Architext #1308: Separately Together!

Today’s residential planning challenges are much more complex than just two decades ago.  Although the family unit is still a strong driver of residential new home design, many other “family” configurations now demand new, creative design solutions.  Often mature couples, with their own previous family experiences and set in their own housing and living patterns struggle when they explore the possibilities of moving in together.  They fear a loss of identity might come with sharing living space.  One such couple in Vermont solved this problem by effectively creating two houses and connecting them with a bridge.  Here’s the article. 

As a young designer in the 1980′s, I encountered this need for “separateness” when designing a house for a large family in Glastonbury, CT.  Only in this case, mom and dad wanted their private space, their bedroom, to be as removed as possible from the common areas of the house.  Solution: I put their bedroom over a freestanding 3-car garage and connected it with a bridge! A similar solution to the Vermont couple, but in response to a different set of program goals.  Here’s the Glastonbury house. You can see the garage and the bridge to the left.  Surprisingly, the bridge spans a relatively short distance–but that was just enough to make the physical and psychological break that was needed.

Now, I’m not proposing that bridges are the design answer to all of today’s house planning woes.  It’s just not that simple!  What I am saying is that today’s diverse lifestyles and “family” configurations may require solutions that cannot be found in off-the-shelf designs.  So, if you’re planning an new house, find a stock plan that “gets close” and then modify it so that it fully satisfies your program.  

Hope this helps with your planning effort. Good Luck. DN

Dom Narducci is a practicing architect in Southbury, CT.  He provides complete architectural design and project management services (Freestone-inc.com) and offers a line of stock house plans (FreestonePlans.com). Additionally, Narducci teaches and writes on design and construction issues. Comments are welcome. If you have a question for Ask the Architect!, contact Dom at: dnarducci@freestone-inc.com.