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06/12/2010
In December 2010, the Chongqing Real Estate College officially opened two demonstration houses which showcase the use of light gauge steel technology as an innovative construction technique, that despite its ubiquity elsewhere, is currently underused in the Chinese residential sector.
Designed by Cartwright Pickard Architects for developer Constructing Futures, the houses have been developed with a view to address issues of sustainability and ease of construction. Steel allows for faster construction, durability in structural strength and flexibility in designing solutions for China’s ever growing urban population.
One house has been completed to the standard of a show-home, while the other has the structure exposed for the purpose of allowing a greater structural understanding of its skeleton. The lightweight steel frame is structure can be designed to resist local climatic extremes, such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
The demonstration houses use cold-formed light gauge steel to create the structural framework. The main benefit of offsite construction is the reduction in the onsite construction time resulting in a variety of consequent advantages. These include a reduced reliance on skilled labour on site and therefore an improved health and safety record and a reduced number of construction defects due to greater quality control. Component standardisation brings cost reductions in manufacture and design, simultaneously improving predictability and performance of the steel components.
One of CPA’s key objectives is to demonstrate the latest technologies for passive systems such as solar panels and wind chimneys. The houses can incorporate green roofs installed, which improves the buildings’ thermal performance and brings benefit to the environment by increasing bio-diversity.
Created solely as demonstration houses within the campus of the Chongqing Real Estate College, they take the form of two, three-storey town houses positioned as a stepped terrace. The houses are created with an urban context in mind; for instance, the front of the house faces a car park, which potentially could be a public square or courtyard. The stepped form allows heightened privacy to the balconies than a straight run.
The interiors of the two houses vary slightly in layout and therefore offer some flexibility; one has a double height space to the living room whereas the other has the stair set back creating larger rooms on one side of the house, allowing the dining space to be part of the living area.
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