Kazunobu Minami

A Post–Occupancy Evaluation of Layout Changes Made to KEP Adaptable Housing

Abstract This research examines how the apartment units of a housing estate, most of which were equipped with movable partitions and movable storage units, have been transformed by the residents since they were built more than 20 years ago. The purpose of this research is to verify whether residents have adopted the design concepts of KEP to suit their individual needs and how they have adapted their living environments to changes in their lifestyles over time. The residents′ family structures have changed since the first ones started to live in the apartment house in 1982. Therefore, they have needed to remodel rooms, change the position of partitions, the specifications of equipment, and so on. We studied the movable partitioning system that had been used by residents as it was planned originally. We visited all the 184 residences individually, and when we were allowed to enter a unit, we observed the actual changes that had been made to it and asked the residents why and how they changed their units. This paper reports on the results of our studies, especially on the changes in room arrangement (layout changes).

STUDY ON LONG-TERM OCCUPANCY RECORDS OF PUBLIC RENTAL HOUSING

The objective of this research is to acquire a basic knowledge of architectural planning, in order to realize the changeability and long-term occupancy sought after for dwellings, from the survey and analysis of actual occupancy records and conditions of apartment buildings over a long period of time. The subjects of the survey were households that were long-term occupants of public rental housing estates that were constructed in the 1960s. Analyses were made of how the occupants lived in the dwellings and records of infill improvements, along with changes in the family structures. In some apartment buildings that were surveyed, an additional living area had been built onto the balcony side, and as a result of having more living space, young couples with children had moved in later. On the other hand, apartment buildings that had not had any additions could be occupied by only elderly households. With households that wanted to continue living in the same place for a long term, despite rental housing restrictions, cases could be seen where infill improvements had been actively carried out on the inside in order to improve the habitability.

Repair and Improvement Work of Post Office Buildings and Reduction of Overall Investment Costs by Lengthening the Life of the Buildings

A complete enumerative survey was made of the repair and improvement work costs of the 1,255 general sorting post offices throughout Japan in 2000. This paper analyses the 2000 expenditure figures from both the national enumerative survey and the survey of the five post offices being monitored for twenty years after their completion. The results show that the average annual repair work cost is 665 yen per square meter, and the average annual improvement work cost is 4,231 yen per square meter, which total an average annual cost of 4,896 yen per square meter. The repair and improvement work cost reaches an accumulated total of around 50,000 yen per square meter 20 years after a building has been completed, and an accumulated total of around 250,000 yen per square meter 50 years after completion. After analyzing the relationship between the rebuilding cycle, and rebuilding, repair and improvement costs, by changing the present rebuilding at age 40 to building additions at age 40 and rebuilding at age 60, it became apparent that we could expect a significant reduction in facilities investment costs.