---
title: "House for a Couple (77)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 77
pattern_name: "House for a Couple"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/House%20for%20a%20Couple%20%2877%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "The Family (75)"
  - "House Cluster (37)"
  - "Your Own Home (79)"
  - "Couple's Realm (136)"
  - "A Room of One's Own (141)"
---

# House for a Couple (77)

> 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
>In a small household shared by two, the most important problem which arises is the possibility that each may have too little opportunity for solitude or privacy.

### Solution
>Conceive a house for a couple as being made up of two kinds of places—a shared couple’s realm and individual private worlds. Imagine the shared realm as half-public and half-intimate; and the private worlds as entirely individual and private.

### Related Patterns
... again, ideally, every couple is a part of a larger group household - [[The Family (75)]]. If this can not be so, try to build the house for the couple in such a way as to tie it together with some other households, to form the beginnings of a group household, or, if this fails, at least to form the beginnings of a [[House Cluster (37)]].

Again, treat the house as a distinct piece of territory, in some fashion owned by its users - [[Your Own Home (79)]]. Lay out the common part, according to the pattern [[Couple's Realm (136)]], and give both persons an individual world of their own where they can be alone - [[A Room of One's Own (141)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 385.
> #APL/confidence/medium
>
> #APL/Town-Patterns/Social-Institutions---Families