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House for a Small Family (76)

type: concept
updated: 2026-07-01
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
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.

... 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) ...

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

#APL/Town-Patterns/Social-Institutions---Families

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