Semi Detached

DESIGN-
VII
HOUSING TYPOLOGY
SEMI-DETACHED
SUNIT DESIGN-VII
HOUSING TYPES
SEMI-DETACHED UNIT
• A SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE IS A SINGLE FAMILY
DUPLEX DWELLING HOUSE THAT SHARES ONE
COMMON WALL WITH THE NEXT HOUSE. THE
NAME DISTINUGISHES THIS STYLE OF HOUSE
FROM, WITH NO SHARED WALLS, AND TERRACED
HOUSES, WITH A SHARED WALL ON BOTH SIDES.
• SOME OF THE EARLIEST SEMI-DETACHED
EXAMPLES WERE BUILT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE BY
17TH-CENTURY LANDOWNERS WISHING TO
HOUSE THEIR LABOURERS CHEAPLY WHILE
MAKING THEIR ESTATES LOOK AS GRAND AS
POSSIBLE. IT IS MASS HOUSING IN MANORIAL
MASQUERADE.
• FROM ITS RURAL START, THE SEMI MOVED INTO TOWN DISGUISED AS A GEORGIAN VILLA. GEORGIANS WERE GREAT
SPECULATIVE VOLUME BUILDERS, SO IT SHOULD COME AS LITTLE SURPRISE TO FIND THAT THEY INVENTED THIS
ENDURINGLY MARKETABLE COMMODITY.
• LOUDON INCLUDED NEUROTICALLY DETAILED ADVICE ON MAKING TWO MORE MODEST HOMES APPEAR AS ONE: THE
TWO FRONT DOORS WERE HIDDEN DOWN OPPOSITE SIDES, TO COMPLETE THE ILLUSION OF WHOLENESS.
• NORMAN SHAW HAD SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF THE SMALL, MIDDLE-CLASS HOUSE, WITH HIS LIGHT-FILLED BAY
WINDOWS AND ECONOMICAL, REPEATABLE, YET INDIVIDUAL-LOOKING TYPES, HE HAD HELPED DEVELOP
A FORM OF MASS HOUSING WHICH EMINENTLY SERVED THE REQUIREMENTS OF A NEW CLASS.
SUNIT DESIGN-VII
• CORBUSIER’S FAMOUS HOUSE AT THE
WEISSENHOFSIEDLUNG WAS SEMI-DETACHED, ALTHOUGH IT
LOOKS MORE LIKE AN ESCAPED SEGMENT OF MASS
HOUSING - A POLAR-OPPOSITE EXAMPLE OF THE BRITISH
SEMI’S DISSEMBLING TENDENCIES.
• GROPIUS TOOK THE UNUSUAL STEP OF ROTATING THE SECOND

DWELLING, WHICH HAD AN IDENTICAL FLOOR PLAN TO THE FIRST,
BY 90 DEGREES, THUS RETURNING BY A CIRCUITOUS ROUTE TO THE
GEORGIAN SEMI THAT LOOKS LIKE ONE VILLA, EVEN IF HIS VERSION
DIDN’T LOOK LIKE MUCH ELSE THAT HAD COME BEFORE.
• FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S ‘AMERICAN SYSTEM-BUILT HOMES’

IN MILWAUKEE (1917) ARE DUPLEXES, THE ONLY EXAMPLES
OF THE TYPE IN HIS OEUVRE. THE GREATER AVAILABILITY OF
SPACE MADE SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES MORE AFFORDABLE
AND MORE PREVALENT IN SUBURBAN USA.
SUNIT DESIGN-VII
• THE SEMI CONTINUES TO APPEAL, BOTH TO VOLUME
BUILDERS AND TO MORE AUTONOMOUS ARCHITECTS,
MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT STILL APPEALS TO THE PUBLIC.
• THERE ARE COUNTLESS PEOPLE WHO CAN’T OR DON’T

WANT TO PAY FOR A FREESTANDING HOME, AND YET WISH
TO PARTAKE OF THE VERY REAL MATERIAL ADVANTAGES OF
SEMIS OVER TERRACED HOUSES OR FLATS: THEY OFFER
ACCESS TO THEIR (USUALLY LARGER) GARDENS WITHOUT
HAVING TO PASS THROUGH THE HOUSE (THIS SPACE ALSO 1. GARAGE, HARD-STANDING, OR CART PAD
COMES IN HANDY FOR PARKING OR LEAN-TO GARAGES), LOCATED TO THE SIDE OF THE DWELLING CAN
AND THEY HAVE NATURAL LIGHT ON THREE SIDES. REDUCE OVERSHADOWING ADJACENT SITES
• THEY ARE EASILY MODIFIED, AND THEREFORE OFFER THE
SATISFACTION THAT COMES FROM HAVING VISIBLY MADE
YOUR HOUSE YOUR OWN.
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMI-DETACHED HOUSING
INCLUDE:
• A DIFFERENT OVERALL STREET CHARACTER THAN TERRACED
ARRANGEMENTS, CREATED BY THE PAIRED FORM
• THEY ARE TYPICALLY LOCATED IN SUBURBAN SETTINGS, AND MAKE
FOR A ‘GREENER’ LOCAL ENVIRONMENT WITH VISUAL CONNECTIONS
FROM THE STREET TO BACK GARDENS AND GREEN SPACE TO THE SIDE
OF THE HOUSE
• THEY CAN BE CONVERTED INTO FLATS OR REMAIN AS INDIVIDUAL 2.DWELLINGS ATTACHED BY GARAGE ONLY
HOUSES
• THEY ARE GENERALLY LARGER INDIVIDUAL HOUSES THAN TERRACED
SUNIT DESIGN-VII
HOUSES
ADVANTAGES OF SEMI-DETACHED HOUSING
• IT CAN BE ACCOMMODATED ON SMALLER OR MORE CONSTRAINED SITES.
• IT PROVIDES INTERMEDIARY DENSITY WHICH IS MORE APPROPRIATE TO SUBURBAN SETTINGS THAN TERRACED
HOUSING, BUT WITH GREATER SITE EFFICIENCY THAN DETACHED HOUSING.
• A STRONGER STREET EDGE THAN DETACHED HOUSING CAN BE CREATED, WITH MORE DEFINED FRONTS AND BACKS.
• SEMI-DETACHED HOUSES ARE MORE COMPATIBLE IN THEIR OVERALL SCALE TO EXISTING DETACHED HOUSES, AND CAN
THEREFORE BE LOCATED UNOBTRUSIVELY BEHIND OR TO THE SIDE OF EXISTING HOUSES TO ACHIEVE ‘HIDDEN DENSITY’.
• IT CAN ASSIST IN ACHIEVING A MIX OF HOUSING CHOICE.
• IT IS A GOOD HOUSING CHOICE TO TRANSITION BETWEEN MEDIUM TO LOWER DENSITY AREAS.
• LIGHT CAN POTENTIALLY ENTER FROM THREE SIDES, ALTHOUGH IF ADJACENT TO THE BOUNDARY THIS MAY HAVE TO BE
OBSCURED.
DISADVANTAGES OF SEMI-DETACHED HOUSING

• VIEWS INTO BACKS AND SIDES OF PROPERTIES CAN AFFECT OCCUPANTS’ PRIVACY, IF THEY ARE NOT APPROPRIATELY
SPACED OR LANDSCAPED.
SUNIT DESIGN-VII

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DESIGN-

• GROPIUS TOOK THE UNUSUAL STEP OF ROTATING THE SECOND

• FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S ‘AMERICAN SYSTEM-BUILT HOMES’

• THERE ARE COUNTLESS PEOPLE WHO CAN’T OR DON’T

DISADVANTAGES OF SEMI-DETACHED HOUSING

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