The Design Discourse on the Single-Family House: A Critical Retrospective and a Glance Forward

The paper aims at reconstructing the design discourse on the transfor- mation of territories of extensive urbanization made by single-family housing. We propose to approach this topic not just as a mere techni- cal issue but differently – or rather primarily – as a cultural issue that affects the disciplines of urban design and architecture. To do that, the paper critically assesses design approaches dedicated to single-family housing territories that have influenced the academic and profession- al discourse in the last five decades, identifying typologies of projects and design trajectories. We are particularly interested in the critical analysis of those design proposals that contain an explicit architectur- al dimension and are developed by a designer for a specific territory. Through a selection of cases, the paper will reconstruct a first histor- ical account of such design tradition. This will be based on five main ‘design’ seasons: 1) one dominated by the categories of efficiency and self-sufficiency, 2) one linked to the paradigm of density, 3) one based on processes of typological reorganization, 4) one related to functional and formal reprogramming, and lastly, 5) one dominated by a move towards a collective dimension of living. These approaches are ques- tioned with reference to today’s necessity of a more comprehensive reconceptualization of the suburban settlement, obtained through the adaptation of the present housing stock and taking into consideration questions such as who owns/inherits the house, which resources are available to transform it, and within which perspective of life/work a certain transformation can be undertaken. Lastly, based on this his- torical account, the paper wishes to indicate the possibility of an al- ternative urban design approach, one based on selective demolition, alteration, and retrofitting of the existing housing stock, which places the potential of single-family housing center stage into the wider trans- formation process of low-density settlements.