Ranches, rowhouses, and railroad flats
Subtitle: American homes : how they shape our landscapes and neighborhoods
By: Christine Hunter.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780393730258
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic -- United States.; Architecture -- Environmental aspects -- United States.; Architecture and society -- United States.
Description: It is Ranches, Rowhouses, and Railroad Flats is a delightfully illustrated and readable introduction to the evolution of America's housing forms and the ways that they shape - and limit - the neighborhoods around them.

Architect Christine Hunter describes the three possible forms of housing - freestanding houses, attached houses, and apartments (often neglected in architectural literature). With vivid diagrams and sketches, she explains the inherent geometric and environmental qualities of each form and shows the rich variety of shapes they have taken, including colonial salt-boxes, mobile homes, bungalow courts, suburban tracts, townhouses, tenements, and luxury towers.

She discusses the practical impact of each form on land consumption, access to jobs and shopping, transportation options, and energy use. Ranches, Rowhouses and Railroad Flats provides those interested in architecture, community planning, and the environmental sciences a framework for understanding what is fundamental - and what is possible - as each discipline addresses Americans' need for comfortable, attractive shelter and a sustainable society.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 318-323) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: What we all need to survive : fundamental requirements for human dwellings; title: Toward minimum standards for American homes; title: A basic home today; title: Freestanding houses; title: Attached houses; title: Apartments; title: Grouping homes together : what makes a neighborhood