---
title: "House for a Small Family (76)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 76
pattern_name: "House for a Small Family"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/House%20for%20a%20Small%20Family%20%2876%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)"
  - "Common Areas at the Heart (129)"
  - "Couple's Realm (136)"
  - "Bed Cluster (143)"
  - "Children's Realm (137)"
---

# House for a Small Family (76)

> 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 house for a small family, it is the relationship between children and adults which is most critical.

### Solution
>Give the house three distinct parts: a realm for parents, a realm for the children, and a common area. Conceive these three realms as roughly similar in size, with the commons the largest.

### Related Patterns
... according to [[The Family (75)]], each nuclear family ought to be a member household of a larger group household. If this is not possible, do what you can, when building a house for a small family, to generate some larger, possible group household, by tying it together with the next door households; in any case, at the very least, form the beginning of a [[House Cluster (37)]].

Treat the house, like every house, as a distinct piece of territory - [[Your Own Home (79)]]; build the three main parts according to the specific patterns for those parts - [[Common Areas at the Heart (129)]], [[Couple's Realm (136)]], [[Bed Cluster (143)]] and connect the common areas, and the bed cluster according to the [[Children's Realm (137)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 381.
> #APL/confidence/medium
>
> #APL/Town-Patterns/Social-Institutions---Families