Guidelines For Room Types In Low-cost Housing With Reference To The Highland Climatic Region
Abstract
It is the aim of this paper to provide guidelines
on space requirements for various room types for
urban low-cost housing. Many of the guidelines
suggested will also be applicable for rural housing,
whether constructed in traditional ways or by industrialized
methods.
The guidelines are meant for the following users:
house designers, building contractors, technical
staff of local councils, teachers at polytechnic
schools (including village polytechnics) and for
application to aided self-help schemes.
background Housing shortage is endemic within the urban lowincome
sector. This leads to:
- rooms being sublet at the rate of one household
per habitable room;
- overcrowding of the individual rooms;
- stress on service facilities like toilets, showers
and kitchens;
- circulation and access problems;
- lack of privacy;
Space requirements as laid down in the Building Code
are based on the assumption that each multi-roomed
dwelling will be occupied by one household only.
Designing strictly in accordance with the Building
Code's requirements does not therefore take the
real problem of overcrowding into considpration.
Sizes and configuration of rooms should be based
on functional requirements and economical limitations
rather than solely on the Building Code's
wording.
cost framework As mentioned above these guidelines are meant for
the design of urban low-cost housing, which according
to the Ministry of Housing and Social Services
definition,means those categories of housing costing
not more than Kshs 24.000/- per unit catering for
the income groups earning not more than Kshs 800/-
per month.
It should be noted that with the present escalation
in building costs Kshs 24.000/- is insufficient to
provide a contractor built unit consisting of a
kitchen, sanitary unit and two habitable rooms.
As a consequence of the increasing demand for housing
within the lowest income groups the bulk of
Government funds for this Development Plan period
is allocated to site and service, self-help schemes
at an average of Kshs 10.600/- per plot unit at
1974 prices.
Publisher
University Of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Research Reports [210]
The following license files are associated with this item: