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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1 2

• 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 2

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
1
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
1
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
HOUSING TYPES
1
B) attached or multi-user dwellings
HOUSING TYPES
2
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
2
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
2
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 façade.
• 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
2
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
1
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.