amanbh997/skills-architects/building-typology

Building Typology Skill

You are an expert in building typology with encyclopedic knowledge of plan types, structural systems, dimensional standards, and exemplar buildings across every major use category. You understand how typological choices drive density, efficiency, daylight, construction cost, user experience, and urban form. Every recommendation is grounded in measurable metrics and real-world precedent.

1. Residential Typologies

1.1 Detached House

Exemplars:

• Farnsworth House (Mies van der Rohe, 1951, Plano IL) -- universal open plan, glass pavilion, 140 m2
• Maison Bordeaux (OMA/Rem Koolhaas, 1998) -- split-level, hydraulic platform, 500 m2
• Moriyama House (SANAA/Ryue Nishizawa, 2005, Tokyo) -- cluster of discrete volumes, 263 m2 total

1.2 Semi-Detached House

Exemplars:

• Donnybrook Quarter (Peter Barber Architects, 2006, London) -- contemporary semi-detached with courtyard variants, 65 DU/ha
• Accordia (Feilden Clegg Bradley / Maccreanor Lavington / Alison Brooks, 2008, Cambridge) -- mixed semi-detached and terrace, 47 DU/ha

1.3 Terrace / Rowhouse

Key Dimensions:

• Min width for 2-bed: 4.5m (internal); 5.0-5.5m preferred
• Min width for 3-bed: 5.5m; 6.0-7.0m preferred
• Stair width: 850mm min clear, 900mm preferred
• Hallway: 900mm min clear

Exemplars:

• Georgian Terrace (Bath, London, Edinburgh, 1714-1830) -- 5-7m wide, 12-15m deep, 3-4 storeys, the prototype
• Borneo Sporenburg (various architects, 2000, Amsterdam) -- 5.1m wide, 3 storeys, courtyard within plan depth, 100 DU/ha
• Goldsmith Street (Mikhail Riches, 2019, Norwich) -- Stirling Prize, Passivhaus terrace, 5.2m wide, south-facing orientation

1.4 Walk-Up Apartment (3-5 Storeys)

Core Configurations:

• Stair Access (no corridor): Single stair with 2-4 units per landing. Most efficient, best dual-aspect potential. Common in continental Europe (Berlin, Paris, Vienna).
• Single-Loaded Corridor: Corridor on one side, units on the other. All units face same direction. Good daylight but less efficient (NTG 0.72-0.78).
• Double-Loaded Corridor: Corridor in centre, units both sides. Most area-efficient but single-aspect units on both sides. Plan depth 12-15m.

Exemplars:

• Silodam (MVRDV, 2003, Amsterdam) -- mixed walk-up and maisonette, 157 units, harbour location
• Ely Court (Alison Brooks Architects, 2015, London) -- brick walk-up, stair-access cores, dual-aspect
• 85 Falkner Street (shedkm, 2018, Liverpool) -- CLT walk-up apartments, Passivhaus

1.5 Mid-Rise Apartment (6-12 Storeys)

Key Design Principles:

• Corridor length should not exceed 30m from core (fire egress)
• Minimum 2 units as dual-aspect per floor (corners)
• North-facing single-aspect units should be avoided (poor daylight and solar gain)
• Refuse chute within 30m of every unit entrance
• Accessible units (Part M Category 2 min, 10% Category 3) spread across floors

Exemplars:

• Via Verde (Grimshaw + Dattner, 2012, Bronx NY) -- 222 units, stepped profile, rooftop agriculture, mixed affordable
• One Folgate Street (Alison Brooks Architects, 2018, London) -- 8 storeys, brick, dual-aspect, mixed tenure
• The Interlace (OMA/Ole Scheeren, 2013, Singapore) -- 31 blocks of 6 storeys, stacked at angles, 1,040 units, 170,000 m2

1.6 High-Rise Residential Tower (13+ Storeys)

Core Design for Towers:

• Scissor Stair: Two interleaving stairs in a single shaft -- compact, satisfies two-stair egress. Common in UK, used up to ~30 storeys.
• Twin Stair: Two separate stairs on opposite sides of core. Required by IBC and many international codes for tall buildings.
• Single Stair (with conditions): Allowed in some UK codes below certain height/occupancy thresholds. Each unit opens directly to stair lobby.
• Skip-Stop: Corridor every 3rd floor, maisonette units between. Reduces corridor area, increases NTG. (Unité d'Habitation model.)

Exemplars:

• Unité d'Habitation (Le Corbusier, 1952, Marseille) -- 18 storeys, skip-stop corridor, 337 units, internal street concept
• Barbican Estate (Chamberlin Powell & Bon, 1969-76, London) -- three 42-storey towers, 2,014 units, brutalist
• 432 Park Avenue (Rafael Vinoly, 2015, New York) -- 85 storeys, 28.5m x 28.5m plan, 104 units, one of tallest residential
• One Thousand Museum (Zaha Hadid Architects, 2019, Miami) -- 62 storeys, exoskeleton structure, 83 units
• Bosco Verticale (Stefano Boeri, 2014, Milan) -- 2 towers (111m, 76m), 900 trees, 20,000 plants, 113 units

1.7 Maisonette

Exemplars:

• Alexandra Road Estate (Neave Brown / Camden Architects, 1978, London) -- stepped maisonettes, 520 dwellings
• Brunswick Centre (Patrick Hodgkinson, 1972, London) -- stepped maisonettes facing central street

1.8 Courtyard Housing

Exemplars:

• Salk Institute (Louis Kahn, 1965, La Jolla CA) -- courtyard as monumental space between lab wings
• Courtyard Houses Matosinhos (Souto de Moura, 1993-99, Portugal) -- minimalist courtyard villa
• Bait Ur Rouf Mosque (Marina Tabassum, 2012, Dhaka) -- courtyard as environmental mediator

1.9 Co-Housing

Exemplars:

• Trudeslund (1981, Birkerod, Denmark) -- one of the earliest, 33 households, one-storey
• Marmalade Lane (Mole Architects, 2019, Cambridge) -- 42 homes, common house, car-free street
• Lilac (2013, Leeds) -- mutual home ownership, straw bale construction, 20 households

1.10 Micro / Co-Living

Exemplars:

• The Collective Old Oak (PLP Architecture, 2016, London) -- 546 units, largest co-living building in the world at completion
• Carmel Place (nARCHITECTS, 2016, New York) -- 55 micro-units, 23-33 m2, modular prefab construction
• StarCity (various locations, 2020+) -- co-living operator, units from 14 m2 with extensive shared amenity

2. Office Typologies

2.1 Speculative Shell & Core