CONTAINER CIRCUIT HOUSING FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

The project was set up to address the issue of transient worker housing that are done on site. Job site housing has an advantage over dormitories where the project site is far from the dormitories, inaccessible, or has different working hours over the entire job. Also for onsite housing, when the project has ended and the workers has completed the contract, they could be allowed to return to their homeland, this eases the issue of too many workers staying in Singapore after the job is over and having to wait for another job to begin. The proposal is to create a system which could be deployable within a short period of time and occupy enough space for the housing but does not intrude or hinder the construction. There is also the idea that the housing solution to be deployed on the site could scale up and down over the period of the project to suit the needs of the project for that period. Like for the start of the project where there is a lesser number of workers needed on site to do specialised critical work like piling and ground work. Over the course of the project when more workers are needed like during the superstructure phase, then the housing solution could respond to increase the worker capacity on the site that they are needed to work in. To facilitate in the housing deployment on the job site, a special system has to be considered. Prefabricated system is preferred over traditional wet construction method which is slower to build up and operate. The deployment of the worker housing should not hinder the construction time of the project. There are 3 common systems that are used in prefabricated construction, kit of parts which includes steel frame, wooden frame or concrete frame assembly, there is load bearing wall panels systems and also there is a modular unitized system. Each system has their pros and cons, to sum up quickly, the kit of parts assembly has better flexibility of space planning with the downside on the speed at which the frame and all the different components could be assembled on site. The panellized load bearing wall assembly is slightly faster than the kit of parts assembly with the downside on flexibility, the walls could not be shifted or altered after the building has been assembled. The modular unitized system has an advantage over the other systems in terms of speed of deployment with every unit that could be delivered onsite fully furnished with mechanical systems integrated into the modules; the downside to the system is the limitation of the module dimensions itself. A more detailed of prefabricated system with some examples is included in the appendix attached at the end of this report. Considering different options of prefabricated design for deconstruction, modular systems are preferred over kit of parts construction or panellized system for adaptability and ease of assembly and disassembly. So for the start of the project the housing could be quickly deployed onto site to support the workers who are needed to be on site for the job. With the worker numbers needed increasing and decreasing in later part of the project, the housing could be scaled up and down by assembling more modules or dismantling modules and shipping them away. For this project to provide onsite housing for transient migrant worker, surplus shipping containers are chosen to be repurposed to be fitted in a linear manner as a site hording creating a buffer on the envelope of the construction as well as providing protection from the public and using minimal useable space for construction works. A thin profiled building with the 2 containers width is preferred across the site, to facilitate more construction space within the site to be free for construction. Considering different options of prefabricated design for deconstruction, modular systems are preferred over kit of parts construction or panellized system for adaptability and ease of assembly and disassembly. So for the start of the project the housing could be quickly deployed onto site to support the workers who are needed to be on site for the job. With the worker numbers needed increasing and decreasing in later part of the project, the housing could be scaled up and down by assembling more modules or dismantling modules and shipping them away. For this project to provide onsite housing for transient migrant worker, surplus shipping containers are chosen to be repurposed to be fitted in a linear manner as a site hording creating a buffer on the envelope of the construction as well as providing protection from the public and using minimal useable space for construction works. A thin profiled building with the 2 containers width is preferred across the site, to facilitate more construction space within the site to be free for construction.

Author dc:creator

• PRIME TAMBAYONG

• Architecture
• Design Technology and Management
• Shinya Okuda
• Thesis

Licence

• https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/bitstreams/042fd819-d17b-425e-89f8-04c0a1984992/download