Flexible Architectural Interventions for Housing Issues in Bahrain

Fatema  Seddiq; Fay  Al Khalifa

doi:10.38027/jsalutogenic_vol2no1_3

Authors

Fatema Seddiq University of Bahrain, Department of Architecture and Interior Design, Isa Town, Bahrain Author https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6764-4050
Fay Al Khalifa University of Bahrain, Department of Architecture and Interior Design, Isa Town, Bahrain Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6055-9840

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38027/jsalutogenic_vol2no1_3

Keywords:

Social housing , Overpopulation , Residents Satisfaction , Flexibility , Architecture , Bahrain

Abstract

Houses are important to every living creature they are considered the center of our universe and our haven. Recently having a home that reflects the identity and fulfills the desires of the occupants became a challenge due to the lack of space due to overpopulation in the world, especially in areas with small surface area compared to population size like the island of Bahrain. The unaffordability of housing and lack of space pushed most governments to start producing social houses with design limitations and bulk production. This paper aims to identify the problems related to social housing in Bahrain and seeks the possibility of using flexible architectural interventions to solve these issues. Interviews are conducted with Bahraini families living in social housing projects to identify their issues and their thoughts about flexible solutions. The results show that almost all social housing occupants are not satisfied with their houses' spatial design and have made costly modifications. They also lack the knowledge of flexible interventions and refuse them as a solution while encouraging the idea of vertical housing. This study introduces the term flexibility in social housing and emphasizes the need to improve occupants’ satisfaction in Bahraini society by using efficient architectural interventions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AlAali, M. (2006). A House in Bahrain. Doctoral dissertation, (Virginia Tech.).

Alzeera, F. (2014). The Implications of Planning Failure: Evaluating the Impacts of Land Reclamation Policies on Fishermen Communities in Bahrain. USA: Columbia University. https://doi.org/10.7916/D8Q81B6H

MadanyBIEA, B. I. (2021, November 28). Types of services and eligibility criteria. Retrieved from Bahrain.bh: https://www.bahrain.bh/new/en/home_en.html

Campana, O., Chapman, P., Hampel, M., & Blasco, J. (2016). Marine Ecotoxicology: Current Knowledge and Future Issues. Marine Ecotoxicology: Current Knowledge and Future Issues.Elsevier.

Castro, F. (2018, April 3). Expandable House / Urban Rural Systems. Retrieved from archdaily: https://www.archdaily.com/891811/expandable-house-urban-rural-systems

Caves, R. W. (2013). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203484234

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. California, USA: Sage. ISBN: 9781412916073.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. SAGE Publications, Inc; 4th edition. ISBN: 9781452226101.

Galster, G. (1985). Evaluating indicators for housing policy: Residential satisfaction vs marginal improvement priorities. Social Indicators Research, 16(4), 415–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333289

Information and e-government Authority, (2020). Bahraini Population Census 2020. Manama. https://www.iga.gov.bh/en/

García,J., (2022). How Can We Double the Living Space in Our Homes? BEYOME: The Flexible and Modular System with Robotic Furniture. Archdaily. https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/6256/41e1/3e4b/3161/f200/0072/slideshow/BEYOME_Escena02_02.jpg?1649820078

Jordana, S. (2010). Social Housing in Milan - studio wok. Archdaily. https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/55e8/9b60/e258/4642/5b00/007f/slideshow/11_flexibility-diagram.jpg?1441307464

Jorge,J.(2011). Open arch -smart home prototype. Ecosistemaurbano. https://i.pinimg.com/564x/11/3a/a5/113aa5d03eab185e21cfbb4a0c3ded43.jpg

Kronenburg, R. (2007). Flexible: Architecture that Responds to Change. Laurence King Publishing.

Madany, I. M. (2021). Dredging and reclamation activities in Bahrain. Schweiz: ETH Zurich. http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-48505

McCombes, S. (2019, September 19). An introduction to sampling methods. Retrieved from scribbler: https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-methods/

MOH, B. M. (2017). Promising achievements for a bright future. Manama: Bahrain Information & eGovernment Authority. https://ministryofhousingstaticfiles.s3.me-south-1.amazonaws.com/reports/files/MOH+-+En+2017.pdf

Morris, E., & Winter, M. (1978). Housing, Family, and Society. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.2307/351032

Oku, K. (2010). The Architecture of Gerrit Rietveld. Toto.ISBN: 4887062982

Bahrain e-portal. (2019). Housing. Retrieved from Bahrain.bh: https://www.bahrain.bh/wps/portal/!ut/p/a1/lZJLV8IwEIX_

Rossi, P. (1955). Why Families Move: A Study in the Social Psychology of Urban Residential Mobility. Glencoe: The Free Press.

Saraiva, S. S., Serra, M., & Furtado, G. (2017, July, 3-7th). Bahrain-continuity and rupture: Traditional and subsidized housing in Bahrain. Presented in the 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal.

Schneider, T., & Till, J. (2007). Flexible Housing. Architectural Press; 1st edition. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315393582

Scuderi, G. (2018). Designing Flexibility and Adaptability: The Answer. Department of Civil Engineering, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Edisonweg 4. Designs. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs3010003

Stankard, M. (1998, May, 23-27th). Re-covering Mies van der. Presented in ACSA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (pp. 267-271), Iowa State University. Ames, United States.

Schneider, T., & Till, J. (2005). Flexible housing: opportunities and limits. Arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, 9(2), 157-166.

Voordt, T. v. (1990). Building adaptable housing-From theory to practice. Architecture & Behaviour, 6(1), 17-38.

Rabeneck, A., Sheppard, D., & Town, P. (1973). Flexible housing. Architectural Design,698-732.

Swygart-Hobaugh, M. (2019). Bringing method to the madness: An example of integrating social science qualitative research methods into NVivo data analysis software training. Iassist Quarterly, 43(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.29173/iq956

Hertzberger, H. (2005). Lessons for students in architecture. (Vol. 1). 010 Publishers.

Zimmering, R. (2020). Living in a World of Nation States as Dissatisfied and Threatened Citizen and the Search of a Way Out.Presented in Conference series „Living in a World of Nation States “6-7 December 2019 at ISCTE-IUL Lisbon, Portugal (p. 17).