A single-storey house, also referred to as a one-story house, is a residential building in which all the utility rooms are located on one level - without a floor, mezzanine or attic intended for living. The entire living space is distributed horizontally, which gives such an object a characteristic, extensive mass and direct contact of each room with the garden or terrace.
The popularity of single-storey houses in Poland is steadily increasing, especially among investors planning to build on larger plots. This is determined not only by aesthetic considerations - the vast, low body fits into many contemporary architectural trends, from Scandinavian style to minimalist modernism - but above all the practical benefits of the lack of stairs and a single-level functional layout. The one-storey house is a natural choice for the elderly, families with small children and all those who value the convenience of everyday use.
The design of a single-storey house requires special attention at the stage individual project, since the layout of all functional zones on one level is a more demanding task than it might seem. The day, night, economic and entrance zones must be connected in a coherent way and at the same time adequately separated. The communication layout should be short and intuitive - excessive corridors are one of the most common mistakes in one-story projects. Adequate solution of these spatial relationships is possible only with an individual approach to a specific plot and the needs of the investor.
An important formal condition is that the possibility of implementing a one-storey house on a given plot directly depends on the provisions local zoning plan or decision on building conditions. These documents can specify the maximum and minimum number of storeys, the permissible height of the building, the angle of inclination of the roof and the building line. In some locations, the regulations directly exclude single-storey buildings or require the implementation of a utility attic - therefore, the analysis of planning conditions should precede any decision on the choice of this type of building. At adaptation of the finished project from the catalog, the adapting architect verifies the compliance of the selected one-story project with local regulations - a visually attractive project may turn out to be impossible to implement on a specific plot without significant modifications.
A distinctive feature of a single-storey house is its large footprint on the plot. A building with a usable area of 150 m² will take up much more land than a two-story counterpart of the same area. This is directly related to the requirements for minimum distances from the boundaries of the land plot, specified in Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on the technical conditions to be met by buildings. This means that the realization of a one-storey house requires a sufficiently large and well-configured plot - narrow or irregular plots can significantly limit the design possibilities.
From the point of view of energy efficiency, a single-storey house has both advantages and challenges. A large roof area in relation to the volume of the building means potentially greater heat loss - therefore the quality of the insulation of the slab or ceiling is particularly important here. At the same time, the absence of stairs eliminates the thermal bridges typical of multi-storey buildings, and the direct contact of all rooms with the ground can be used in geothermal systems. Precise modeling of the energy balance of such a building is possible thanks to technology BIM (Building Information Modeling), which allows you to optimize the layout of the installation, the thickness of the insulation and the arrangement of the glazing even at the design stage.
It is worth noting that the concept of a single-storey house is often confused with a low-rise building with a non-usable attic or basement. According to Building Law the number of storeys is determined by the number of utility levels - an unheated technical attic or a garage at ground level do not change the one-storey character of the building. A precise understanding of this definition is of practical importance when interpreting planning records and calculating land development indicators.
The role of the architect in the design of a single-storey house goes far beyond the layout of the rooms on the floor plan. It is above all about skillfully inscribing the expansive body into the landscape of the plot, designing the roof as the fifth elevation visible from neighboring buildings and the road, and creating outdoor spaces - terraces, entrances and gardens - that naturally extend the interior to the outside. A well-designed one-story house is a building that gives the impression of lightness and harmony despite its horizontal scale.
