QLCM Method for Determining the Quality Level of Circular Movement in Floor Plans of Houses and Apartments

This article deals with the specific spatial organization of residential buildings and highlights the advantages of ‘floor plans with circular paths’. When renovating the existing floor plans of houses or apartments, different floor plan variants can be designed that enable circular movement. Choosing the best variant is sometimes a difficult process. For this purpose, the so-called QLCM method (quality level of circular movement) was developed, which makes it possible to calculate the quality level of the adapted floor plan variants in terms of circular movement. The method covers the aspects of movement and visibility. Different path types, such as the path from room to room, door to door, door to window, and the path along the outer walls are analyzed. Different types of views such as single, multiple, and wide views are examined. Using the QLCM method, a special quality-level coefficient is calculated for each modified floor plan. The variant with the highest calculated coefficient can be selected for implementation. Based on case studies of converting three typologically different apartments/houses from non-circular to circular floor plans, the benefits in terms of enabling circular movement, increasing visual distance, and the perception of the size of the housing unit are demonstrated.

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