A case study of the extension of floorplan flexibility using sector margins

Abstract

This study aims to propose a design method to promote the flexibility of a floorplan of an apartment building. Areas which permit the change of floorplan are assigned and demarcated in some part of a floorplan to evade the conjunction with physical structures of a building. These assigned areas for change can act as a mediator to extend the range of flexibility of floorplans. The former part of this study speculate the definition of design vocabularies composing the design methods of mass-housing flexibility. The flexibility of an apartment floorplan cannot but be restricted when compared to that of a detached house. Admitting this limitation, we could limit the aim of the flexibility design to accommodate a few design themes which residents would want most among diverse alternatives. The later part of the study examined variations of a Korean apartment plan. With four different design themes, the plan variations were sketched to demonstrate the process of the flexibility design.

A case study on a flexible floor plan design for South Korean apartments using two types of margins

“…They argued that Korean apartments in the 2010s have this sector margin to secure the flexibility of room size (Kim and Yoon, 2014, 2020). The floor plans of Korean apartments are about 30 m wide and 12 m deep, and there are two tiers of linear lighting zones in it.…”

“…The depth of European block-type buildings was around 17 m, so there were three tiers of lighting zones and two tiers of margins between them. However, Kim and Yoon (2020) thought that there is another type of margin, a small fragment of space distributed in one lighting zone. They called it a sector margin.…”