AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
INCREASING USER COMFORT OF HOUSING FACILITIES BLOCKS OF FLATS IN THE CZECH
REPUBLIC
a
DAGMAR KUTÁ,
b
JAN ČESELSKÝ
VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Civil
Engineering, Czech Republic
email:
a
dagmar.kuta@vsb.cz,
b
jan.ceselsky@vsb.cz
The paper has been supported from the funds of the Student Grant Competition of
VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava. The project registration number is
SP2017/115.
Abstract: An essential requirement of these days in the Czech Republic is to increase
sustainability of new and existing buildings and increase the benefits of their future
use. This applies especially to the houses and flats, where the demand for user comfort
and spatial efficiency is rising. User comfort and efficiency have so far been dealt with
first of all with focus on the flat alone, whereas the other areas of blocks of flats were
neglected. The concept of a building should always be a natural response to the needs
of the users, who however change their needs during the course of time. Therefore this
article focuses on the facilities in blocks of flats and their influence on the overall user
comfort.
Keywords: block of flats, housing, flat, facilities, spatial, user comfort.
1 Introduction
Dwelling is a fundamental human need; it is a complex social
phenomenon, reflecting any change in transformation of society
and economics significantly. Dwelling issue does not only
include designing and construction of a dwelling place but also
the housing policy, responding to problems and requirements of
the society. The main objective of housing policies of all
countries, regardless of political, cultural, social or economic
differences among them, is to provide their citizens with
adequately good-quality and available housing. Housing,
family, family or multi-family houses, residential environment,
are topical and often discussed problems of the contemporary
society. From the social and cultural view, user comfort plays a
key role. When evaluating the complex quality of buildings from
a wide array of sustainability criteria, the traditional assessment
focuses on the economic issues, however according to
contemporary trends this is no longer enough. Therefore we need
to assess a building also from the social and cultural view,
possibly during the whole life cycle of the building. Therefore
this article focuses on the facilities in blocks of flats and their
influence on the overall user comfort in blocks of flats..
2 Housing stock in the Czech Republic
In 2011, the housing stock in the Czech Republic included
4,756,572 flats in sum, which compared with 1991, represented
an increase by almost 680 thousand (16.7 %). (czso.cz)
Houses, flats, type of
house
Population Census Year
1991
2001
2011
Houses total
1 868 541
1 969 018
2158 119
Family houses
1 605 227
1 732 077
1 901 126
Residential buildings
228 566
196 874
214 760
Other buildings
34 748
40 067
42 233
Flats total
4077 193
4 366 293
4 756 572
In family houses
1 795 462
2 005 122
2 256 072
In residential buildings
2 244 947
2 310 641
2 434 619
In other buildings
36 784
50 530
65 881
Tab. 1: Development of housing stock between population
censuses in 1991 and 2011,
Population Census Year
(source:
czso.cz)
Houses, flats, type of
house
Growth index (in %)
2001
1991
2011
2001
2011
1991
Houses total
105.4
109.6
115.5
Family houses
107.9
109.8
118.4
Residential buildings
86.1
109.1
94,0
Other buildings
115.3
105.4
121.5
Flats total
107.1
108.9
116.7
In family houses
111.7
112.5
125.7
In residential buildings
102.9
105.4
108.4
In other buildings
137.4
130.4
179.1
Tab. 2: Development of housing stock between population
censuses in 1991 and 2011,
Growth index (in %)
(source: czso.cz)
Living in multifamily houses in the Czech Republic refers to a
significant portion of the total number of inhabitants. The
contemporary society endeavours after general availability of
dwelling, enhancing its quality which was mostly left at the level
of "panel building" housing estates in the years of 1950 – 1990.
Panel building took place predominantly in the years of 1950-
1990 and at present, the panel building in the Czech Republic
represents a third of all permanently inhabited multifamily
houses; it is necessary to tackle the problems in more detail than
so far and deal with effective solutions. The number of buildings
built of pre-fabricated concrete blocks in the Czech Republic
reaches almost 200 thousand. The quantity of flats in the
buildings is 1.2 million, which is roughly 55 % of all flats in
residential buildings and approx. 30 % of flats out of the total
housing stock in the Czech Republic. (Census - czso.cz)
Graph 1: Number of flats in panel buildings in individual parts
of the Czech Rep. (source: processed by EkoWATT )
Panel buildings were built in construction systems, varying
mainly in dimensions of wall elements, in types of service cores,
in eventual heat cladding and according to the year of building.
Furthermore, the systems modified into variants according to
their original locality. The most used panel building systems in
the CR: BANKS, B 70, G 57, HKS 70, Larsen & Nielsen, OP
1.11, OP 1.21, PS 69, PS 69/2, T 06 B, T 08 B, VVÚ ETA.
- 108 -