---
title: "House for One Person (78)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 78
pattern_name: "House for One Person"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/House%20for%20One%20Person%20%2878%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "The Family (75)"
  - "House for a Small Family (76)"
  - "House for a Couple (77)"
  - "Your Own Home (79)"
  - "Farmhouse Kitchen (139)"
  - "Bathing Room (144)"
  - "Window Place (180)"
  - "Workspace Enclosure (183)"
  - "Bed Alcove (188)"
  - "Dressing Rooms (189)"
  - "Old Age Cottage (155)"
  - "Teenager's Cottage (154)"
---

# House for One Person (78)

> 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
>Once a household for one person is part of some larger group, the most critical problem which arises is the need for simplicity.

### Solution
>Conceive a house for one person as a place of the utmost simplicity: essentially a one-room cottage or studio, with large and small alcoves around it. When it is most intense, the entire house may be no more than 300 to 400 square feet.

### Related Patterns
... the households with one person in them, more than any other, need to be a part of some kind of larger household - [[The Family (75)]]. Either build them to fit into some larger group household, or even attach them, as ancillary cottages to other, ordinary family households like [[House for a Small Family (76)]] or [[House for a Couple (77)]].

And again, make the house an individual piece of territory, with its own garden, no matter how small - [[Your Own Home (79)]]; make the main room essentially a kind of farmhouse kitchen - [[Farmhouse Kitchen (139)]], with alcoves opening off it for sitting, working, bathing, sleeping, dressing - [[Bathing Room (144)]], [[Window Place (180)]], [[Workspace Enclosure (183)]], [[Bed Alcove (188)]], [[Dressing Rooms (189)|Dressing Room (189)]]; if the house is meant for an old person, or for someone very young, shape it also according to the pattern for [[Old Age Cottage (155)]] or [[Teenager's Cottage (154)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 389.
> #APL/confidence/medium
>
> #APL/Town-Patterns/Social-Institutions---Families