COURTYARD HOUSING: A SOLUTION FOR HIGH-DENSITY, LOW-RISE SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING IN THE U.S. by Everett L. Morton B.A., Hampshire College Amherst, Massachusetts May, 1976 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUNE 1990 @ Everett L. Morton 1990. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and to distribute copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of the Author. E Everett L. Morton - Department of Architecture June 1990 Certified by Nabeel Hamdi Associate Professor Department of Architecture Accepted by Bill Hubbard, Jr. Chairman MASSA USETTSINSTiUTE Department Committee for Graduate Students 0F TECNLVGY JUN 0 8 1990 UBRAiBS Rot&c COURTYARD HOUSING: A SOLUTION FOR HIGH-DENSITY, LOW-RISE SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING IN THE U.S. by Everett L. Morton Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillments of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture May 11, 1990 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the potential application of the L-shaped courtyard house in an American context. Privacy for the dwelling and its grounds is a key issue to be addressed. It is shown than a traditional single-family detached house will provide sufficient privacy on lots of one-quarter acre or more. However, an alternate solution must be developed in higher-density applications of one-eighth acre or less. The principal design elements desired in a traditional home are identified and incorporated into an alternate design solution. The courtyard house is proposed as an alternate and it is shown that, contrary to popular belief, such a house form can function in temperate climates without excessive heat loss. The reason for prizing an L-shaped courtyard house over other variations in a high-density application is explained in light of privacy and solar access issues. A detailed discussion of design elements in an L-shaped application include: inter-unit privacy issues, the courtyard size and passive solar heating applications, the dwelling layout and interior zoning, entry location, circulation, facade treatment, parking, grouping or clustering, and expansion potential. It is demonstrated that the L-shaped design will satisfy American standards within a high-density urban context of eight to twelve units per acre. Thesis Supervisor: Nabeel Hamdi Title: Associate Professor CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 The Am erican Context ...................................................................................................... 1 PRO BLEM ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Privacy Issues of the Single-Fam ily Detached House .................................................. 2 Inter-Unit Privacy ....................................................................................................... 3 Design Intention - Design Elements to be incorporated into any alternative ........................................................................ 4 COURTYARD HO USES ............................................................................................................... 4 A Short History of Twentieth Century Courtyard Houses ........................................... 4 Single-aspect Courtyard Housing ............................................................................. 5 L-shaped Courtyard Housing .................................................................................... 5 A Design for an Am erican Courtyard House ................................................................ 10 W hy the L-shaped Courtyard House ....................................................................... 10 A Discussion of Design Elem ents .................................................................................... 11 Inter-Unit Privacy ....................................................................................................... I1 Courtyard .................................................................................................................... 11 Dw elling Layout and Interior Space Zoning ............................................................ 12 Entry Location and Circulation ............................................................................... 13 Facade .......................................................................................................................... 26 Parking ......................................................................................................................... 26 Grouping ...................................................................................................................... 26 Expansion Potential .................................................................................................. 28 List of Illustrations Technical Appendixes Bibliography List of illustrations page-2-Figure 1 Berkus Zero Lot-Line Design page-5--Figure and Illustration 2 Haring's Single Aspect House page-6-Figure and Illustration 4 Hilberseimer's L-shaped Courtyard House page-7--Figure and Illustration 5 Libra's L-shaped Courtyard House page-8-Figures and Illustrations 6 and 7 Utzon's L-shaped Courtyard House page-O-Courtyard House Forms page-13-Interior Layout and Zoning Diagram page-16-Type One Courtyard House Design page-1 7-Type Two Courtyard House Design page-19-Type Three Courtyard House Design page-20-Type Four Courtyard House Design page-21-Type Five Courtyard House Design page-24-Large Courtyard House Design on 72' x 72' lot page-30-12-unit grouping page-31-10-unit grouping page-32-8-unit grouping page-33-Utzon's L-shaped Courtyard House at Elsinore Courtyard Housing: A Solution for High-Density, Low-rise Single-Family Housing in the U.S. INTRODUCTION Buildable land sites in close proximity to, or easy commute of, urban centers and suburban satellite cen- American Context The ters are becoming increasingly scarce. These sit*e* are A major part of the American dream is to own commanding higher prices. The building industry has one's home. Typically, this dwelling has taken the form responded to such increases by attempting to reduce of a two-story detached house on a piece of land bor- the cost of home construction through, for example, dering a tree-lined street. The detached house and its rationalized construction techniques, better project suburban environs have become the symbol of the management, and off-site manufacturing of compo- good life, and making it in America. Single-family house nents. To further limit rising prices to the home-buyer, forms in general, and the detached home in particular, the industry has down-sized the lots and increased continue to be the dominant dwelling type of most house densities. Whereas a typical lot (prior to the Americans. According to the National Association of 1970's) would be more than a quarter acre; more Home Builders, three out of five of the 1.5 to 2 million recent developments have had lots of less than a quar- new homes constructed annually are single-family ter acre. Yet conventional single-family detached detached houses. house design solutions are employed. The majority of Since the early 1950's this symbol has been mar- homes are built by small contractors using stock plans keted to the American public as the best compromise of conventionally laid-out dwellings. These houses are between urban overcrowding and rural isolation. being placed on sites with insufficient land to insure However, since the middle 1970's the cost of financing internal or external privacy. This basic design require- a home, coupled with escalating home prices, has ment of sufficient surrounding land increasingly is made the attainment of the American dream problem- more difficult to fulfill. When contractors have asked atic for the average American household. architects for solutions to this problem of smaller lot size, the response generally has been single-story zero lot-line housing. An example of this is Barry Berkus' zero lot-line design for the NEST '90 prototype house of the National Association of Home Builders Convention (See figure 1). This house can be sited on eighth acre lots and provide reasonable degrees of privacy both inside and outside. It does not present a "conven- tional" street facade because of its placement of the garage at the front and placement of major social spaces toward the rear. PROBLEM The conventional two-story detached house no longer is an "appropriate" solution, i.e. privacy for unit and land cannot be maintained at densities of less than a quarter acre. Achieving higher density single-family housing without loss of privacy for the individual unit and yard is the major challenge to be addressed in this study. Privacy Issues of the Single-Family Detached House _____ Privacy issues are the key problems to be addressed in finding alternates to the single-family detached house at higher densities. Isolating the house- hold and its activities from observation and auditory intrusion of neighboring houses and the street defines figure I Barry Berkus' zero lot-line design this privacy. How this isolation is achieved is one of the On eighth acre and smaller sites, exterior spaces characteristics that differentiates one house from are minimal. They usually are governed by a particular