TOWER BUNGALOWS
RALEIGH NC
MULTI-FAMILY
2023
Tower Bungalows is an 8-unit townhouse development designed to encourage neighborly interactions and create a livelier street.
The street-car era neighborhoods that make up much of Raleigh’s downtown neighborhoods are dominated by traditional bungalows and four-square homes. Integral to the design of such traditional homes was a graduated degree of privacy from the street to the rear of each lot, with the front porch always engaging the street, and the more private quarters to the rear, mediated by living areas in between. This arrangement of spaces promoted a sense of the street as a shared common space, and greater chances for interactions with one’s neighbors throughout the day.
Recent infill developments in Raleigh(and other urban centers) instead tend to put up a clear barrier towards the street, creating a binary relationship between public and private space. This trend is exacerbated in townhouse developments, where canyons of garage doors dominate the double-loaded driveways, and the primary block faces are treated with windowless sidewalls.
The Tower Bungalows is a model of townhouse development that re-introduces the street as a shared common space, and recreates the graduated privacy of traditional plans but in a vertical arrangement. The result is a collection of homes that activate the street and support a socially healthier community.