Single Storey Houses: Case Studies

Despite being a fundamentally inefficient building form, both in build cost terms and development density, several thousand bungalows are still built each year in the UK — many of them one-off homes created by selfbuilders. Rarely, however, are they built because they are considered fashionable. The decision to build a single storey house is usually either a luxury for those with a generous budget, or a necessity due to planning restrictions, or special needs. However, on the right plot – and with the right designer – the single storey form can provide perfect living accommodation and still make a fine architectural statement, as the project above shows.

Cantilevering from a Sloping Site

This 287m² house (ABOVE), completed in August 2008, sits at the foot of a steep escarpment in the Wicklow hills. Designed by Dublin-based ODOS Architects (odosarchitects.com), the property takes a simple sculptural form — a flat slab of whiterendered space with large frameless windows, cantilevered out from its sloping site, supported by a basement level built into the hillside that houses a two-car garage, boiler room, WC and utility room. The projecting living space is also supported by five thin red-painted steel rods set at angles.

The property is entered at first floor level via a dramatic wide staircase (BELOW), and opens into a corridor hallway which widens as it leads to the ‘public’ areas of the house – the open plan living space, kitchen and dining area – and diminishes where it leads to the ‘private’ spaces — three bedrooms (master en suite), study and family bathroom. The flat roof is peppered with rooflights to bring light from above into all of the internal spaces, which would otherwise have no natural light, and also give views of the dramatic escarpment behind the property.

Open Plan with a Central Corridor

Robert and Lesley Watson’s wave-shaped single storey home on the South Devon coast (BELOW) overcomes the classic problems presented by the deep plan necessary to create a large bungalow on a relatively narrow site. Planning restrictions dictated that the form would need to be single storey and without dormers, which resulted in a low, wide design. The layout, designed by ARA Architects (01202 479919, ara-architects.co.uk), is configured so that Lesley’s mother has her own independent suite of rooms, with a separate entrance lobby inside the main front door.

The main living accommodation is largely open plan, to make the most of the sea views and passive solar gain from the south. Secondary bedrooms, bathrooms, a utility and storage are on the north side, with long, narrow windows to minimise heat loss. A curving corridor runs down the centre of the house to connect the north- and southfacing sections. Borrowed light from the open plan living area illuminates this otherwise windowless space via six tall, narrow slots in the partition wall. The 200m2 timber frame property was completed in 2005 for £1,025/m².
Read more...

The Long and Thin L-Shape Plan

A large proportion of self-build plots are created by subdividing the garden of an existing house, but often the only way to get planning for a new dwelling is by restricting the ridge height to a single storey, so the new structure remains all but invisible — particularly in sensitive planning areas. Grant Duncan’s family home, set in and around the walled gardens of a manor house in Fife, is just such a design. Its remarkable lowprofile form (ABOVE) is topped by a sleek thin, flat roof, which overhangs the building by several metres to the south to shield the building from the sun and prevent overheating.

Designed by architect Gareth Hoskins (0141 221 0600, garethhoskinsarchitects.co.uk), the main part of the footprint of the 260m² single storey house (it took two years and cost £1,900/m²) is L-shaped with the principal south-facing open plan living, kitchen and dining space nestling within the crook of the L, overlooking the main gardens via floor-to-ceiling walls of structural glazing and sliding glazed doors.

The more private bedroom spaces are separated from the living areas and are reached via a long corridor. The bedrooms and bathrooms look east onto a private orchard and all have doors onto the garden.
Read more...

Infill with T-Shape Plan

When Jackie Strube and Alan Stone found a 150m² triangular-shaped site overlooked on three sides by the backs of terraced houses in Brighton, it presented a big design challenge — the ridge height of their new house was restricted to the top of the neighbours’ fences, dictating not just single storey design but a flat roof. The solution (ABOVE), created by architect Ollie Blair (01273 888080), takes the form of a broadly T-shaped footprint, which goes right up to the boundary in places, with a small private courtyard garden. The open plan design, centred around a combined kitchen, dining and living area, feels surprisingly spacious. This is helped by taller ceiling heights, created by excavating the site to lower the ground level. Rooflights help bring in light from above. The property, completed in 2007, cost £2,500/m².
Read more...

Sections, Shapes and Courtyards

The innovative layout of this 100m² single storey property in Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny (ABOVE) – designed by Dublin-based Boyd Cody Architects (boydcodyarch.com) – wraps each of the five rooms around an open-ended external courtyard, avoiding any dark, windowless core at the heart of the layout. Floor-to-ceiling iroko sliding glazed doors open onto the courtyards and views of the surrounding meadow. Built on a south-facing hill, the five sections of the property, measuring from 2.1m to 2.7m, step up the hill and are laid out over an area measuring 15m x 15m — the effect is to double the perceived area of accommodation.

The house has a simple palette of materials, with a sedum roof, rendered walls externally and part internally, and polished concrete floors inside that continue out into the courtyards — helping to distract from the boundaries.

Rural Meets Modern

John Cameron’s new home in the Highlands (ABOVE), designed by Philip Flockhart of Morris & Steedman Associates (0131 226 6563, www.msastudio.co.uk) along the principles of a traditional rural longhouse, enjoys breathtaking views via a huge south-facing window that makes up two thirds of its principal elevation. A long linking corridor and utility space are to the north, lit from above via a series of NorDan roof windows, and the main living room, open plan kitchen/dining space, and master bedroom all face south. The 152m² timber frame property includes bedrooms in the roof space, and cost £1,316/m² to build.
Read more...

Different Levels

This interesting split-level design (ABOVE) was conceived by Neil Sutherland Architects (01463 709993) to meet the demands of a sloping site without simply cutting and filling to create a level platform. Three single storey sections on different levels step down the slope, linked by a single monopitch turf-covered roof, which follows the slope of the ground and helps the building blend into the surrounding landscape.

“Problems associated with stepping down the building are increased complexity in foundation and roof design,” says Sarah Johnston of Neil Sutherland Architects. The other problems relate to accessibility: the Building Regulations now positively discourage split-level houses.

“General rules we apply to single storey houses are to try and keep it long and thin rather than the ubiquitous deep-plan widegabled bungalows. Long, thin buildings allow for good solar penetration and cross ventilation with achievable spans in timber. These linear elements can then be arranged in various configurations dependent on views, slope, area and so on.”

Internal Glazed Atrium

Creating a bungalow with a footprint of 550m² is a real challenge unless you have the space to stretch out the building in a long, narrow form to create lots of external walls for windows — something very few sites could accommodate. Stuart and Sarah Carr resolved this problem in their large contemporary-style, minimalist home in Lancashire (ABOVE), by introducing a magnificent glassroofed courtyard in the centre of the house. The same concept could work with an open courtyard garden. If you want the best of both worlds, it is possible to incorporate a sliding flat glass roof, with weather sensors that close it automatically if it should rain.

The Carrs, who designed the house themselves, incorporated floor-to-ceiling glass walls using structural glazing, with sliding doors, and a largely open plan layout to ensure the space is filled with light. There is even an indoor swimming pool and gym. Bedrooms are separated from the living areas, and reached via an internal corridor lit from above. Completed in 2003, the project cost £1,272/m².
Read more...

Further reading:

• Designing Single Storey Houses
• A Sustainable Single Storey Self Build
• A Converted Bowling Alley