Single-Family Home: Definition, Architecture, and Design

What is a single-family house? What characteristics and architecture should it have? Follow me in this focus: I will explain everything you need to know about single-family houses and I will also provide you for free with the 3D BIM model of a project that you can use as you wish.

Before we begin, you can already use the 3D architectural design software for free, with which I created the 3D model of Casa Kaufmann by Richard Neutra from which you can obtain all the graphic documents of the project (floor plans, cross-sections, 3D views, renders, etc.).

Overall view of the house exterior

What is a detached single-family home?

The single-family house is a type of building with an independent entrance, generally accompanied by a garden and intended for the residence of a single family.

In relation to the urban context, it is normally associated with extensive use areas, that is, areas with a low land use index (It) (thus greater availability of free land). This type of housing therefore requires considerable land use, infrastructure for services, and high production and maintenance costs.

The single-family house can be detached or attached: detached if it has four free walls, attached if it has shared walls.

Included in the single-family house category are:

• separated houses,
• duplex houses,
• courtyard houses (or patio houses),
• row houses,

Our discussion will focus on the separated single-family house.

Characteristics of a detached single-family home

The separated single-family house is an independent dwelling located on a lot that can vary in size and presence of green areas. The dwelling can be arranged on one or more floors, with the most common configuration being two levels. Often there is also a basement or semi-basement, used as a garage or for service spaces.

The residential building type under consideration is a housing type that requires considerable development of roads and infrastructure for services.

Identifying and classifying the aspects that characterize the single-family house, we can first say that it encompasses all the following aspects: accommodation, elementary typological module, and living organism.

Essential characteristics of the single-family house are:

• presence of unique vertical usage;
• arrangement of openings on four sides: consequently, the elementary living spaces can be aggregated with extreme freedom;
• the organization of the environments. Usually, in the organization of the environments of a house, the day zone (living room, kitchen) is oriented to the south or southwest to maximize natural light during the day, while the night zone (bedrooms) is often oriented to the north or east to ensure a cooler temperature and less exposure to direct sunlight in the afternoon hours. The work zone could also benefit from good natural lighting, so it could be oriented to the south or east, depending on specific needs.

Historically, the isolated single-family building can be considered the first urban dwelling. Initially consisting of a single small room, it has over time transformed into a multi-cellular building with multiple floors, a precursor to the row house and the linear house.

Within the isolated house, generally intended for a single family, two or more accommodations can also be hosted: in this case, it will be defined as a duplex or multi-family dwelling.

The isolated single-family house is characterized by independent accesses organized directly from the street front and is generally equipped with a large open ancillary space, treated with greenery, both at the front and back of the house, also organized for car parking or small DIY activities.

The floor plan of the isolated single-family house lends itself to being interpreted and declined in multiple design solutions depending on the size of the lot and the economic availability of the users.

A very common solution is that of the duplex house, which sees two single housing units placed side by side in a single building body, generally organized in duplex, that is, on two floors connected by an internal staircase.

The distance of the building from the main vehicular road makes the single-family house a less urban building type and more suitable for peripheral and semi-peripheral areas where it is also more common to have larger lots.

Architectural evolution of independent single-family houses

The single-family house is the most common form of living: connected to primary human needs, many times its configuration recalls the primitive hut and the Ur-form, that is, the original form of living. It is a construction type that is more representative of the history of architecture than any other.

Over time, the dimensions, materials, construction techniques, type, and number of users have changed so much that the typology of the house has been declined into multiple design interpretations.

The typological characteristics, as well as the different spatial organizations of the house, have changed throughout architectural history, in parallel with the social and economic changes of the countries of origin and the needs of its inhabitants.

Living room view

The single-family house had a celebratory and representative character in the Renaissance, while with the Modern Movement, the typology of housing became the subject of the most interesting conceptual and constructive innovations in architectural knowledge.

It was born in its current definition with the urbanism of the industrial revolution and the development of new concepts of home characteristic of the bourgeois classes. It historically derives from past models and represents a simplification and economization of the villa and country house in its various meanings.

Its most rigorous exemplification is established in architecture by the Modern Movement, for example with Frank Lloyd Wright’s “prairie houses,” and somewhat criticized by Le Corbusier, who sought to overcome the concept with the Unitè d’Habitation.

Even today, it represents the most sought-after building typology, due to its characteristics of independence from other homes and freedom from condominium constraints, combined with greater privacy and the presence of accessory functions such as the garden.

However, its cost is higher compared to other types of housing: the price of land and the lack of economies derived from the sharing of certain structures and systems significantly impact it.

In Italy, the single-family house is not the most common building typology, unlike what happens in the United States. This is likely due to the more individualistic conception of American society, as well as the ample space available.

In Europe, it is more widespread in some Nordic countries, where it is the result of particular urban planning programs developed with rationalist architecture.

In many of these cities, the idea of the garden city developed in the early years of the twentieth century, where the single-family house model became more convenient due to specific building conventions that provided for the sharing of certain services, such as centralized heating systems or the road system within the lots.

Design and layout of an independent single-family home

When the layout of a single-family house is distributed over one floor, the living room constitutes the central element, around which the other spaces develop. It separates, on one side, the night area with the respective bathroom, and on the other, the kitchen and services.

In the two-story type, on the other hand, the night area is generally located on the upper floor and is connected by an internal staircase to the ground floor, where the living room and kitchen are located.

Usually, in this case, the layouts of the two floors are the same or the upper one is partially reduced to form a terrace: this typology is defined as block construction or closed scheme. Instead, in particular solutions where there is no perfect equality and overlap between the two layouts, it is referred to as open scheme.

An intermediate solution involves the presence of a double-height living room, services on the lower floor, and the night area on the upper one.

To reduce expenses due to the cost of land and perimeter walls, you can resort to the construction of single-family homes in combination. In a building constructed according to these criteria, the units have perfectly identical or mirrored layouts, with the same number of rooms and external spaces.

The most significant examples of this building typology belong to the most fervent period of rationalism and are the work of some great masters of architecture.

The case study of the Kaufmann House: an iconic example of design of independent single-family homes

Kaufmann House by architect Richard Neutra represents one of the most important examples of architecture in residential style. We could  easily refer to it as an iconic home in modern architecture.

Garden view

The Designer

Richard Neutra is universally regarded as one of the icons of modern architecture. Although he designed more than 300 projects between 1925 and 1950, his fame is inextricably linked to residential interventions in Southern California.

Born in Vienna, he grew up with the myth of those key figures in the history of architecture who managed to create their own path independently. Among others, we cannot fail to mention Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler, or Robert Evans Alexander.

Kaufmann House represents the pinnacle of Richard Neutra’s work as a designer in Palm Springs, California.

The Project

Completed in 1950, the Kaufmann House (also known as Desert House) was conceived as a retreat for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family from the icy winters of the northeastern United States. This is the same Kaufmann who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build Fallingwater (House on the Waterfall) a decade earlier.

Kaufmann House – Elevation A

Built in 1946, the magnificent two-story residence features many distinctive elements of modern architecture: a flat roof, a bright interior and shaded outdoor spaces, adapted to the arid climate of the California desert. The house is predominantly oriented east-west, maximizing sunrise and sunset.

It has spaces defined by silver horizontal planes and vertical planes of glass and stone that make the building extremely light, resting on the arid ground of the desert.

The only prominent vertical element is the chimney located on the so-called “Gloriette,” a small attic whose space is defined by the vertical rock wall of the chimney and the vertical aluminum slat panels; the slats define a transparent wall and protect from the wind.

View of the chimney

The layout includes five bedrooms and five bathrooms, with a grassy courtyard and a pool overlooking the San Jacinto mountains to the west.

Casa Kaufmann –  ground floor plan

Its standout features are the slatted metal walls, which create airy indoor and outdoor spaces alongside landscapes with large boulders, cacti, palm trees, and sand gardens.

Kaufmann House – first level floor plan

The elimination of spatial barriers, however, does not depend solely on the concept of an open plan but also on the choice of furnishings and materials: a mix of elements dear to the International Style such as glass and steel and Utah stone.

Large sliding glass doors open onto patios that are aligned with movable vertical metal fins. These slats allow the rooms to be shaded and cooled during extreme heat waves and closed during sandstorms.

The house has a cross-shaped layout, with a square core and a dining room at the center, and wings extending in cardinal directions. To the west is a kitchen and service rooms, accessed via a covered breezeway, with a master bedroom to the east. The south wing includes two covered walkways separated by a massive stone wall, while another open path leads north to a couple of guest bedrooms, passing by a patio.

The deep harmony between the living spaces and the surrounding nature of the Kaufmann Villa recalls the concept of organic architecture intensely developed by its master Frank Lloyd Wright: an approach where all design elements, the building itself, and its furnishings generate an interconnected and unified composition capable of almost spontaneous dialogue with the landscape all around.

Its raison d’être, as mentioned, is that of a winter retreat from the cold American northeast. Although everyone knows the unsustainability of a glass cube in the middle of the American desert, it does serve the purpose for which it was conceived: to capture as much solar radiation as possible.

The distribution unfolds along two trajectories. While the more private spaces of the house are oriented along the east-west axis, the reception areas run from north to south. The layout developed by Neutra is designed to receive maximum daylight and the greatest possible ventilation.

Kaufmann House – section C

Balance, independence, and landscape are the main characteristics of the entire project.

The flows are precisely organized so that they develop in shaded galleries, separated from private spaces, allowing them to unfold in total autonomy and respect for family privacy.

The pool is one of the most iconic and recognizable elements of the house: it should not only be understood as a photographic jewel. The basin indeed responds to a precise design of compositional balance.

The building and the landscape appear as a single element. Hence the negation of the boundary between inside and outside.

Immutable architecture does not exist; it is born to be lived. Following heavy alterations and modifications, Casa Kaufmann was restored in the mid-1990s by American architects Marmol and Radziner. To describe the charm of this splendid architecture, a quote from Radziner himself is worth mentioning:

The day we tore down all the posthumous annexes, only a beautiful skeleton remained

Material for download of an independent single-family house project

Here is the 3D model of the project available for download, which includes all graphic documents.

Download the 3D BIM model of the project