Low-Rise, High-Density Housing: Attributes and Challenges of a Typological Alternative
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37230/CyTET.2025.225.18Keywords:
Low-rise, high-density, Intermediate dwelling, Collective housing in Europe, Comparative case study analysis, Typological studiesAbstract
This article explores low-rise, high-density housing models through both a historical-critical lens and a design-led perspective. It first traces the origins of the term, identifying its foundational characteristics and the contradictions that have emerged throughout its evolution, outlining a genealogy that extends from the 1960s to the present, including the French tradition of habitat intermédiaire. The model’s current relevance is subsequently assessed through the comparative analysis of six recent European cases (2003–2013). Using density as a key relational parameter and intersecting it with three complementary variables—independent access, articulation of outdoor spaces, and system adaptability—the study aims to redefine this concept as an operative typological alternative, endowed with specific and recognizable attributes, and thus its potential innovation in contemporary collective housing design.
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