ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 312

gerian cities. It is important to indicate that all of the three developments are originally designed using a standard unit type. Figure 1: Housing typology: detached, semi-attached and attached units and their resulting open space (relative scale). Study Procedure A pilot study was first carried out within six houses in order to test the adequacy and pertinence of the research tools and highlighted a number of non-exploitable parameters. First, non-owners occupants were excluded as their interaction with the open space and vegetation is often limited to basic maintenance. Second, houses undergoing any form of construction (completion or extension), where the open space is often used as construction materials storage, were also omitted from the study. Finally, optimum visit and interview time was found to be between 4:00 and 5:00pm on weekdays, when occupants are home and willing to participate. The latter limited the field investigation to one unit per day. The main study was conducted from April to June, corresponding to the spring season where vegetation density and quality may be assessed at its optimal bloom condition. Thirty five homes out of the fifty targeted were accessible, but only thirty units had a complete evaluation including architectural surveys, pictures taken and interviews with the owners. The final corpus consisted of ten houses for each spatial layout typology. The house footprint, the open space and the green space were accurately measured, pictures of the green spaces and the open space were taken and annotated on the original site layout. Each surveyed unit was fully documented on a pre-prepared form that included the original house layout as retrieved from the municipal archives, the surveyed house footprint, thus highlighting any building addition as well as the green space and its vegetation content. Figure 2 illustrates the documented format of each surveyed unit. Results and Discussion The greenery within the open space of the house was investigated in terms of its physical and spatial characteristics. The spatial distribution of the green space in relation to the paved or mineral space and to the building footprint was checked, alongside the intrinsic quality of the forms, content and treatment of the green and mineral spaces. The analysis of the results was threefold; first the green and open space is assessed and compared between the three different typologies in terms of its spatial and physical characteristics. Second, the impact of any building extension on the green space is evaluated and finally, the impact of the plot size on the amount of greenery is checked. 310 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy