Course number

and title:
Arch 401 DESIGN VII
Course Credit 6
Academic Year: 4th year
Semester: 1st semester (Fall)
Calendar Year: 2022 – 2023 (1444 H)
A3. Investigative Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and
comparatively evaluate relevant information and performance
in order to support conclusions related to a specific project or
assignment.
Student Performance Criteria
(SPC) B2. Site Design: Ability to respond to site characteristics,
including urban context and developmental patterning,
historical fabric, soil, topography, ecology, climate, and
building orientation, in the development of a project design.

Dr. Mohammed Alhefnawi, Dr. Ayman Hashim, Eng. Ahmed Alrashed,

Eng. Ahmed Al Dawsari, Eng. Yousif Alsaeed, Eng. Abdullah
Instructor names:
Alabdullatif, Eng. Turki Althaqib, Dr. Mohammed Almahmood
(coordinator)

Table of Contents

Course Syllabus .............................................................................................................2

Expanded Syllabus ........................................................................................................3
Brief of Assignments/ Term project ...............................................................................5
Course Syllabus

ARCH 401: DESIGN STUDIO VII (HOUSING), 6 credits

Course Description:
In this course housing design problems will be explored within the socio-cultural and environmental context
of Saudi Arabia. A vocabulary of housing design concerns is developed to structure theoretical issues of
privacy, proxemics, territoriality, perception, and neighborhoods.

Course Goals & Objectives:

• To develop and demonstrate the students’ learned abilities and respond to a housing design problem in
a comprehensive and organized fashion.
• To design a residential development in the existing urban fabric and address issues of housing design
and residential neighborhoods.
• To enhance the quality of the residential environment and manifest architecture as an integrated
paradigm of physical, sociocultural, economic, technological, and natural factors.
• To integrate the issue of sustainability in the development of residential designs.

Student Performance Criterion addressed:

1. Investigative Skills (A.3)
2. Site Design (B.2)

Topical Outline:
i. Housing Design skills 40%
ii. Investigation Research and Criticism 40%
iii. Drawing and other presentation skills 20%

Prerequisites:
ARCH 302

Textbooks/Learning Resources:
• Housing As If People Mattered, Clare Cooper Marcus and Wendy Sarkissian. University of
California Press, June 8, 1988
• People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space, 2nd Edition, Clare Cooper Marcus &
Carolyn Francis, John Wiley Sons, 1997

Offered (semester and year):

Fall only; annually.

Faculty assigned:
Dr. Mohammed Alhefnawi, Dr. Ayman Hashim, Eng. Ahmed Alrashed, Eng. Ahmed Al Dawsari, Eng.
Yousif Alsaeed, Eng. Abdullah Alabdullatif, Eng. Turki Althaqib, Dr. Mohammed Almahmood
(coordinator)
Expanded Syllabus
NAAB SPC for Design Vll Studio:

1. Investigative Skills (A.3)

2. Site Design (B.2)

A3. Investigative Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and comparatively evaluate
relevant information and performance in order to support conclusions related to a specific
project or assignment.

B2. Site Design: Ability to respond to site characteristics, including urban context and
developmental patterning, historical fabric, soil, topography, ecology, climate, and
building orientation, in the development of a project design.

Attendance and grade

i. Site analysis and case study 10%

ii. Mid-term Jury 30%
iii. Pre-final Jury 10%
iv. Final Jury 30%
v. Post final 10%
vi. Class Performance 10%
Total 100%
 Design VII (Housing)
First semester 1444 H/ 2022-23
Week Sunday Tuesday Thursday Grades
Introduction to the course, Review of housing design
Forming groups, Site standards
1 Course registration
selection
28/8/22 Lecture (2): Site Inventory
Lecture (1): Introduction to & Analysis
housing design
Primary Review on Site
Build 3D Physical and
Inventory and Analysis
2 Topographical and Primary Primary Review on Site
Lecture (3): Case study
4/9/22 Review on Site Inventory and Inventory and Analysis
Analysis & Investigative
Analysis
Skills (A3)
Review on Case Studies &
3 Primary Review on case studies
Primary Review on case Site Inventory and Analysis
11/9/22 studies Lecture (4): Contour Site 10%
Design (B2)

National day (1)

4 Concept generation and zoning Concept generation and
18/9/22 & Master plans zoning & Master plans

Develop Units and Master

Develop Units and Master
5 plans
25/9/22 Prepare scale drawings,
plans/sections /elevations
Develop Units and Master
plans
Prepare scale drawings,
plans/sections /elevations
plans
Prepare scale drawings,
plans/sections /elevations
Lecture (5): Historical
fabric (B2)

6 Develop Units and Master Develop Units and Master Mid-Term Review 30 %
2/10/22 plans plans

Develop Units and Master Develop Units and Master

7 plans
Prepare scale drawings,
plans
Prepare scale drawings, Develop Proposal
9/10/22
plans/sections /elevations plans/sections /elevations
Develop / refine / modify
8 Long weekend (2) Develop Proposal
scheme
16/10/22 Lecture (6) Presentation

Prefinal Review on proposal

9 Develop Proposal / build 3D Develop Proposal / build 3D and 3D 10%
23/10/22 Physical Model Physical Model

10 Develop / refine / modify Develop / refine / modify Develop / refine / modify

30/10/22 scheme scheme scheme

11 Final Jury & Final Submission of Drawings and Physical Long weekend (3) 30 %
6/11/22 Models

12 Editing regarding Jury

Post-Final submission 10 %
13/11/22 Comments
Student performance in the studio 10%
Total Grades 100%
Brief of Assignments/ Term project
Housing Project in an Urban Context

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 affirmed the work to revive the national, Arab, Islamic and ancient heritage sites
and register them on the World Heritage List, and to enable everyone to access them as a living witness to
our ancient heritage and the active role, and the prominent position on the map of human civilization.
Furthermore, the first strategic objective of the Kingdom within the National Transformation Program 2020
was to establish the Quality of Life Program 2020 to improve the quality of living in Saudi cities and
neighborhoods.

Urban studies have shown that human-centred qualities of the urban environment which encourage
walkability, inclusivity, sociability, and liveability have a positive impact on inhabitants’ quality of life (Gehl
2010; Yang 2016; Mehta 2013; Jacobs 1961; Edwards, Tsouros, and Europe 2006). Therefore, urban
elements such as sidewalks, shallow setbacks, active building frontages, density, street network patterns,
as well as street furniture and in-street sports facilities are considered to be key to promoting and
encouraging walking activities and other active lifestyle behaviour which positively impact the quality of life
of the neighbourhood residences (Wells and Yang 2008; De Meester et al. 2012; Adkins et al. 2012; Alfonzo
et al. 2014; Almahmood et al. 2017).

Based on the foregoing, this course adopts the orientation towards the importance of providing a quality of
life in housing pattern with a specific scale, including its various types, and in certain locations in the
Kingdom, in order to achieve the Kingdom’s Quality of Life Program KPI’s. The studio instructors select sites
that seem appropriate for this type of development and establish a dialogue with stakeholders to
determine their expectations and needs.

Design Vehicle
The students will design a housing complex comprising detached dwellings along with other ancillary
facilities. A private sector housing projects will be considered and developed. In order to introduce a new
dimension into the schemes, the students should develop their designs on the basis of high density living to
accommodate around 30 families in three types of dwelling units, including two, three, and four bedrooms.

Project’s Sites
One site will be selected for the project from Dammam Metropolitan Area. The area of the site is around 2
hectares.
Figure 1 Location of the proposed site (https://goo.gl/maps/N6pBBTE4vMkaY1ok7)

Case Studies
The students will analyze, in groups, case studies of existing housing complexes in the region and in other
countries.
Program
1- Program for the Housing Complex
Approximately 30 families will be accommodated in the housing project in detached dwellings (villas)s
varying in height from 2 to 3 floors. Three types of dwelling units will be designed.
Type of dwelling units: 2 bedroom (20%); 3 bedroom (30%); 4 bedrooms (50%).

Guidelines for the space program for the dwelling units:

2BR 3BR 4BR
m2 m2 m2
Bedrooms 40 60 80
Family Living 16 20 24
Main Living (Majlis) 20 24 24
Dining 12 15 20
Kitchen 10 12 12
Toilet for Majlis 6 6 6
Master Bathroom 9 9 12
Bathroom 4.5 9 (two) 13.5 (three)
Maid's room 6 6 6
Maid's bathroom 4 4 4
Laundry 6 6 6
Sub-Total 133.5 171 207.5
Add 20% circulation 160 205 249

A variation of 10% is acceptable.

The site plan should show all the detached dwellings along with the following ancillary facilities as per the
Saudi Arabian building codes:
- Community center, which may include gathering space, toilet, kitchen, outdoor barbeque space,
outdoor swimming pool, playground, etc.
- Parking for residents 2 parking /dwelling unit
- Parking for visitors 1 parking/5 dwellings
- In addition, adequate parking should be provided near the ancillary facilities.

Note: the space program above meant only to guide the students. Each group must validate and adjust the
program based on their research and analysis.

Design Objectives
The primary design objective is to create an environment which allows social interaction among the
residents, while at the same time maintaining adequate privacy as required by the local culture. The students
are encouraged to create building clusters around open green areas which would be connected to each other
by means of pedestrian paths and to the central facilities. The issues of appropriate climatic responsive
design and use of precedents and recent trends in similar projects design in local and foreign case studies
are extremely emphasized. Students are advised to look at both options (surface parking and underground
parking) and chose the one that suite their design requirements. Students could also use open areas between
buildings to insert underground parking and develop the top as a hard and soft (green) surface using the
principles of green roof architecture.
NAAB Student Performance Criteria

A3. Investigative Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and comparatively evaluate relevant information and
performance in order to support conclusions related to a specific project or assignment.

A. The students will hone their investigative skills through case studies, interviews and a survey that will
include the following:
• Students will prepare case studies of similar projects to identify their weaknesses and strengths and
try to use the information to develop their space program and design decisions.
• Using a questionnaire to elicit information pertaining to the housing needs of the user group for
which the housing is planned.
• Collate the information of the questionnaire in a matrix and analyze the results to develop a
program.
• Develop a housing program under the guidance of the studio instructors.
• Representatives of real estate development organizations will be interviewed by the students to
collect data on similar projects to develop their own space programs and proposals. The
representative will also be invited to participate in reviews and juries. This will provide useful
feedback for relining the design proposals.

B2. Site Design: Ability to respond to site characteristics, including urban context and developmental
patterning, historical fabric, soil, topography, ecology, climate, and building orientation, in the development
of a project design.

B. Students should utilize site design approaches in their design to respond to site characteristics through
providing different evidence such as and not limited to:
• The way the buildings and human activities are arranged and organized on the context (micro or
macro levels), as well as the underlying rules and practices that govern that arrangement. Through
investigating and responding to:
o How are the buildings spaced—how close to each other, and how close to the street or
sidewalk?
o How do buildings relate to the public space adjoining them?
o How big are the buildings?
o How densely or intensely are buildings occupied?
o How are different land uses arranged? Are they mostly separated or is there some or a lot
of mixing?
o How are public places located or arranged within the city?
o How are the streets laid out? In a grid? In a branching network? How big or small are the
blocks, and what shape are they?
o How wide are the streets? Are there strong distinctions between minor streets and major
arterials or highways?
o Who is street space reserved for? What rules govern the use of the streets?
• Analysis of the urban structure of the existing historic urban fabric with its coherent structure to
understand its essence and architecture. Perspectives towards the historic urban fabric as a
resource for the future city form. How can it be the reference source to inspire ideas for new designs
that are intended for fitting in and around the historic fabric? How design considerations could
follow the intrinsic principles of an urban system and integrate with the existing structures; the
essence of the system; the architecture of the urban space, to achieve the spatial and architectural
continuity? How new building designs could be related to existing today's historic ones and to the
total urban fabric to enhance the architectural system rather than help to dissolve it? How
intervention of the fabric shows appreciation of its system and help sustain harmony of a particular
 place and at the same time allow for its transformation and the urban environment's potential for
growth and change.
• Site climatic analysis: wind, temperature, solar path and responses to building orientation.
• The natural environment (plants, animals, organisms), and responses to these sensitive areas.
• Soil suitability for land use. Soil type (topsoil, sand, shirk-swell, rock-bed, wetland, etc.). Its suitability
for construction, landscaping, or cultivation. Its suitability for basement construction.
• Site topography and contour lines, water flow directions, and drainage network.
• Section through the buildings and surrounding sites showing the integration of buildings and
contour lines, and type of the footings of the buildings.
• Road section showing the bioswales.
• Section through the landscape showing the retention/detention ponds and the retaining walls if
applicable
• 3D views showing rainwater collection from top of buildings and from the ground.
• 3D Physical model of the site and/or 3D section physical model.