Honeycomb housing is an urban planning model pertaining to residential subdivision design.

The defining hexagonal tessellation, or "honeycomb" pattern, consists of multiple housing clusters containing 5-16 houses and centered around a courtyard in a cul-de-sac arrangement at its smallest unit of organization. Multiple clusters are connected to each other to form larger cul-de-sac communities with up to 42 houses in total. These courtyard communities are in turn also connected to one another, making up a distinct neighborhood of up to 300 houses.^[1]

The honeycomb concept was first introduced in Malaysia as an alternative to terrace houses and the predominantly rectilinear form of residential layouts.

A small courtyard neighbourhood.

A cul-de-sac community composed from three connected courtyards.

A honeycomb neighbourhood.

It can also be described as a new form of cul-de-sac layout.

From Cul-de-sac to Honeycomb

The residential blocks are divided into 2, 3, 4 or 6, creating duplex, triplex, quadruplex or sextuplex units.

Honeycomb Layout Plan.

Bird's eye view of a Honeycomb cul-de-sac.

Perspective of quadruplex honeycomb house.

Perspective of sextuplex honeycomb house.

Cul-de-sacs are popular: they are perceived as being safer, more exclusive and neighbourly. According to one study, between the ‘grid’, ‘loops’ and cul-de-sacs, the latter were the most popular.^[2] These houses are used in Malaysia.^[3]

Since houses are built around a small park with plentiful shady trees, this communal garden is easily accessible to all in the cul-de-sac, allowing it to act as a social focus that can encourage social interaction and neighborly spirit.^[4][5]

The courtyard area is a "defensible space" as well, as it acts naturally to reduce crime in the sense that strangers are quickly spotted. The short winding roads put a stop to speeding traffic, and certain to dissuade snatch thieves on motorcycles - therefore becoming safe for children, pedestrians and cyclists.^[6]

Apart from the social advantages, it is also claimed that compared to the terrace house layout, the honeycomb layout uses land efficiently and offers savings in the cost of infrastructure.^[7]

The honeycomb Layout may be said to be inspired from the geometrical design of Islamic tiles and the structure of beehives. Introduced by Kuala Lumpur-based architect Mazlin Ghazali, it has received a patent in Australia ^[8]

Honeycomb Housing projects under construction

The honeycomb concept has been applied to a hillside development on 14 acres of land at Kampung Nong Chik the edge of Johor Bahru business district in a development which advertises a modern version of the traditional village or "kampong" lifestyle.^[9]

Criticism

Being so new, many developers would worry about the difficulty of obtaining approvals from the local authorities and so hesitate to be the first to adopt the honeycomb concept.^[10] Another problem is that the houses are not rectangular and the house design ends up with odd corners in the house.^[11] Another criticism comes from followers ‘fengshui’, the ancient Chinese art of geomancy, who believe that in a cul-de-sac ‘the chi energy coming to a house placed at the end of a road is usually fast, so the energy is pernicious and non-beneficial. Instead of bringing good fortune, it brings misfortune’.^[12]

Nowadays cul-de-sacs are often frowned upon in planning circles,^[13] especially by supporters of the New Urbanism: However the Honeycomb housing concept - which allows relatively high density - does appear to overcome some of the concerns here.^[14]

References

Further reading

• Mohd Peter Davis, Nor Azian Nordin, Mazlin Ghazali (2006), "Thermal comfort Honeycomb Housing", Universiti Putra Malaysia ISBN 983-3455-38-7