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Enhancing Quality of Life in Residential High-Rises by Sustainable Design Responses

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Enhancing Quality of Life in Residential High-Rises by Sustainable Design Responses Enhancing quality of life in residential high-rises by sustainable design responses Elena Stoyanova Kalcheva P1414759X A Thesis Submitted to De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. April 2018 Personal motivation My interest in Architecture dates from my childhood. I have always been concerned about how people live and interested in the ways architecture influences their lives. So this research is to a great extent the answer to long-term aspirations and I found it gives me the opportunity to investigate in depth the role of the architecture in the everyday life of the people. Some urban design issues also were raised, and it was great to be able to exercise my abilities and apply my knowledge as an Urban Designer, so I gladly embraced the chance to conduct this research. 2 Abstract After the end of World War II, in England was observed a proliferation of high-rises, replacing the destroyed buildings by the bombing and the existing slums. However, their popularity variated with time, at first being seen as a great improvement of the living condition, but later the authorities faced many complain that these buildings were unfit for normal living and especially for families and children. Nowadays England has to cope with a great heritage of towers from the 60s’ and the 70s’, as well as an increase in the construction of new high-rise buildings especially in the capital London. This research recognises the need to improve the design of the existing and future high-rises so they are in the same time sustainable and provide a better quality of life for the occupiers. Therefor an overall aim of the study was formulated: to investigate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the impact of high-rise buildings on quality of life through four objectives. The first one is to evaluate the connection between sustainability and quality of life indicators in high-rise buildings. The second one it to analyse liveability of high- rise buildings for better quality of life. The third one is to analyse energy-efficient solutions and their impact on enhancing quality of life. The final objective is to produce a conceptual framework for designing sustainable high-rise residential buildings enhancing quality of life. The methodology adopts an interpretive and realist paradigm and the data for this research was gathered from primary and secondary sources: interviews, observations and archival data. After searching SkyscraperPage database, it was found that two types of high-rise persist around UK and are numerous in London and Manchester: 12-16 storey buildings with brick cladding and 22- 30 storey buildings with concrete cladding, so a limited number of buildings with these characteristics were selected for the case study. Actually, an effort to interview 3 to 5 residents in the same building at low, middle and high floors was made, instead of interviewing single residents from numerous different high-rises, in order to evaluate the significance of the height. The preferred method was interviews, as questionnaires were found to provide superficial data, 3 open to misinterpretation from the researcher. Interviews, on the other hand, provided in-depth information about the social phenomenon: high-rise living, many surprising answers and most importantly, attitudes and preferences that were not influenced by the formulation of the questions but were formulated by the interviewees themselves. Seventeen interviews with residents were conducted in two old high-rises in Manchester and four in London to include the users ‘needs into the research process. Twelve interviews with residents in new high-rises illustrated the existing variations for the design issues. Additionally, twelve architects shared their proven experience designing residential high-rises, offering invaluable expertise for the design of sustainable residential high-rises providing better quality of life. The data generated then were analysed by content analysis and dynamic simulations with DesignBuilder of an approximated model of one of the studied high-rise complemented the interviews, investigating different building envelops and HVAC scenarios. This quantitative method supported the somewhat subjective findings regarding thermal comfort and cost- efficiency from the interviews. The main findings showed that specific sustainable design solutions are adequate for enhancing the quality of life in residential high-rise buildings. Some alerting data from the interviews with the residents reveals difficulties imposed by the design on the social interactions, more common in the old high-rises lacking any amenities. Other important findings inform that both existing and contemporary designs are not orientated towards the needs of the families with children, a major weakness stated by both the architects and the residents. The observations provided support for a view that both modern and old high-rises often fail to enhance and improve the built environment by both appearance and mix of functions, a valuable facet of the high-rises’ social impact. The analysis led to the elaboration of a theoretical framework that can be used by professionals and academics to guide their design process and constitutes the major contribution to knowledge. 4 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement I received through my study from my first supervisor Dr. Ahmad Taki. I am also grateful to my second supervisor Dr. Yuri Hadi for the many positive and helpful comments during my work on this thesis. I also received important help and assistance from all members of staff at De Montfort University including Dr. Mark Lemon, Dr. Louis Gyoh and Mr. Sudhir Rao. My DMU fellow students assisted me with invaluable advice through the whole course of my study. I would also like to thank my family as well for their patience and kind support which made this journey possible. Declaration This thesis is submitted to De Montfort University to fulfil part of the requirements of the degree of the doctor of philosophy in accordance with this institution rules and regulations. Accordingly, I declare that this work is based on original research and have fully acknowledged the work of previous studies. Therefore, and to the best of my knowledge, no materials in this work have been published in any format apart from articles derived from the research data. Publications resulting from this research A number of papers have been presented at conferences and accepted by journals as follows: Perception of Indoor Environmental Quality of the Residents of High-Rise Buildings in Bulgaria; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture Research, 3 (4), pp. 1371-1378 Residential High-Rises and Meaningful Places: Missing Actions in the Isle of Dogs regeneration; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; ICCEA 2016: 18th International Conference on Civil Engineering and Architecture, 19-20 May, 2016, Berlin, Germany 5 Foundations of the Vertical city in England: Architectural Theory and Practice; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; 4th Annual International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE 2016), 25-26 April, Singapore Sustainable high-rises in a Sustainable Development-the Case of Salford Quays; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 216, pp. 960-973 High-Rises and Urban Design: The Reasons for Unsuccessful Place-making with Residential High-Rises in England; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Yuri; ICBAU 2016: 18th International Conference on Building, Architecture and Urbanism, March 14-15, 2016 in Paris, France Focus on Lived spaces and Identity: the Paradigm of the Urban Design with Residential High- Rises in England; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; ARCHDESIGN '16, 3rd International Architectural Design conference on design and nature, June17-18, 2016, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 106-111 Social and Environmental Sustainability for Better Quality of Life in Residential High-Rises; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; Journal of Buildings and Sustainability,1 (1), pp.13-24 Infrastructure of Bulgarian High-Rise Estates: Realities and Hopes; Kalcheva, E.; Taki, A. H.; Hadi, Y.; In: Govil, J.N. (ed) Socio-Economic Empowerment. New Delhi, Studium Press, pp.123-140. 6 Table of Content Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Content ........................................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 13 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... 15 Abbreviations and Acronyms ...................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 18 1.1. Research Background ...................................................................................................... 19 1.2. The statement of the problem
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