Patent Publication Number: US-2013238515-A1

Title: Method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is concerned with a method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land. In particular, the method relates to arranging lots for cluster houses on a subdivision formed on the plot of land. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The process of dividing a large area of land into smaller areas is generally referred to as subdivision. 
     The basic technique for subdividing land starts with the arrangement of the access system. Often the road system is already in place and the subdivision is simply a process of cutting the land into narrower plots that continue to share the same (public) road. However, sometimes it is necessary to provide new roads entering the land to be subdivided. These roads are usually arranged according to some preconceived notion of how the land will then be subdivided, and they determine to a great extent the appearance of the final subdivision. 
     It is normal practice when creating a subdivision to create these roads first in a grid or other pattern, and to then divide the land so that each block has access to them. 
     This approach tends to cause the access ways to dominate the design and particularly in dense subdivisions when groups of buildings are attached to each other, cause the area occupied by roads to be large when compared to the land they give access to. This approach also tends to force the access ways to define the major social aspects of the development or the way in which the occupiers of the land will react with each other once the land is occupied. This forcing is at its most obvious when the lots are small, and is typical of very dense property developments such as row or terrace housing. 
     This forcing of social outcome is generally considered to be a negative by many sociologists and town planners. Most sociologists believe that it is important for human beings to have distinct private, or their own family space, semi-private, or space in which they mix with people they are familiar with and public space, or space in which they mix with strangers. It is important that private space is buffered by a layer of semi-private space. Many criminologists also agree that this sort of arrangement reduces crime rates and improves the security of residential communities. 
     Previous attempts to optimize land utilization in a subdivision project whilst retaining some sense of aesthetics generally have related to schemes for land subdivision, with or without schemes for arrangement of dwelling units on subdivided land. Other attempts at optimization of land usage have related to specific structural configurations of buildings to optimize occupant amenity in a high density environment. 
     Terrace or row house subdivision represents the densest form of landed property development currently available. However, in a row or terrace house development there is almost no semi-private space. Houses face directly onto a major street with only a small exposed yard separating them from it. The streets are through streets generally carrying traffic from a large radius around any individual&#39;s home. They are often used as alternative access to commuters passing through the area. 
     In order to overcome these undesirable outcomes, new forms of title have been created for residential, and to a limited extent, commercial developments. Often called “group title” or “cluster housing” these allow for the development of sub-neighbourhoods of land on which a cluster of dwellings or other buildings are built, grouped closely together leaving open spaces as common areas. The social outcome of cluster housing is considered by many to be better. 
     Generally speaking, housing units that sit on their own plots of land are called landed property. Such housing units may be detached, as in the bungalow, or be cluster houses. Common types of cluster houses are the semi-detached house, the terrace house and duplex, triplex, quadruplex, pentaplex, sextuplex or octaplex cluster houses which share a common party wall. 
     Given land boundaries that form irregular shapes and geographical features that form naturally, the rigid orthogonal grid arrangement may not be suitable. Moreover, in order to achieve more interesting designs, the orthogonal grid may be adjusted by curving or bending the roads and rows of houses to follow the natural contours and boundaries. Alternatively, the orthogonal grid may be replaced by a radial grid to achieve more interesting forms or the dimensions of the basic housing unit or row of units may be altered to better fit the land. Often, multiple grids are employed within a housing site and consequently various row housing layout patterns result from prior art housing subdivision methods. 
     It is an aim of the invention to overcome or alleviate at least some of the disadvantages of prior art methods for subdivision of land. 
     It would be desirable to provide a novel design method of planning land subdivision for cluster housing units with a layout that can overcome the social, aesthetic and environmental shortcomings of conventional row housing. 
     It would be desirable also to improve the pattern of roads and public spaces that serve dwelling units and to create better neighbourhoods which increase the value of a housing development. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land, the method including 
     generating boundary lines for subdivision of the plot of land from the boundary data of the plot; 
     subdividing the plot of land with subdivision lines which extend from the boundary lines and which define nodal points where the subdivision lines join the boundary lines or other subdivision lines; 
     arranging a number of lots configured for a first type of cluster house at some of the nodal points; and 
     arranging a number of lots configured for a second type of cluster house between nodal points along at least some of the boundary lines or subdivision lines. 
     The lots configured for the first type of cluster house are preferably lots which are configured for radial subdivision of cluster houses. 
     The lots configured for the second type of cluster house are preferably lots which are configured for orthogonal subdivision of cluster houses. 
     The lots configured for the first type of cluster house are preferably round and the lots configured for the second type of cluster house are preferably rectangular. 
     The lots are preferably subdivided into segments. 
     The method preferably includes trimming lots which fall outside the boundary by removing the segments which fall outside the boundary of the plot of land from these lots. 
     The cluster houses are preferably selected from duplex, triplex, quadriplex, pentaplex, sextuplex or octaplex structures or any combination thereof. 
     The method may include arranging the cluster houses on the plot of land. 
     According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a land subdivision whenever effected according to the foregoing method. 
     According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land, the method including: 
     inputting into a processing device boundary data of the plot; 
     inputting boundary restrictions into the processing device to generate boundary lines for subdivision of the plot of land from the boundary data; 
     subdividing the plot of land, by input to the processing device, with subdivision lines which extend from the boundary lines and which define nodal points where the subdivision lines join the boundary lines or other subdivision lines; 
     selecting a lot configured for a first type of cluster house from a datastore of the processing device; 
     arranging a number of lots configured for a first type of cluster house on at least some of nodal points; 
     selecting a lot configured for a second type of cluster house from a datastore of the processing device; and 
     arranging a number of lots configured for a second type of cluster house between nodal points along at least some of the boundary lines or subdivision lines, thereby to provide a novel cluster housing layout. 
     The method may include the processing device trimming lots which fall outside the boundary by removing the segments which fall outside the boundary of the plot of land from these lots. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic top plan view of types of lots and cluster houses for use in the method of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic top plan view of boundary data of a plot of land to be subdivided; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the plot of land of  FIG. 2 , including a boundary line generated in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the plot of land of  FIG. 3 , illustrating the plot of land subdivided by subdivision lines in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the plot of land of  FIG. 4 , illustrating a number of nodal cluster lots arranged on nodal points of the plot of land in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the plot of land of  FIG. 5 , illustrating nodal cluster lots of a different type arranged on the remaining nodal points of the plot of land in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the plot of land of  FIG. 6 , illustrating how the lots are trimmed in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a diagrammatic top plan view of a cluster house layout on the plot of land of  FIG. 7 , illustrating linear cluster lots arranged along boundary lines and subdivision lines in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the cluster housing layout of  FIG. 8 , illustrating half linear cluster lots arranged along boundary lines and subdivision lines; 
         FIG. 10  is a diagrammatic top plan view of the cluster housing layout of  FIG. 9 , including parks and roads formed on the plot of land; and 
         FIG. 11  is a diagrammatic flow diagram illustrating steps in the method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land accordance with the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention reside primarily in a method of generating a cluster housing layout from boundary data of a plot of land. Cluster housing refers to a grouping of housing units which are arranged about a common area. The method of subdivision of the present invention primarily includes arranging cluster houses on the subdivided plot of land. Accordingly, the method steps of subdivision have been illustrated in concise schematic form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary for understanding the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to obscure the disclosure with excessive detail that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present description. 
     In this specification, adjectives such as first and second, left and right, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one element or action from another element or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order. Words such as “comprises” or “includes” are intended to define a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed, including elements that are inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown two types of lots and cluster houses used in generating a cluster housing layout of the present invention. 
     The first type of lot is circular and referred to as a nodal cluster lot  10 . The nodal cluster lot  10  has a nodal cluster house  12  or  14  located on the lot. The nodal cluster lot  10  of the nodal cluster house  12  is radially subdivided into three segments  11 . The nodal cluster lot  10  of the nodal cluster house  14  is radially subdivided into four segments  13 . The nodal cluster houses  12  and  14  are radially subdivided along the subdivisions of the nodal cluster lot  10 . The nodal cluster house  12  is thus radially subdivided into three units and the cluster house  14  is radially subdivided into four units. The nodal cluster lots  10  and nodal cluster houses  12 ,  14  are configured to be accessed from three or more different roads. 
     The second type of lot is rectangular and referred to as a linear cluster lot  16 . The linear cluster lot  16  has a quadruplex house  18  located on the lot. The linear cluster lot  16  is orthogonally subdivided into four segments  17  for the quadruplex house  18 . The quadruplex house  18  is orthogonally subdivided into four units. The linear cluster lots  16  and quadruplex house  18  is configured to be accessed from two different roads. 
     The nodal cluster lot  10  and the linear cluster lot  16  are of different geometric configuration. 
       FIGS. 2 to 10  describe the sequence of subdividing a plot of land for cluster development and arranging lots on the plot of land. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , there is a shown a plot of land  20  having an irregular boundary  22 . The broken lines indicating the boundary  22  is boundary data for the plot of land  20 . The plot of land  20  may be any plot of land which is to be subdivided for cluster development. The boundary data for different plots of land will thus be different. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates boundary lines  24  generated for subdivision of the plot of land  20 . The boundary lines  24  represent a rear wall line for cluster houses to be arranged on the plot of land  20 . The boundary lines  24  are spaced a predetermined distance from the boundary  22 , depending on boundary restrictions which apply to the plot of land  20 . For example, a boundary line  24 . 1  of the boundary lines  24  is spaced 3 metres from the boundary  22  as this part of the plot  20  borders another piece of residential land. A boundary line  24 . 2  of the boundary lines  24  is spaced 6 metres from the boundary  22  as this part of the plot of land  20  borders a public road. The boundary lines  24  are drawn depending on boundary restrictions associated with the plot of land  20 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates subdivision lines  26  which are formed on the plot of land  20  inside the boundary lines  24 . The subdivision lines  26  extend from the boundary lines  24 . The subdivision lines  26  terminate where they join boundary lines  24  or other subdivision lines  26 . Nodal points  28  are defined where the subdivision lines  26  join the boundary lines  24  or other subdivision lines  26 . Nodal points  28  are also defined where various boundary lines  24  join. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a number of nodal cluster lots  10  for nodal cluster houses  14  formed at the nodal points  28 . The centre of each nodal cluster lot  10  is located on a nodal point  28 . Nodal cluster lots  10  with nodal cluster houses  14  are formed at only some of the nodal points  28 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the subdivided plot of land  20  of  FIG. 5 , with nodal cluster lots  10  for nodal cluster houses  12  formed at the remaining nodal points  28 . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates how the nodal cluster lots  10  are trimmed. Segments of each nodal cluster lot  10  which fall outside of the boundary  22  as shown in  FIG. 6  are removed from the nodal cluster lot  10 . After trimming, none of the nodal cluster lots  10  fall outside the boundary  22  of the plot of land  20 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a cluster housing layout  100  including a number of linear cluster lots  16  formed along the boundary lines  24  and the subdivision lines  26 . The linear cluster lots  16  are arranged along the boundary lines  24  and the subdivision lines  26  and are spaced between the nodal cluster lots  10 . A subdivision line  26  will generally have nodal cluster lots  10  at its opposite ends and linear cluster lots  16  between the nodal cluster lots  10 . The linear cluster lots  16  are configured for quadruplex houses  18 . The linear cluster lots  16  adjacent the boundary  22  is contiguous with the boundary  22 . A rear wall line  30  of the quadruplex houses  18  is on the boundary lines  24  and the subdivision lines  26 . 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a number of half linear cluster lots  32  formed along remaining parts of the boundary lines  24 . The half linear cluster lots  32  are linear cluster lots  16  which are halved along rear wall lines  30  shown in  FIG. 1 . The half linear cluster lots  32  are located along the boundary lines  24  where segments of the linear cluster lots  16  would have fallen outside of the boundary  22 . Alternatively, linear cluster lots  16  are formed along the remaining parts of the boundary lines  24  and trimmed to half linear cluster lots  32  where they fall outside the boundary  22 . 
       FIG. 10  illustrates the cluster housing layout  100  generated in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The cluster housing layout  100  includes cluster lots  10 ,  16  and  32  arranged as cluster housing sub-neighbourhoods  38 . The cluster lots  10 ,  16  and  32  of each sub-neighbourhood  38  surrounds a communal open space such as a park  40 . Access ways such as roads  42  access each of the subdivisions  38 . 
       FIG. 11  is a flow diagram  50  of the method described herein above. At a first step  52 , boundary data of plot of land  20  is indentified as described with reference to  FIG. 2 . At a second step  54 , boundary lines  24  are generated from the boundary data as described with reference to  FIG. 3 . At a third step  56  the plot of land  20  is subdivided by subdivision lines  26  as described with reference to  FIG. 4 . At a fourth step  60 , nodal cluster lots  10  are arranged on nodal points  28  as described with reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 . At a fifth step  62 , the lots  10  are trimmed as described with reference to  FIG. 7 . At a sixth step  64 , cluster housing layout  100  is formed by arranging linear cluster lots  16  between nodal points  28  as described with reference to  FIGS. 8 and 9 . At a last step  66 , roads  42  and parks  40  are included in the layout  100  as described with reference to  FIG. 10 . 
     The method described above may be implemented on a processing device such as a computer having suitable software. Boundary data of the plot of land  20  will be input into the computer by an operator. The boundary data defines the boundary  22 . Boundary restrictions are then input into the computer by the operator to generate boundary lines  24  for subdivision of the plot of land  20 . The plot of land  20  is subdivided with subdivision lines  26  by inputs into the computer of where the subdivision lines  26  are to be formed. The operator selects nodal clusters lots  10  from a datastore of the processing device to arrange at the nodal points  28 . The operator selects linear clusters lots  16  from a datastore of the processing device to arrange at between the nodal points  28  along some of the boundary lines  24  and subdivision lines  26 . The processing device trims lots  10  which fall outside the boundary  22  by removing the segments which fall outside the boundary of the plot of land from these lots. Lastly, the operator defines roads  42  and parks  40  by input into the computer. The computer displays the subdivided plot of land  20  to the operator on a computer screen. 
     The method of the present invention provides a novel cluster housing layout  100  that can overcome the social, aesthetic and environmental shortcomings of conventional row housing. The pattern of roads  42  and public spaces  40  provided by the cluster housing layout  100  of the present invention creates better neighbourhoods which increase the value of a housing development. 
     The above description of various embodiments of the present invention is provided for purposes of description to one of ordinary skill in the related art. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to a single disclosed embodiment. As mentioned above, numerous alternatives and variations to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the above teaching. Accordingly, while some alternative embodiments have been discussed specifically, other embodiments will be apparent or relatively easily developed by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this invention is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations of the present invention that have been discussed herein, and other embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the above described invention.