Bungalows: The Ultimate Design Guide

ABOVE: This bungalow was built by serial self builder Len Dean for his retirement. Read more about this project.

Despite its critics the bungalow remains an enduringly popular form of house design in the UK and across the world. In the UK it is usually associated with homes for retired couples, yet in recent years the single storey house (as it is now referred to by many) is enjoying a renaissance amongst those designing and building contemporary homes. The resulting break from the stale traditions of the conven­tional 1930s-style bungalow has created a lot of interest in single storey living from self-builders of all ages and back­grounds. Bringing your bungalow into the 21st century requires an innovative approach to the unique design challenges and opportunities.

Situation on the Plot

A home designed over just one storey has a footprint area of at least twice that of a two storey house with the same area of living space. This means that a larger and, therefore, more expensive plot will be required.

Unless a bungalow is designed with a nar­row footprint, the ratio of external wall area to total floor area will be reduced compared to a two storey house of the same size. This can make it difficult to include sufficient windows for all of the main rooms. This problem may be exacerbated on a smaller site, as planning rules may prevent windows from being included if they are going to overlook a neighbouring property — unless the windows are not in ‘habitable rooms’ defined as bathrooms, utility rooms, etc. Planning normally requires a mini­mum distance of 3.6 metres between a win­dow serving a habit­able room and the boundary with a neighbouring property — although this may not be a problem if the win­dow/view is screened by boundary walls, fences or planting.

In the past the solution, whenever a bun­galow was contemplated on a narrow plot, was to make it narrower and place it gable end onto the road. Nothing could be less inspiring. Such designs have little kerb appeal and are hampered by the amount of circulation space required to access all of the rooms — typically a long narrow corridor. The solution is to use a more complex footprint. By staggering the shape and offsetting smaller rectangles, there is a greater area of external walls and windows can look along rather than at the boundary. Unfortunately, an irregular footprint significantly increases construction costs.

Bring in Light From Above

For rooms where it is not possible to include windows ­– either because the planners will not accept them, or where rooms have no external walls for windows – the solution is to bring in light from above, or to use borrowed light from other rooms by creating an open plan layout, or by using internal glazing. Bungalows have the advan­tage that no matter how large the foot­print, no room is separated from daylight from above by more than a few feet of roof space. Light can be channelled this short distance via rooflights set into vaulted ceilings, light towers, or sunpipes (reflective tubes that bring light down through the roof space).

Separate Sleeping and Living

Something to guard against when designing a bungalow is the mixing up of living and sleeping accommodation. In a house, with all or most of the bedrooms upstairs, there is a natural division. Not so with a bungalow where it is all too easy to end up with bed­rooms muddled up with recep­tion or utility rooms. A good design will ensure separate spaces for separate functions. A typical solution is to design the layout as two or more distinct sec­tions, one containing the ‘public’ living spaces and the other the ‘private’ spaces such as bedrooms, linked by circulation space such as an entrance hall, or inner hallways.

Create Interesting Shapes

Forgetting about square is also important. Walls don’t always have to be at right angles to each other. If there is a panoramic view then there is no reason why the bungalow can’t be shaped into that view. Internally a hexagonal hall allows doors to be let into each facet and, in the rooms that those doors serve, that effectively means that the door does not, therefore, take space from the room.

Varying Floor and Ceiling Heights

Designing rooms with higher ceilings can add interest to a single storey dwelling without compromising access for those with mobility impairments. Further interest can be added by incorporating varying floor levels, a design solution that particularly suits sloping sites.

ABOVE: Martin Swatton has extended and totally transformed an ordinary 1930s bungalow into a light, bright and contemporary living space with some quirky touches. Read more about this project.

The History of the Bunglalow

Single storey living is nothing new to the United Kingdom, from the traditional long houses of Essex through to the Highland crofts. The modern bungalow or single storey house began as an idea imported from India, where it came to mean a single storey detached, tiled or thatched dwelling surrounded by a wide verandah. The word ‘bungalow’ probably derived from the Gujarati word ‘bangalo’ or the Hindi word ‘bangla’. Either way, the bungalow was adopted with relish but probably saw its greatest explosion in numbers in the period between the Great War and World War II and in the three decades following. Inevitably the original concept of the bungalow changed, with the verandah, deemed largely unnecessary for our climate. The Utilitarian principles dictated by post war shortages also led to the gradual adoption of the largely rectangular format, used in the prefabs. These then evolved into mainstream construction methods and began to be referred to as ‘Ranch Style’. In the 1960s and 70s the move towards prefabrication changed to incorporate concrete panel construction and these were enthusiastically taken up in rural areas where farmers used them to house key workers. Bungalows began to lose favour as plots became increasingly scarce and, following local government reorganisation in 1974, the evolving recognition within planning authorities of the need to preserve some sort of local character or vernacular did not include the relatively modern and foreign concept of the bungalow. Even in those areas where they had almost become the predominant form of architecture they were frowned upon, although new development in close proximity had to try to form architectural bridges by the use of single storey sections to otherwise two storey houses.

Planning View: When are bungalows required?

During the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when the price of land was proportionately much less than it is today, building bungalows was the cheap option. They were also seen as an easy solution to planning problems, on the simple premise that bungalows were the form of development least likely to upset anyone. Once permission was achieved the plot could then be sold and someone else could, if they wanted, face all the hassle of going for the second storey.

A bungalow will usually be less visible than a full two storey house; it will not overlook neighbouring properties and in theory the occupants are likely to be older (sensible) rather then younger (noisy). This bungalow logic is a direct result of the planning system’s sensitivity to local politics. If local people object to an application then planning can take longer and perhaps be refused: hence their long-standing appeal.

But because bungalows require more land than the same sized property arranged on two stories they now represent an expensive way of building. The planning world is also less bungalow-friendly, design issues are now more important than they used to be, and bungalows are not usually considered to be locally distinctive or very attractive. Conservation officers in local authorities normally hate them.

So despite their popularity and obvious advantages as lifetime homes, bungalows are not as fashionable as they once were. On some very tight sites where overlooking or overshadowing are a problem the ‘single storey dwelling’ may still have a role in overcoming planning objections. With a new generation of designers exploring radical ideas for single storey homes, however, it seems that there may be once again a demand for bungalows independently of planning constraints.

Planning View: Adding Space to Bungalows

For those who cannot afford to move, or who are maximising the benefit of a self-build project, there is real potential for adding a second storey to a single storey dwelling, either by converting the roof space or extending. First of all you should check, by looking at the planning file, whether there is any good reason why the property you are looking at does not have the extra floor already. You should also establish whether there are any special planning restrictions. If there aren’t, then permission may not be needed for rooflights, gable end windows or dormer windows as long as certain caveats are met. This is called Permitted Development (PD) and it allows a significant amount to be done. If permission is required the issue of design is always subjective and planners all have slightly different opinions. Looking at what has been built nearby can be a useful pointer, (planners particularly dislike big box dormers but they can actually be built under PD). Possible overlooking onto neighbours from new windows is a key issue but planning does allow some flexibility. Planning authorities usually issue their own Supplementary Planning Guidance showing the roof designs and privacy guidelines followed in their area.

Basements have very limited impact on the wider world but there are still a few potential obstacles. Additional accommodation may increase the parking requirement for an urban property and extra parking spaces could be a condition of any permission. Flooding is a potential issue and if in a sensitive location they will probably request a flood risk assessment. In green belt areas planning controls are draconian and they may even seek to prevent basements in principle. Remember that planning is unpredictable because it involves subjective judgment and local politics.

The Dormer Bungalow

In reality this isn’t a bungalow at all. It is simply a style of house where most if not all of the sleeping accommodation finds itself within the slope of the roof. This has the effect of lowering the ridge height, something that may be useful in sensitive areas.

A bungalow with rooms in the roof is entirely different. Here the principal accom­moda­tion for both living and sleeping is situated on the ground floor and those rooms that are created in the roof are extra or ancillary to the dwelling’s main purpose as a bungalow.

Further Reading:

• A Contemporary Bungalow
• A Self-build Chalet Bungalow
• A Contemporary Single Storey Self-build
• Before and After Design - Renovating a Bungalow
• A Radically Remodelled Bungalow
• A Self Built Bungalow
• Building Another Storey on Top of a Bungalow
• Can We Render Our Bungalow?