US3608257A - Assembly of hexagonal modules - Google Patents

Abstract

A DWELLING CONTAINS THE ROOMS IN HONEYCOMB ARRANGEMENT SO THAT THE INCLINED UPPER HALF WALLS OF ONE ROOM ARE AVAILABLE AS INCLINED FLOOR SPACE IN ADJOINING ROOMS OF A HIGHER LEVEL.

Description

Sept. 28, 1971 3,608,257

F. FERNANDEZ-CASTANYS LOPEZ E L ASSEMBLY OF HEXAGONAL MODULES Filed Jan. 23, 1968 United States Patent 9.

3,608,257 ASSEMBLY OF HEXAGONAL MODULES Francisco Fernandez-Castanys Lopez and Emilio Gonzalez Espinosa de los Monteros, both of 2 Muelle de Heredia, Malaga, Spain Filed Jan. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 699,827 Claims priority, application Spain, Jan. 23, 1967, 335,954 Int. Cl. E04h 1/00 US. Cl. 52236 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dwelling contains the rooms in honeycomb arrangement so that the inclined upper half walls of one room are available as inclined floor space in adjoining rooms of a higher level.

The invention relates to dwellings.

The crisis in residential construction is serious throughout the world. Construction costs are high, construction of rental dwellings is not profitable, and this has made it necessary for most governments to establish protective laws, including State subsidies which entail a large burden for the government.

Another result of the present financial situation of residential construction is that developers and builders are increasingly skimping on materials to achieve lower cost, but they have already gone to unacceptable extremes from the viewpoint of quality and durability, and in many cases even from the viewpoint of safety.

For the same purpose of economy, room sizes are shrinking to minimums that are now almost absolute, resulting in poor utilization of space and minimum comfort.

Since the problem is grave, and dwellings are becoming constantly smaller, made of poorer materials and weaker in design, it becomes necessary to devote some thought to solving the problems, not by increasing skimping on what has already been reduced to the minimum, but by devising a new distribution of space.

The present invention has as its object a new arrangement in elevation, which is such that the living areas are constituted by hexagonal-base units instead of the rectangular units that have been employed hitherto.

In a normal type of residence, the bathrooms and washrooms, pantries, kitchens, storage rooms, garrets, etc., have the sanitary fixtures and furniture backed against the wall for convenience of access and for the advantageous arrangement of plumbing and electric wiring. Much of the furniture in the dwelling is also backed against the wall, and under it is floor framing and flooring, both of which are expensive.

After deducting the floor area occupied by furniture, the free area of a room, i.e., the visible floor space, is on the order of 50 to 60% of the constructed area.

By the arrangement introduced by the present invention it is made possible to construct and put flooring under only the free usable area, and to use for the furniture the space obtained by the hexagonal arrangement of the partitioning.

The same remarks apply to the ceilings: they are of normal height in the floored area, which is called the usable area, i.e. usable for living activities and trafiic, but it is reduced over the furniture, in corners, etc.

The partition walls are inclined in relation to the floor and ceiling. This is a great advantage from the viewpoint of acoustical isolation, because the angle of incidence of the sound waves is not perpendicular, so that reflection is greatly reduced. The inclination makes it possible to make the partition walls thicker, which again improves acoustical qualities.

3,608,257 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 but a typical layout has been devised, which is the following:

Width between parallel faces: 7.20 meters Floor framing per element: 7.20 2.50=18.00 m? Usable space (on the diagonal): 7.2 0 4.50=32.40 In.

With these dimensions we obtain the following:

Usable area: 32.40 m? Construction floor area: 18.00 m? Structural efiiciency: 1.80

There is no doubt that, if this proportion is obtained between the necessary structure area and the usable space, the saving achieved is very great.

There are many other advantages to this type of dwelling. The floored areaan expensive item-is much smaller. Aesthetically, the dwellings are very pleasing, and they olfer better decorating possibilities. Passageway area is smaller, since part of the inclined spaces is used for that purpose. The proportion of partition walls is also smaller. The design can be standardized by devising, as we have done, a master layout and plan, such as will be set forth hereinafter with reference to the drawings, and then the dwellings can be mass-produced, with another important saving.

With this arrangement, the furniture is simpler, uses less material, and is therefore less costly.

We therefore believe that this type of dwelling solves the present grave problem by offering dwellings of greater area, with more comfort, more attractiveness and safer and better-quality structures, at a price far lower than the type now in use.

For better comprehension of the idea and in explanation of the foregoing, a detailed description is given hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawing which represents a cross section showing the elevational layout embodying the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, '1 represents a dwelling of the type described, which includes, for example, a series of rooms, such as those referenced by the numbers 2, 3 and 4, arranged adjacent one another at changing levels.

Room 2 comprises a ceiling 5, and a floor 6, both of level construction, and side walls 7-8 and 9-10, which are tilted from the vertical, constituting a hexagonal cell.

Room 3 is of the same characteristics as 2, and is formed by a ceiling 13, a floor 14 and side walls 10-15 and 16-17, and room 4 also includes a ceiling 18, a floor 19, and side walls 17-20 and 21-22.

The assembly thus described rests on horizontal beams 11, disposed at each of the vertices formed by the hexagon of the rooms, being interposed between the ceiling and the floor, and these beams are supported by pillars 12 designed to sustain the assembly.

Since room 3 is at a different level from rooms 2 and 4, it is necessary to use stairs 23 between them, which in no way encumber communication from room to room.

As it can be seen from the description given, it is possible to make various changes without thereby modifying the nature of the invention, and the dilferent details and the various arrangement of same in the interior of the rooms, such as windows, doors, beds and other things, are

immaterial thereto and have not been taken into account in the present description, since they pertain to the personal initiative of the resident or builder, and have been shown for illustrative, not restrictive, purposes.

We claim:

1. A dwelling comprising an assembly of modules of hexagonal cross section arranged in honeycomb fashion wherein two opposite parallel walls of each hexagonal module are disposed in horizontal planes and the inclined walls of each module interlock with the inclined walls of at least one other module at a different level, horizontal beams disposed at the 'vertices of said hexagons, and vertical pillars supporting all of said beams.

2. A dwelling as claimed in claim 1 wherein the ininclined walls extending upwardly from the floor of an adjoining module which are available as additional useable space in said adjacent module.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ALFRED C. PERHAM, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

clined walls depending from the ceiling of a module form 15 52 237

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