newtonian way of dealing with things. But it rendered the space underneath each flight of stairs useless.

With the unstacked stairs - as shown here - the space underneath the stairs could be used as a bathroom (ground floor) and storage (upper floor). CODI has been using this prototype in many of its housing projects. It is one of the most popular housing prototypes in urban areas.

5. Common Facilities

The building could be significantly shortened by having the common facilities (bathrooms etc) located outside the units. Shortening the building actually saves space and construction cost because as the building approaches the square shape, the length of its parameter will be shorter (given the same required unit area).

This is a prototype from the Wenchong Shipyard, Guangdong Province. In the hot and humid climate of Guangdong, having a corridor between the bathrooms and the units help ventilates the bathrooms. Fresh air is forced through the corridor flushing foul air away from all 4 sides of the bathrooms.


6. Elevated Storages



Another often overlooked detail in space-saving design is the location of storage spaces. Storage area could take up valuable residential space if not being properly placed. In the United States, many people have chosen to live their lives in solitude. They are artists, intellectuals, writers, musicians, film makers, travelers, and even architects.

Most often, they are poor; living in a large city with little space. Having elevated storage could help them recaptured these valuable storage areas.

This image is from a brochure distributed by A.N.D. (Asian Neighborhood Design) to the residents in San Francisco who live in old hotel rooms with 3 meters high ceilings. Old hotels across the US are often rented out to people with no rental security deposit. Sometime they are being charged higher monthly rates than they would in regular rental apartments. But in general, in these SRO (Single Room Occupancy) hotels, the rent is lower than the market rate.


7. Flexible Space

Having a flexible space is indeed a space-saving strategy.

"Flexible room in a traditional Japanese modular home. It is used here to demonstrate the multiple use of one space and its conversion from a dining room to a bedroom. Below, the sliding doors are shown open to create a living-dining space. Note that the furniture used in this space is modular and easily stored"

(MacDonald, Donald. 1996. "Design for Change" In: Democratic Architecture)

In the Eastern tradition, philosophical discourse tends to revolve around the concept of change. Taoism, Zen Buddhism, Karate, and the Art of War by Sun Tzu are examples of this philosophical leaning. The concept of improvisation and flexibility ("being like water") is translated into architecture in the east. In Thailand, traditional houses were made out of brackets and could be taken apart and reassembled when needed.