Ordinary Homes of the United States

Time period: 2010s to present Location: Suburbs and rural areas The modern farmhouse has its roots in the late 1980s, starting out as a down-to-earth interior design trend for people tired of or turned off by the shiny glitz of 1980s conspicuous consumption. That said, the farmhouse is also a a status symbol. The gilded penthouse condo stands for financial and industrial wealth, the farmhouse stands for wealth from land ownership. Farmhouse style is based on the farm owner's house, rather than the shacks and labor camps of tenant farmers and migrant farmworkers. Farmhouse style grew in popularity in the 2010s, through the popularity of home improvement TV shows that showed how old farmhouses could be modernized from merely rustic, to rustic but with modern comfort and style. Compared to the 19th-century and early 20th century farmhouses that serve as inspiration, modern farmhouses are much larger and have modern floorplans.  Modern Farmhouse design features - Interior and exterior ...

  Time period: Late 20th century to present Location: Rural areas and exurbs Barndominium, sometimes abbreviated as barndo, is a fun but inaccurate word that combines Barn and Condominium.  In reality, barndominiums are standalone houses in rural or exurban areas, multifamily barndos are basically unheard of. More accurately barndos are barnhouses - they combine the wide open spaces and storage areas of a barn with the insulation and residential finishes of a house. The idea started in Connecticut in the 1980s for people who own horses for recreational riding.  In the original example, the houses were detached from the horse stalls, which were sold condo-style in a large shared barn located near the houses. Later developments, especially if they were a single custom home, would combine the house and the barn. The idea found even greater popularity in the 21st century in the South, Midwest, and West, and with modern variations where the barn holds boats, cars, workshops, a...

  Time period: 21st century Location: Within walking distance of a flagship state university Large apartments designed to be shared by roommates, plus amenities and retail. If you live in a college town, chances are you've seen a number of large apartment towers pop up on the skyline just outside campus. These massive buildings, the largest of which house over 1,000 students, might be called "luxury student housing" or "student containment blocks" depending on who you ask.  They are the result of a number of trends that started as far back as the 1970s and have converged today.  Unlike other apartments that often end up stuck with vacant retail spaces due to there being too much retail space relative to the number of customers, student housing has a high enough population density to support first floor retail. Dining, cafes, and bubble tea are common retail tenants, so the space should be built kitchen-ready. Enrollment Trends at Public Universities In the USA...

Time period: Late 19th and early 20th century, revived in 21st century. Location: Used to be everywhere.  Today: Seattle and New York City. A mid-rise building with a couple apartments on each floor.   In most cities, you'll find two types of mid-rise apartment buildings in the 4-7 story range. First, there'll be some small historic buildings downtown, side by side like books on a shelf. These are the original point access blocks. Then, there are the big modern buildings taking up a whole block and with long, windowless hallways inside. These are double loaded corridor buildings. Floorplan of a point access block.   Note that apartments have windows facing the front and back of the building.     In contrast, except for the corner units, apartments in a double loaded corridor only have windows facing one direction. Both the point access block and the double loaded corridor were designed to be the most efficient floorplan given the building codes of th...

  Time period: 20th century to present day Location: Suburbs In places that allow them, Accessory Dwelling Units are a way to have more than one home on a lot that is zoned only for one regular full-size home. ADUs are a second, smaller home (typically studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom) on the same property as a full size house. They're also called accessory apartments, secondary units, in-law suites, and granny flats. Hawaii calls them Ohana dwellings. In zoning and building codes, accessory uses are minor uses that are allowed as part of a larger project, even if the zoning or occupancy type does not normally allow it. An example of an accessory use is the manager's office of an apartment building, which is allowed in a residential zone even though it's an office use. ADU's are a similar regulatory reform to allow two homes on a single family lot, without changing it to duplex zoning. Examples of types of ADUs. Each type of ADU has advantages and disadvantages. Detach...

  Time period: 2020s and onwards Location: California California state law allows a single-family home to become three homes: 1. The main house, which can be whatever size allowed by zoning 2.  An attached or detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). Can be any size, cities must allow at least 800 square feet (enough for a 2-bedroom, 3 if you squeeze it) 3. An attached Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU), of up to 500 square feet. Example of a house with a Junior ADU and a regular ADU on a 5,000 square foot, 50'x100' lot.  Total of 3,800 square feet of living space with 3 homes with a total of 7 bedrooms (4 in house, 2 in ADU, 1 in Junior ADU). While California state law as of 2022 also allows up to 4 homes ( double duplex ) using Senate Bill 9, the ADU+JADU route is currently more popular, for two reasons: First, fees and code requirements are lower for ADUs. Second, many cities have put up barriers to using SB9 - this is in the process of being corrected by cleanup ...