On new aspects of the housing problem - Duiliu Marcu

Housing is a very topical issue. Large sums are invested annually in buildings. Their value throughout the country is estimated at 120 billion lei. Another two billion are invested in the construction industry.

From 1919 to the end of 1931, 64,773 buildings, or about 100,000 flats, have been erected throughout the country, totaling 37 billion lei. In the capital alone, an average of 2,500 buildings or 5-6,000 flats are erected every year.

In 1931 the value of buildings in Bucharest amounted to 2,327,000,000,000 lei, or nearly 2 1/2 billion annually. We can say on the basis of statistics that, from 1919 to the present day, half of the buildings in the whole country belong to Bucharest. These figures should not surprise us. According to the calculations made in 1922, some 250,000 apartments would have been needed in Bucharest, taking into account the normal population growth over a period of 30 years. However, if we consider the 50,000 apartments built between then and today, there is still a shortage of about 200 apartments in the capital. This explains why everything that has been built is being sold or rented, especially the small apartments.

These figures will not surprise you if I tell you that in England, in the last 10 years, 1 million dwellings have been built, of which about 700,000 have been subsidized by the state. In Germany, between the post-war period and 1928, the state helped to build 600,000 flats. France granted about 13 billion lions in building subsidies until 1928. The Loucher law of 1928 alone organized the construction of 200,000 low-income housing units and 60,000 for the middle class.

New buildings are constantly transforming the appearance of cities. Old streets became unrecognizable in a few years. The appearance and quality of buildings depend as much on the skill of architects and builders as on how local governments manage the process. Both architects and authorities have a great responsibility to future generations. The aesthetics of our cities and the comfort of our homes are in their hands.

Housing can be studied either as a biological or a static phenomenon. It must also be studied as an urban function. I even believe that we are no longer allowed today to conceive of housing in the abstract, as an isolated element. With the kind permission of the broadcasting corporation, I propose to deal exclusively with this topical subject on another occasion: 'housing integrated into the urban ensemble'.

Up to now, everyday methods and the lack of a rational technical approach have often resulted in confusion between the three phenomena: biological, static and urban.

Old construction methods, still used today - even in the country's capital - which spare neither matter nor energy, are onerous and cannot solve the current economic problem, which is: "Minimum Housing".

"La Maison minimum" or "die Wohnung für das Existenz-minimum" has been the main preoccupation of the latest international architectural congresses throughout the world and is of the greatest interest to both state authorities and politicians in the West.

The waste that is often committed even when building so-called elegant houses does not fit in with the severe conditions of the general economy, nor with the financial situation of the inhabitants impoverished by the crisis we are going through. This is true for all countries. The impasse in which we have been in for a long time has led to the crisis in affordable housing. I emphasize 'low-income' because this is the phenomenon that particularly concerns us.

In our country, almost all initiatives have been directed mainly towards expensive housing. Even the law to encourage construction has not been concerned with minimum housing. It's true that we have a low-cost housing company whose sole purpose is to build low-cost housing. We may say that it is the only enterprise that has built civilized low-rise housing, for the countless so-called low-rise houses in the suburbs are built with second-hand materials and in rudimentary technical conditions.

However, the society of eftine housing, with a share capital of 36 million lei in 1928, built about 1% of the 37 billion lei that was built in Bucharest from 1919-1931.

From its foundation until the end of 1932 it had built barely 2800 dwellings.

But I have shown that we still need 200 thousand more civilized dwellings.

As for the maximum cost of a house built by this company according to the provisions of the law, in 1911 it was 4-8000 lei per house

1913 " 15.000 "

1921 " 250.000 "

1924 " 600.000 "

1926 " 1.000.000 "

It is true that the company built in 1932 for 290,000 lei a typical dwelling with 2 rooms, an anteroom, bathroom, kitchen, cellar, water, sewer, electricity. And we have no doubt that the company's administrators are making every possible effort to reduce the cost as much as possible. But one of the reasons for the high prices is the cost of land and building work. In fact, for the 1,415 places sold, ranging in size from 160 to 330 meters, the company used 137,000 square meters of land.

Even if the land would cost only 50 lei square meters. towards the outskirts, the building works per square meter come to about 300 lei per square meter, which gives for a small plot of 300 square meters 90,000 lei the cost of building works, while the land costs barely 15,000 lei.

Therefore, let's not be mistaken if we think that the housing crisis is over in our country, because on many streets in the center of the capital, impressive - but not always beautiful - buildings with numerous apartments have been built lately. This could at most prove that, contrary to what was believed a few years ago, Romanians have gotten used to living with other families in the same building. The housing crisis exists in the capital, in the municipalities and in many cities in the provinces, but above all there is a shortage of good housing. All of our neighborhoods in the suburbs are in need of reconstruction.

The 1913 statistics published in 1920 gave us 2,202,440 persons living in the old kingdom, with an average density of 7 persons to a room. The situation has not improved much since then. In the country's capital alone we have today about 150,000 people living on average seven to two rooms. And it's well known that, in general, a maximum of 5 people are allowed in one dwelling.

Another 100,000 live 3-11 (average 7) in a single room which serves as a bedroom, work room, kitchen, dining room, etc., a room often without light and made of primitive materials.

There are also a few thousand dwellings where 10-15 people live in one room.

Of the 487,000 buildings that existed in ancient Romania, 58% had brick walls, the rest were made of: wood, brick, brick, earth, etc..

Our statistics show that in Bucharest alone, some 250,000 pensioners, civil servants and workers with their wives and children not only live in a promiscuous state not permitted by moral law, but also in a lamentable situation in terms of hygiene and comfort. For them, minium housing is a vital issue. But the question arises, how can the minimum dwelling be reached?

According to Soc. In 1911, the cost of an isolated dwelling, which in its opinion is the ideal dwelling, would have been 68 gold lei, whereas at the same time a collective dwelling would have cost 138 gold lei in Paris.

In fact, the "International Congress for Efficient Housing" held in Vienna in 1910 adopted a motion stating that it was necessary to build as many detached houses as possible for a family, and only exceptionally collective housing blocks.

But from 1910 to the present day there has been a whole reform both in the building industry and socially. Thanks to mechanization and factories in recent years, building methods have not remained the same as they were centuries ago.

In order to study housing scientifically, it is necessary to remember that it has to fulfill a dual purpose: living and working, i.e. everyday work. These two functions are often fulfilled in different quarters. So when it comes to work, transportation is an issue. We can say that in big cities, the issue is decisive. It is the main element to be taken into account by the urban planner when systematizing cities. Hence the need to concentrate housing as much as possible in large cities.

Seen from a biological and social point of view, the housing problem must be solved:

1) A typical cell or nest ideal for a family, very isolated from the rest of the dwellings. So measures for soundproofing.

2) Abundant sunlight, so necessary for health and life.

3) A continuous consumption of pure air, so: inside the problem of ventilation and heating, outside the problem of dust, pavements, etc.

4) Use of minimum time and minimum effort for home maintenance. The modern man works bent, he has to organize: common services.

5) The need to recover lost physical and nervous energy, i.e. maintenance of the human machine. Result: organization of physical culture in the home, sports, common playground near home.

Finally, sentimental needs, which are by no means to be neglected and can be summarized in:

Creating a pleasant, harmonious environment. Concern for aesthetics and harmony, resulting in a sense of satisfaction of the soul, more human kindness, more moral strength, more spirit of solidarity. It is easy to understand that to find the best solution it is necessary to change the city plans themselves. But in order to satisfy the six desires which I have outlined, we need a new conception of housing which corresponds to today's social situation, to the trend towards social equalization, to the right of every citizen to live in the most civilized and comfortable conditions, and, finally, to the progress of the idea of individual freedom, well directed and well understood. But it is precisely the role of the urban planner to study the cell, the typical dwelling, in relation to the city as a whole and within the contemporary social framework.

Before concluding, I must make it clear that, from this point of view, the layout of human dwellings gives rise to two contradictory conceptions:

I-a. A city with low dwellings, spread over a very large area, resulting in a continuous extension of the radius.

II-a. City with high dwellings, which results in minimizing its area.

Therefore, in order to find minimum cost solutions, architects around the world have taken the following theme: Low - medium - or tall construction?

This was also the theme of the International Congress of Modern Architecture held in Brussels in 1930. The most prominent architects of the modernist movement, the congress rapporteurs: Le Corbusier (Paris), Gropius (Berlin), Böhm and Kaufmann (Frankfurt a M.), Teige (Praha) and Neutra (Los Angeles) were unanimous in recognizing the importance of the problem and the obstacles to the realization of radical modern solutions, namely: general distrust of new building; routine; conservatism; lack of credit and lack of interest on the part of the authorities.

Without having made a decision, the general spirit was at this congress for tall buildings.

Also the survey undertaken by the International Housing Association at the international congress in Berlin two years ago, under the direction of Professor Schuster, architect of Frankfurt, reached the following conclusions with regard to minimum housing:

1) In order to reduce the cost as much as possible, we must reduce the area built for each dwelling and simplify the installations.

In fact, the last efficient dwellings built in Belgium are between 40-30 square meters. per family.

In Germany: in Dresden, a 4-bed dwelling uses 46 square meters.

In Berlin, for a 2 and a half-bed flat you use 35 square meters.

In Dusseldorf it is 30 square meters.

The maximum for a family is 60 square meters.

2) Windows should have an area equal to 10% of the floor area.

3) The height of bedrooms is reduced in all countries to 2.50 meters. In France to 2.60 m, in Switzerland to 2.30 m, of course, the sides retain 2.80 m.

4) It is planned to reduce the length of the facade of a dwelling, which is considered to be of decisive importance for reducing the cost price of land development, construction and building works.

5) As a consequence, the buildings for the erect dwellings have to be built in strings. This has led to façade lengths of only 5 m.

As a general remark, in order to have the rising sun in the sleeping quarters and the setting sun in the working quarters, all streets should be directed north-south.

Finally, the League of Nations, through the International Labour Bureau, recommends standardization of both types of housing and construction elements.

The League of Nations only builds houses according to 4 types in series. This saves 30% on the cost.

The architects Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, commissioned by Minister Loucheur, built a group of 100 dwellings at a flat-rate price of 38,500 fr. per dwelling, i.e. about 250,000 lei, to house a father, mother and four children in the most hygienic and comfortable conditions.

These architects say that they have arrived at a cost of less than 38,500 fr. by building high up and using the "dry" method, i.e. without mortar, and by mass production, which has the same advantages in the building industry as in the automobile industry.

We are sure that the solution of the minimum housing will only be found through standardization, industrialization and valorization.