Open House International: Volume 35 Issue 3

Editorial

Nicholas Wilkinson

Nabeel Hamdi's new book The Placemakers' Guide to Building Community (ISBN 978-1-84407-803-5) published by Earthscan is a very useful book which should be on the shelves of every…

Smart Home Systems - Accessibility and Trust

Greger Sandström, Ulf Keijer

This article explores the residents' attitudes to and acceptance of Smart Homes. The results are based on surveys of two residential units fit with advanced smart home systems…

Changes of Quality in Javanese Houses

Noor Cholis Idham, Ibrahim Numan, Munther Mohd

One of the most important issues arising from the 2006 Java earthquake is that many of the Javanese houses were easily collapsed or badly damaged due to the quake. The failure of…

Overall Quality of Urban Life and Neighborhood Satisfaction: A Household Survey in the Walled City of Famagusta

Derya Oktay, Robert W. Marans

This study aims to identify key indicators affecting the residents' perception of overall quality of urban life in the Walled City of Famagusta, the historic core of the city…

A User Requirements Study of Digital 3D Models for Urban Renewal

Sisi Zlatanova, Laure Itard, Mahmud Shahrear Kibria, Machiel van Dorst

Urban renewal is a multifaceted activity that involves numerous actors, software, and types of data. Design communication tools play an important role in this process. Visual…

The ‘Closed/Open’ Duality in Contemporary Urban Form

Melinda Benko

One of the innumerable ways to systemise contemporary European urban projects is to analyse the urban form originates from the master-plan concept. The duality of closed and open…

Sustainable Low-Income Urban Housing in Vietnam: Context and Strategies

Iftekhar Ahmed, Jalel Sager, Le Vu Cuong

This paper presents concepts important for understanding the potential of sustainable low-income housing in Vietnam, with a focus on key environmental, socio-economic, and…

Interaction Between Design Studio and Curriculum Courses: Bilkent University Case

Elif E. Turkkan, Inci Basa, Meltem O. Gurel

A major aim of the design studio is to educate students to be well-equipped designers. To do so, a student should be able to grasp the divergent information of various courses and…

Means End Chain, Person Environment Congruence and Mass Housing Design

Mahmud Bin Mohd Jusan

Meeting human needs is considered as fundamental to sustainable human settlement. However, in micro level developments particularly in respect of a housing unit, for example, an…

Inter-Disciplinarity in Urban Design: Erasing Boundaries between Architects and Planners in Urban Design Studios

Sujata Shetty, Andreas Luescher

Urban design has historically occupied the gap between architecture and planning. Although there have long been calls for the discipline to bridge this gap, urban design has…