A high-rise solution: for everyone a private and a
shared garden
In this new idea for multi-storey residential
buildings - I call it the “High-Rise Honeycomb” concept - every resident can
step out of her main door to her front yard and beyond that, a landscaped
courtyard – or “sky-court” with a garden fence off the edge.
The doors lining the courtyard on the right are the front doors to the apartments. All apartments in this “neighbourhood in the sky” will have such doors, leading into a lofty six storey high sky-court which contains private and shared gardens.
The doors lining the courtyard on the right are the front doors to the apartments. All apartments in this “neighbourhood in the sky” will have such doors, leading into a lofty six storey high sky-court which contains private and shared gardens.
There’ll be at least two questions that I
will address:
- How do the floors above the courtyard level – and there are five of them – get their access to their 6 storey sky-court?
- And will the cost of providing this lavish looking green courtyard in the sky be exorbitant?
High-Rise Honeycomb: How it’s done
Let’s begin with the first question. How is it done? The illustration above explains the problem to be solved. These are two sky-courts on the same floor. To be six storeys high, they have to be flanked by 6 storeys of apartments. There has to be a central lobby with lifts and a fire-fighting staircase. And escape staircases.
Let’s begin with the first question. How is it done? The illustration above explains the problem to be solved. These are two sky-courts on the same floor. To be six storeys high, they have to be flanked by 6 storeys of apartments. There has to be a central lobby with lifts and a fire-fighting staircase. And escape staircases.
How indeed can each
one of the six storeys of apartments get direct access to a sky-court? Let’s look at a
portion of this plan, to a basic module.
The basic module in this layout comprises two
double storey apartments which occupy three floors, one placed on top of the
other such that access to both apartment units are on the courtyard level, with
one unit connected to another floor above the courtyard level and the other
apartment is joined to the floor below the courtyard level.
Stacking two
pairs of these interlocking apartments on top of each other produces a three
storey high sky-court.
However
stacking these apartments on top of each other such that the courtyards flip
from one side to the opposite side produces a six storey high sky-court.
The illustration above shows how each floor in the six storey high sky
court can open out onto its own shared and private gardens. The first floor
above the courtyard level is part of a unit which is on the same level as the
courtyard. The second and fourth floors are both linked to the third floor
where there is another courtyard which is hidden from view. The fifth floor is
linked to the courtyard one floor above it.
This is a look at the
floor plans. Apartments on the courtyard garden level either have stairs going
down to bedrooms on the floor below (in red), or have stairs going up to
bedrooms on the floor above (in yellow).
In equatorial Malaysia, the blocks are best
aligned North, South, East and West, such that all the four sky-courts would
get sunlight. This design thus allows in plenty of light and ventilation but
provides cover from direct rainfall. Each
and every resident in this new type of apartment, can be afforded with a shared
and a private garden and so the features of Honeycomb housing have been
replicated for high-rise.
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Please help me proof-read this book. Just point out the errors in the comments section (look at the bottom left hand side of each post).
I'll post this book to the first reader who spots 5 mistakes...!

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