ERiA: How should we design the 1.5 million homes?

Emerging Research in Architecture is a theory and practice-based module for first-year MArch students at the University of Hertfordshire. The aim of this module is to equip students with a range of research tools, techniques and practices to incorporate a data-driven approach in their decision-making process. At the end of this course, students will improve their skills in evaluating and applying appropriate research methods, methodologies and techniques to design process; showing how it has informed and supported their projects; and in synthesising and presenting written and visual information and communicate ideas, arguments and conclusions to integrate evidence-based approaches in design.

In 2024-25 academic year, students will be working towards a design and research manual and reflect on the question: 'How should we design the 1.5 million homes pledged?'

RESEARCH BASICS

Week 1: The Research Process

Week 2: Research Design and Methods

Readings on Research Methods

Groat LN & Wang D (2013) ‘Qualitative Research’ and ‘Correlational Research’ in Architectural Research Methods. New Jersey: Wiley. pp. 215-311.

Janning, MY (2023) A Guide to Socially-Informed Research for Architects and Designers. New York, NY: Routledge. 1-29.

Supplementary Resources on Data Visualisation

Whyte WH (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces.

Tufte E (1983) Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire: Graphics Press.

Spatial Information Design Lab (2006) ‘Million Dollar Blocks’. See also: Kurgan L (2013) ‘Million Dollar Blocks’ in Close up at a Distance, New York: Zone Books. 187-207.

Drucker J (2011) ‘Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display’. Digital Humanities Quarterly 5(1).

Carto (nd) ‘80 Data Visualization Examples Using Location Data and Maps’.

DWELLING, USER, HOME

Week 3: The Socio-Cultural Significance of Housing Design

Course Readings

Lawrence RJ (1982) ‘Domestic Space and Society: A Cross-Cultural Study’. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 24(1), 104–130.

Evans R (1997) ‘Figures, Doors and Passages’ in Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays. Massachusetts, MA: MIT Press.

Jacoby S (2016) Drawing Architecture and the Urban. Chichester: Wiley.

Further Readings

Rapoport A (1969) House Form and Culture. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lawrence RJ (1989) ‘Translating Anthropological Concepts into Architectural Practice’ in Low SM & Chambers E (eds) Housing, Culture and Design: A Comparative Perspective. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Lawrence DL & Low SM (1990) ‘The Built Environment and Spatial Form’. Annual Review of Anthropology, 19 (1), 453–505.

Week 5: Home and Homemaking

Course Readings

Blunt A and Dowling R (2006) 'Residence' in Home. Second Edition 2022. London: Routledge: 92-140.

Gorman‐Murray A. (2007) 'Reconfiguring Domestic Values: Meanings of Home for Gay Men and Lesbians. Housing, Theory and Society, 24(3), 229–246.

Bate B. (2020) 'Making a home in the private rental sector. International Journal of Housing Policy 21(3), 372–400.

Kerr SM, Klocker N, & Gibson C (2020) 'From backyards to balconies: cultural norms and parents’ experiences of home in higher-density housing. Housing Studies, 36(3), 421–443.

Further Readings

Mallett S (2003) 'Understanding Home: A Critical Review of the Literature'. The Sociological Review 52(1): 62–89.

Chambers D (2020) Cultural Ideals of Home: The Social Dynamics of Domestic Space. London: Routledge.

Week 7: Functionality of Dwellings

Design Manuals

Neufert E et al. (1936) Architects’ Data. Fourth Edition 2012. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ministry of Health (1942) Design of Dwellings. London: HM Stationery Office.

Ministry of Housing and Local Governments (1963) Space in the Home. London: HM Stationery Office.

Mayor of London (2010) London Housing Design Guide. London: London Development Agency.

Levitt D & McCafferty J (2018) The Housing Design Handbook: A Guide to Good Practice. Routledge.

Secondary Sources

Lawrence RJ (1985) Design by legislation The ideological nature of house planning in the United Kingdom, 1918–1961. Habitat International 9(2): 123–140.

Research on Dwelling Size and Layouts

West BN and Emmitt S (2004) Functional design? An analysis of new speculative house plans in the UK. Design Studies 25(3): 275–299.

Dowling R (2008) Accommodating Open Plan: Children, Clutter, and Containment in Suburban Houses in Sydney, Australia. Environment and Planning A 40(3): 536–549.

Dowling R & Power E (2012) Sizing Home, Doing Family in Sydney, Australia. Housing Studies 27(5): 605–619.

Finlay S et al. (2012) The way we live now: What people need and expect from their homes. Ipsos MORI and RIBA. See also the supplementary videos.

Stevenson O & Prout O (2013) Space for Play?, Home Cultures, 10(2): 135-157.

Kuoppa J, Nieminen N, Ruoppila S, et al. (2020) Elements of desirability: exploring meaningful dwelling features from resident’s perspective. Housing Studies 35(10): 1661–1683.

Tervo A & Hirvonen J (2020) ‘Solo dwellers and domestic spatial needs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland’, Housing Studies 35(7): 1194-1213.

Anahita Sal Moslehian, Elyse Warner & Fiona Andrews. (2023) The impacts of kitchen and dining spatial design on cooking and eating experience in residential buildings: a scoping review. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 38(3): 1983-2003.

BUILDING AND ESTATE

Week 13: Density and the Built Form

Course Readings

Martin L (1972) ‘The Grid as Generator’ in Martin L & March L (eds) Urban Space and Structures. London: Cambridge University Press, 6-27.

Martin L, March L, et al. (1972) ‘Speculations’ in Martin L & March L (eds) Urban Space and Structures. London: Cambridge University Press, 28-54.

Rowe PG & Kan HY (2014) Urban Intensities: Contemporary Housing Types and Territories, Basel: Birkhäuser.

Swenarton M (2017) Cook’s Camden: The Making of Modern Housing. London: Lund Humphries.

Week 15: Meanings of and Issues with Built Form

Course Readings

Newman O (1972) Defensible Space: Crime Prevention Through Urban Design. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Kearns A, Whitley E, Mason P & Bond L (2011) '"Living the High Life"? Residential, Social and Psychosocial Outcomes for High-Rise Occupants in a Deprived Context', Housing Studies 27(1), 97-126.

Graham, S. (2015) 'Luxified skies: How vertical urban housing became an elite preserve', City 19(5), 618-645.

Baxter R (2017) 'The High-Rise Home: Verticality as Practice in London', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 41, 334-352.

Blanc F, Scanlon K & White T (2020) Living in a denser London: How residents see their homes. LSE Cities.

Kerr SM, Klocker N, & Gibson C (2020) ‘From backyards to balconies: cultural norms and parents’ experiences of home in higher-density housing', Housing Studies 36(3), 421–443.

Easthope H, Crommelin L, Kerr S, Troy L, van den Nouwelant R & Davison G (2022) ‘Planning for Lower-Income Households in Privately Developed High-Density Neighbourhoods in Sydney, Australia', Urban Planning 7(4), 213-228.

Lees L & Warwick E (2022) Defensible Space on the Move: Mobilisation in English Housing Policy and Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Nethercote M (2022) Inside High-Rise Housing: Securing Home in Vertical Cities. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 151-181.

ENERGY AND AESTHETICS

Week 20: Embodied and Operational Carbon

Course Readings

Bere J (2013) An Introduction to Passive House. London: RIBA Publishing.

Sturgis S (2017) Targeting Zero Embodied and Whole Life Carbon explained. London: RIBA Publishing.

Ellsworth-Krebs K, Reid L and Hunter CJ (2018) Integrated framework of home comfort: relaxation, companionship and control. Building Research & Information 47(2): 1–17.