---
title: "House Cluster (37)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 37
pattern_name: "House Cluster"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/House%20Cluster%20%2837%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Identifiable Neighborhood (14)"
  - "Density Rings (29)"
  - "Household Mix (35)"
  - "Degrees of Publicness (36)"
  - "Row Houses (38)"
  - "Housing Hill (39)"
  - "Common Land (67)"
  - "Home Workshop (157)"
  - "Circulation Realms (98)"
  - "Small Parking Lots (103)"
  - "The Family (75)"
  - "House for a Small Family (76)"
  - "House for a Couple (77)"
  - "House for One Person (78)"
  - "Your Own Home (79)"
---

# House Cluster (37)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>People will not feel comfortable in their houses unless a group of houses forms a cluster, with the public land between them jointly owned by all the householders.

### Solution
>Arrange houses to form very rough, but identifiable clusters of 8 to 12 households around some common land and paths. Arrange the clusters so that anyone can walk through them, without feeling like a trespasser.

### Related Patterns
... the fundamental unit of organization within the neighborhood - [[Identifiable Neighborhood (14)]] - is the cluster of a dozen houses. By varying the density and composition of different clusters, this pattern may also help to generate the [[Density Rings (29)]], [[Household Mix (35)]], and [[Degrees of Publicness (36)]].

Use this pattern as it is for low densities, up to about 15 houses per acre; at higher densities, modify the cluster with the additional structure given by [[Row Houses (38)]] or [[Housing Hill (39)]]. Always provide common land between the houses - [[Common Land (67)]] and a shared common workshop [[Home Workshop (157)]]. Arrange paths clearly - [[Circulation Realms (98)]] - and lay these paths out in such a way that they create busier paths and backwaters, even within the cluster - [[Degrees of Publicness (36)]]; keep parking in [[Small Parking Lots (103)]],and make the houses in the cluster suit the households which will live there - [[The Family (75)]], [[House for a Small Family (76)]], [[House for a Couple (77)]], [[House for One Person (78)]], [[Your Own Home (79)]].

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 197.
> #APL/confidence/high
>
> #APL/Town-Patterns/Housing-Clusters