Why are houses here so poorly designed?

[Hooman]

The houses have no garage, basement, attic, no hvac or fireplace, poor insulation and draining system, they all have flat roof and why is the parking space always right in front of the entrance door?

 

[haroonshaikh]

This is based on the typical needs of our population also taking into consideration our climate and weather changes.
However, you can design your house and build it the way you like.

 

[Faateh]

Due to cost, houses are built here to maximize usable space (sometimes even extending onto street and road).

Insulation is also expensive, but a house with insulation has a difference of night and day.

 

[ammarzubair]

due to the population size the main importance is given to getting the most space used.

fireplace? why would anyone build a fireplace in pakistan? attic is a result of having sloped roofs and since climate here doesn't call for sloped roofs hence no attic. basements are now common in newish built houses. garage again is because we don't have a direct door out instead we have a main gate and inner smaller entrances(also this is not always the case there are many houses with separate parking)

insulation cannot be achieved with brick houses and our climate calls for brick houses. drainage system? idk what you mean by that i don't see many houses with drainage problems (city sewerage is a problem but that doesn't really tag along with houses).

hvac. again who needs heating here. also even if they do. installing separate units is way cheaper compared to central heating and cooling and the maintenance is also way lower.

and as haroonshaikh said if you've got the money go build a house however you like

 

[moizadil]

Insulation is the only real problem I see with our houses.

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[The Alchemist]

The houses have no garage, basement, attic, no hvac or fireplace, poor insulation and draining system, they all have flat roof and why is the parking space always right in front of the entrance door?

I dont know where you live but a lot of houses I have seen have basements. If you want sewage in the basement the decision of having a basement depends on the location of the house.

Almost all houses have a garage. Small houses might not have one for obvious reasons.

Most new houses dont but old ones usually have ventilation systems for heaters which can be used for a fireplace as well.
They have been phased out because we dont need them. Unless industrial grade, central cooling systems wont be good for our heat. Even in the west only luxury homes, apartments buildings or homes in places where its not very hot have central cooling.


I live in lahore and my current house has a fireplace. My old house had ventilation system in every room (vent from every room to the roof) that could be modified to build a fireplace.

We have flat roofs because there is little or no snowfall. V shaped roofs are for places that have a lot of snow.
Flat roof hence no attic but almost all homes have a storage room on the roof.


We do have poor or should I say non existent insulation but that is changing slowly.

What do you mean by poor drainage system? At least we have drains in kitchen and bathroom floors. Since we have flat roofs we also install drains there.

why is the parking space always right in front of the entrance door?

Again depends on the location.

I think you are comparing it with western suburbs. Many city houses there dont have a parking space and they park on the road. In suburbs they have huge space between houses and usually have a huge lawn outside their houses, our houses are wall to wall.

If you have a corner house you can easily have a separate front and back entrance with a car parking in the back.

 

[Werentuckl]

As an architect. I can assure you that it is not the architects fault.

And as some of the others here have already pointed out. Some of the questions you have raised are a moot point already.

-- W

 

[Lord Ammar]

The fact that you think houses in Pakistan should have fireplaces shows how much you know the need of the people here.

 

[Reload]

attic in Pakistan ? do you have any plan to have pigeons ? or any other uninvited pets ?

 

[GloriousChicken]

attic in Pakistan ? do you have any plan to have pigeons ? or any other uninvited pets ?

Lol, I dont think he asked about having unwanted pets

 

[Cerberus]

the major reason of having flat roofs is heat. Banda raat ko Manji dal ke chhat pe so jata hai

 

[Reload]

the major reason of having flat roofs is heat. Banda raat ko Manji dal ke chhat pe so jata hai

Best for chilling evenings too, with chilgozay, mongphali and some time koyla chai ... ! Ah best days ...

 

[shahzadfootball]

Best for chilling evenings too, with chilgozay, mongphali and some time koyla chai ... ! Ah best days ...

mongphali mein dana nahi ,hum tumharey nana nahi

 

[haroonshaikh]

Garage: Houses here do have garage.
basement: Houses do have basement here, However, people dont opt for it much as its an increased cost
Attic: people dont here usually opt for attic as it has limited uses, Instead people make rooms.
HVAC: The electricity cost and installation cost of centralized HVAC is extremely high. so people only opt for split AC's
Fireplace: not required for pakistan weather
Insulation: not required as insulation is usually done in US where houses are of wood. Here in Pakistan. houses are of concrete which itself is a good insulator
draining system: Draining system is good in all new houses, dont know what you are comparing to.

P.S in Pakistan you get attach baths with all bedrooms, In other countries you dont have such liberty usually

 

[RameeX]

money problems.......

 

[Hooman]

So I did some reading and newer big houses do have garage and basement, and no hvac makes sense, there are areas in pakistan where it rains and snows a lot so a pitched roof is better and it makes sense to have a fireplace in those areas, pitched roofs are better in general because they have a longer lifespan, its impossible to have standing water so leaking and damp buildup is less likely to happen, and if you look at most of the buildings and bungalows you'd see moss building around the pipes and the walls that's because of leakage in pipes used for draining, and same happens in the pipes below the ground, also even in small houses, cars are parked inside the gate and you are still using space so why make the parking space in front of the main entrance it (I mean the door you use to get inside the house, not the main gate), it just doesn't seem convenient, its also better to have an attic than a separate room because it saves space,concrete itself is not a good insulator but there are ways to insulate concrete brick walls, also the socket types that are banned almost all over the world are still being used here so I think this has a lot more to do with people not knowing about these things and bad builders/architects/designers and outdated construction codes and standards.

 

[GloriousChicken]

So I did some reading and newer big houses do have garage and basement, and no hvac makes sense, there are areas in pakistan where it rains and snows a lot so a pitched roof is better and it makes sense to have a fireplace in those areas, pitched roofs are better in general because they have a longer lifespan, its impossible to have standing water so leaking and damp buildup is less likely to happen, and if you look at most of the buildings and bungalows you'd see moss building around the pipes and the walls that's because of leakage in pipes used for draining, and same happens in the pipes below the ground, also even in small houses, cars are parked inside the gate and you are still using space so why make the parking space in front of the main entrance it (I mean the door you use to get inside the house, not the main gate), it just doesn't seem convenient, its also better to have an attic than a separate room because it saves space,concrete itself is not a good insulator but there are ways to insulate concrete brick walls, also the socket types that are banned almost all over the world are still being used here so I think this has a lot more to do with people not knowing about these things and bad builders/architects/designers and outdated construction codes and standards.

Another thing to note.

In case of a natural disaster our houses are more likely to take less damage B-)

 

[moizadil]

Another thing to note.
[emoji14]
In case of a natural disaster our houses are more likely to take less damage B-)

Brilliant foresight :')

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[mubaidr]

In the end it all comes down to money, People with enough money to spend usually opt for the options mentioned in the OP.

 

[Hooman]

But they cost more to rebuild too if damaged, and with heat concrete walls expand more and starts cracking which ruins the paint and then when it rains.....