The House and a Half takes its lead from its traditional ancestor. The house is not an object but part of a continual façade. Proportions are always vertically and formally arranged. Openings in the dark brick are trimmed in thin white crisp frames. The front door opens directly onto the street, giving a sense of ownership and clarity. The main living space is on the first floor at the front, with the highest proportion.

By sharing ‘a half’ with its neighbour, the housetype allows density along a street or square. This generates efficiency for the developer and intensifies the resident’s city lifestyle, without loss of coherence. Like its ancestor, the House and a Half combines elegance and efficiency, benefitting the city, its developers and its residents.

Construction methodology - Futureform Building System

The FutureForm system uses a 4.2m wide module for efficiency and transportation. This module creates a generous open plan living room. Circulation space, bathrooms and kitchens require only 2.1m. The housetype exploits this.

Each house is made from one 4.2m wide unit for the living areas on each floor. The living space is served by half of the adjoining unit. The service units serve both adjacent houses from one set of infrastructure. This service unit is efficiently packed with stairs, bathrooms, boilers, electrical services, kitchens and solar thermal technology.

Each house is made from a module and a half, which gives high density and efficiency for transportation. The reduced surface area of the building reduces maintenance and heat loss.

The designer is confident the housetype can achieve Code for Sustainable Homes level 5, but this will be assessed on a site by site basis.

Flexible living

The house and a half is a home that embraces change and is inherently flexible. Changes in lifestyle and family size can be accommodated. As each floor is connected to all services the house can be divided horizontally.

The ‘half’ unit has straight stairs that can accommodate a stairlift when needed. The ground floor can become a self contained flat for people who can’t manage to climb the stairs. As all the services are contained in the ‘half’, future equipment and technology can easily be retrofitted with straight pipe and cable runs.

Home working is accommodated with the provision of a small work area on the first floor. The home working area is adjacent to the main living area so parents can keep an eye on what their children are viewing online without being intrusive.

The kitchen can move to the first floor and the ground can become a shared office for four or five staff. Visitors to this office do not need to come through the house. In all, the house and a half responds to residents’ life stages, desires and needs.

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