8th lecture

Housing Typology

The following sheets describe a range of:

physical housing types
Housing characteristics
Housing design considerations
The main reference: A PDF paper prepared for the Northwest Corridor
Development Approach, USA, June 2005, by: The Metropolitan Design Center
| College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | University of Minnesota

HOUSING TYPES
There are so many different names used to describe buildings where people
live.
Housing types according to their physical composition are basically
categorized under two main divisions:

(A) Free-standing or detached dwellings

Single
detached

(B) Attached or multi-user dwellings

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Both classes may vary greatly in scale and amount of accommodation

provided.
Although there appear to be many different types, many are purely matters
of style rather than spatial arrangement or scale.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
Multi-family residential is a classification of housing where multiple separate
housing units are contained within one building. The most common form is an
apartment building.

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1

In this paper we will study 3 main types of multi-dwelling

accommodations:
1. Small detached buildings containing from 2-8 unites in 1 to 4 floor
buildings.
2. Long attached row buildings containing several units in 1 to 4
floors.
3. Large detached building containing huge amounts of unites on
many floors.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
What are the alternative arrangements (typology) of residential
accommodations in a multi- use building?
1.

A building comprising two units either side-by-side is typically

considered as semi-detached or twin homes on separate properties,
sharing a wall.

2.

By contrast, a duplex house is a dwelling comprising two units on

two different floors.

3.

Duplex house are two single dwelling units separated over two floors,
connected by an indoor staircase.

4.

Similarly, a triplex house refers to three apartments spread out over

three floors.

5.

The term "duplex" can also be extended to four-plex or quadr-plex.

6.

Because of the flexibility of the term, the is almost no line between an

apartment building and a duplex.

7.

Apartment buildings tending to be bigger, while duplexes are usually

the size of a normal house.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

Twin house or semi-detached:

One building consisting of two separate "houses", typically side
by side, each with separate entrances and without common
inside areas. Each of the two houses has separate owners.
Two-unite or Duplex house:
A building basically like a house, built on a house lot, consisting
of an apartment taking up the first floor, and another taking up
the second floor.
usually a common basement, a common front entrance, foyer,
and stairs to the second floor, and often a similar back entrance,
foyer, and stairs.
Three-unite or Triplex:
A building similar to the duplex, except there are three
appartments over each other.
Four-unite or four-plex :
A building similar to the duplex, except there are
four appartments. In some cases, the arrangement
of apartments may be different and the lot size
may be larger than that of a regular house.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

1- Terraced house or Row house or Townhouses, are houses attached to

any number of other houses.
Each house may have multiple floors, side by side, each with their own
separate entrances.
Originally associated with the
working class.
In many cities terraced housing was
favored over the apartment building.

Row house in the states

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

1- Terraced house or row house or

townhouses
A style of medium-density housing that
originated in Europe in the late 17th
century where a row of identical or
mirror-image houses share side
walls.
The Place des Vosges (1605 1612)
was one of the earliest examples of the
style.
Row house in the UK

Early example of Row

house in Paris

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings

2- Shop-house (mixed use building form):

It consists of shops on the ground floor which open up to a public in a
covered passage, and which has residential accommodation upstairs.
The shop houses would adjoin
each other to form rows with
regular faade.
This mixed use building form
characterizes the historical centre
of most towns and cities.
It is vernacular style building type
that is commonly seen in areas
such as urban Southeast Asia.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
2- Shop-house:
Shop houses were initially occupied by
single families, with their private living
areas in an upper space and the public
family business downstairs.
Residential spaces are meant to
accommodate one or more families, or
serve as a dormitory for single workers.
The covered walkway along the road
is for public use, providing pedestrians
shade from sun and rain.
Unites can be arranged over the shops
or to the back, with separate back or
side entrances.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings 3
3- Apartment building:
A building with multiple floors containing
multiple apartments on each floor.
Apartment building can range in many sizes,
some with only a few apartments, other with
hundreds of apartments on many floors, or
any size in between.
There are often inside hallways and inside
entrances to each apartment.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings 3
3- Apartment building (high Rise):
A Tower block, Apartment tower, or Apartment block
Apartment blocks have technical and economic
advantages in areas with high population density.
They have become a well-known form of housing
accommodation in almost all densely populated
urban areas around the world.
In contrast with low-rise and single-family houses,
apartment blocks accommodate more inhabitants
per unit of area of land, and also decrease the
cost of public infrastructure.
In recent years, they have become popular with
their excellent views, desirable locations and
architectural styles, and now command high
prices.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings 3
3- Apartment building (high Rise):
A Tower block, Apartment tower, or Apartment block
In Roman Egypt seven-storey buildings existed
as early as the 3rd century AD in local towns
such as Hermopolis.
The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat housed
many high-rise residential buildings, some seven
stories tall that could accommodate hundreds of
people.
These high-rise apartment buildings and tower
blocks were built in Yemen in the 16th century.
They remain the tallest mud brick buildings in
the world.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
1- Single Housing types:
A penthouse apartment or penthouse apartment is
an apartment which is a single dwelling that is on the
highest floor of an apartment building.
If more than one apartment is on the floor then it is not
a penthouse, it would just be called a top floor flat or
apartment.
These structures do not occupy the entire roof deck.
A Penthouses apartments are typically
differentiated from other apartments by
luxury features.
penthouse apartment may have additional
exclusive features not found in the majority
of apartments in the building, such as: a
private entrance or elevator, or
higher/vaulted ceilings, having two or more
levels, a swimming pool.

HOUSING TYPES
B) attached or multi-user dwellings 3
3- Mixed use building:
A building with space for both
commercial, business, or office use,
and space for residential use.
Possible arrangements include the
commercial/business use on the first
or first couple floors and one or
more apartments or residential
spaces on the upper floors.
Another possibility is to have the
commercial/business area up front
and the residential area in the back.
An active pedestrian environment.