Evolution of Housing Styles around the World

Evolution of Housing Styles

Different Housing Styles evolved in different eras with increasing population, changing requirements and Changing Technology, that is, advancement in construction technology changed the entire perspective of Housing Design.

In this article, we are going to study evolution of different types of housing styles resulting from changing requirements of the people, tastes of the users, country’s economy and changing technology.

Independent houses are known as Detached houses. The idea of having an independent house was to maintain some privacy at home. Earlier when the population density was very low and plenty of land was available at cheaper rates, there was a trend or rather I would say, it was a status symbol for a person who owned a detached House.

Detached houses were usually found in Towns and villages rather than in cities. It is still prevalent today too because you have to be quite rich to be able to afford to live in an Independent House. With the growing population, the requirements of people also started increasing. The standard of living started rising. More income and more money was required to fulfil everyone’s needs.

Since the population was growing and the land prices started rising, the new concept of Semi-detached Houses evolved. People all over the world fancied living in an independent house with a small garden and a swimming pool.

Semi-detached House concept maintained the fancy of the people of owning a detached house at a lower rate. In Semi-detached housing, the plot had setbacks on three sides instead of four. They shared a common wall. The cost of construction reduced in this type of housing because they shared the water supply lines, drainage lines and electrical cable lines etc.

Instead of sharing the cost of infrastructure and cost cut down, the concept could not survive in the growing population. Due to population explosion, the housing requirements were on the rise. The development that started after the industrial revolution brought in new opportunities and new challenges for the people.

This resulted in the growth of urban centres. The new facilities such as health care facilities, recreational parks and gardens also attracted a lot of attention. The transportation systems improved. Railways and buses became the common mode of transportation. People from towns and villages surrounding the city started migrating the city for jobs and improved lifestyle.

This along with population explosion brought in Housing Explosion. This evolved the need for apartments. Initially, walk-up apartments came into picture when the lifts were not into use. Walk-up apartments have (G+3) floors. They had one staircase but no lifts. Later on, after the lifts were invented, midrise apartments (G+6) came into picture. Apartments could house minimum of two families on a single floor, be it a walk-up apartment or a Midrise Apartment.

With the advancement in technology, new trends in construction techniques also evolved. This advancement in construction techniques led to the evolution of the concept of High rise Apartments in America and Europe to accommodate more number of families in lesser space. A building whose height exceeds 18m is termed as a high rise apartment.

High rise Apartments were later on followed by the construction of skyscrapers. Construction of Skyscrapers involved use of much more advanced technology that was used for the high rise structures.

Different building styles have evolved with increasing population and advancement in construction Technology. There have been different phases and reasons of development of every particular style of Housing.