building-typology

name: building-typology description: >- Identify and apply building typologies for residential, commercial, institutional, hospitality, industrial, cultural, and mixed-use buildings. Use when the user asks about building types, plan configurations, floor plate design, core arrangements, net-to-gross ratios, structural grids, floor-to-floor heights, unit mix, parking strategies, or exemplar buildings. Also use when comparing typological options, selecting an appropriate building form for a site, evaluating plan depth and daylight, or analyzing how a typology affects density, efficiency, and user experience. Covers detached houses through supertall towers, hospitals through hotels, museums through mixed-use podium-tower developments.

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

Exemplars:

• Willis Building (Foster + Partners, 2007, London) -- crescent plan, 46,450 m2, column-free 18m spans
• The Leadenhall Building (Rogers Stirk Harbour, 2014, London) -- 51 storeys, external bracing, tapered form, 84,424 m2
• 22 Bishopsgate (PLP Architecture, 2020, London) -- 62 storeys, 128,000 m2, largest office floor plates in City of London

2.2 Owner-Occupied / Corporate HQ

Exemplars:

• Inland Steel Building (SOM/Bruce Graham, 1958, Chicago) -- first modern curtain wall office tower, all services in separate tower, 18.3m clear spans, 19 storeys
• Apple Park (Foster + Partners, 2017, Cupertino) -- 260,000 m2 ring plan, 1.6km circumference, 12,000 employees
• Bloomberg European HQ (Foster + Partners, 2017, London) -- 102,000 m2, BREEAM Outstanding (98.5%), spiralling ramp circulation

2.3 Co-Working / Flex Space

Exemplars:

• WeWork (various locations) -- standardised fit-out, 60-80% open desk, glass-fronted offices
• Second Home (Selgascano, 2014, London) -- elliptical glass offices within open-plan, 2,500 m2
• Factory Berlin (Julian Breinersdorfer, 2014) -- adaptive reuse, 14,000 m2, start-up campus

2.4 Office Campus

Exemplars:

• Googleplex (various architects, Mountain View) -- campus of low-rise buildings, 100,000+ employees across Silicon Valley
• Novo Nordisk HQ (Henning Larsen, 2014, Copenhagen) -- 3 concentric rings, 73,000 m2, LEED Platinum
• Samsung Semiconductor (NBBJ, 2015, San Jose) -- 102,000 m2, 10-storey intersecting volumes

3. Healthcare Typologies

3.1 Hospital Plan Types

Podium + Tower:

Courtyard / Chequerboard:

Finger Plan (Pavilion):

Nucleus / Compact:

3.2 Key Healthcare Metrics

3.3 Clinic / Surgery Centre

Exemplar: Maggie's Centres (various architects: Gehry, Hadid, Heatherwick, Chipperfield) -- 200-400 m2, domestic scale, open-plan kitchen as heart, no waiting room, garden

4. Education Typologies

4.1 Primary School

Plan Types:

• Finger plan: Classrooms in parallel wings with outdoor spaces between. Good daylight, natural ventilation. Requires large site.
• Cluster: Groups of classrooms around a shared learning space. Supports collaborative teaching. Common in modern UK schools.
• Street: Central corridor (wide, daylit) with classrooms on both sides. Compact, efficient.
• Courtyard: Classrooms wrap around secure outdoor space. Good for urban sites. Passive surveillance.

Exemplars:

• Burntwood School (Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, 2015, London) -- RIBA Stirling Prize, prefabricated CLT classrooms
• Fuji Kindergarten (Tezuka Architects, 2007, Tokyo) -- oval roof as playground, open-air classrooms, 600 children
• Westborough Primary School (Cottrell & Vermeulen, 2001, Southend) -- straw bale construction, environmental showcase

4.2 Secondary School

Exemplars:

• School of Engineering and Science, Aalborg University (C.F. Moller, 2010) -- open labs, flexible teaching
• Orestad Gymnasium (3XN, 2007, Copenhagen) -- open-plan school, flexible learning, 4 storeys around central stair
• Whitby Academy (GSSArchitecture, 2013) -- compact 3-storey, central atrium, 900 pupils

4.3 University

Exemplars:

• Rolex Learning Centre (SANAA, 2010, Lausanne) -- single undulating floor plate, 20,000 m2, no internal walls
• Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (Diamond Schmitt, 2011, Toronto) -- medical school, simulation labs, 16 storeys
• Saw Swee Hock Student Centre (O'Donnell + Tuomey, 2014, LSE, London) -- RIBA award, angular form, 6,300 m2

5. Cultural Typologies

5.1 Museum

Plan Types:

Linear Sequence (Enfilade): Rooms connected in sequence; visitor follows a prescribed route. Total control of narrative. Examples: Vatican Museums, Uffizi.

Free-Flow (Open Plan): Large open galleries with moveable partitions; visitor chooses own path. Flexible for changing exhibitions. Example: Centre Pompidou (Piano + Rogers, 1977, Paris), Tate Modern Turbine Hall.

Mixed (Sequential + Free-Flow): Permanent collection in sequence, temporary exhibitions in free-flow spaces. Most common contemporary approach.

Exemplars:

• Guggenheim Bilbao (Frank Gehry, 1997) -- 24,000 m2, titanium-clad, free-flow + sequential galleries, the "Bilbao Effect"
• MAXXI (Zaha Hadid, 2010, Rome) -- flowing concrete galleries, 21,000 m2, no right angles
• Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel, 2017) -- 9,200 m2 galleries under 180m diameter dome, "rain of light"
• Tate Modern (Herzog & de Meuron, 2000 + 2016, London) -- Bankside Power Station conversion, 35,000 m2

5.2 Theatre and Auditorium

Configurations:

Exemplars:

• Sydney Opera House (Jorn Utzon, 1973) -- multiple venues, 5,738 seats total, expressionist shells
• Elbphilharmonie (Herzog & de Meuron, 2017, Hamburg) -- 2,100-seat vineyard hall on converted warehouse, 110m tall
• National Theatre (Denys Lasdun, 1976, London) -- three auditoria (Olivier, Lyttelton, Dorfman), brutalist terraces
• Harbin Opera House (MAD Architects, 2015) -- 1,600 seats, organic form, Manchurian landscape

5.3 Library

Exemplars:

• Seattle Central Library (OMA/Rem Koolhaas, 2004) -- 34,000 m2, "Book Spiral" continuous stack ramp, faceted glass skin
• Library of Birmingham (Mecanoo, 2013) -- 31,000 m2, interlocking gold circles facade, 10 storeys
• Tianjin Binhai Library (MVRDV, 2017) -- the "Eye," 33,700 m2, undulating bookshelves, central sphere auditorium

6. Hospitality Typologies

6.1 Hotel Plan Types

Corridor-Loaded (Double-Loaded):

Atrium:

Courtyard:

Tower:

6.2 Hotel Key Metrics

6.3 Restaurant

7. Hybrid and Mixed-Use Typologies

7.1 Podium-Tower

Exemplars:

• De Rotterdam (OMA, 2013, Rotterdam) -- three interconnected towers on shared podium, 162,000 m2, office/residential/hotel
• Brickell City Centre (Arquitectonica, 2016, Miami) -- mixed-use, climate ribbon, retail podium + residential towers
• Battersea Power Station Phase 2 (Foster + Partners / Gehry Partners, 2021, London) -- retained power station as podium, new residential towers

7.2 Stacked Uses (Vertical Mixed-Use)

7.3 Side-by-Side

7.4 Vertical Village

7.5 Key Mixed-Use Design Challenges

References

• Neufert, E. & Neufert, P. (2019). Neufert Architects' Data. 5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell.
• MHCLG (2015). Technical Housing Standards -- Nationally Described Space Standard. UK Government.
• BCO (2019). BCO Guide to Specification. British Council for Offices.
• NHS Estates. Health Building Notes (HBN) Series. UK Department of Health.
• DfE (2014). Building Bulletin 103 / 104. UK Department for Education.
• Sport England. Design Guidance Notes. Sport England.
• Littlefield, D. (2008). Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data. Routledge.
• Koolhaas, R. & Mau, B. (1995). S, M, L, XL. Monacelli Press.
• Mozas, J. & Fernandez Per, A. (2006). Density: New Collective Housing. a+t architecture publishers.
• Firley, E. & Stahl, C. (2009). The Urban Housing Handbook. Wiley.
• Kliment, S.A. (ed.). Building Type Basics series. Wiley.
• Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Tall Building Design Guides.
• IBC (2021). International Building Code. ICC.
• RIBA Plan of Work (2020). Royal Institute of British Architects.