The living apart together house - Jerry Messman, BSB Design

What we are seeing now — and expect to see more of in the future — are situations where household formations include people who are looking to share housing together. Think sister-sister, father-son, friends not co-habitating, etc., who look out for each other and would rather share space than live alone.

The problem from a product design standpoint is creating a layout that provides ample private living space for each resident that is more than a bedroom/bath combination and offers quality shared public living space within the plan to encourage peaceful coexistence. We believe that household niches will become more splintered, and builders and designers will have to develop better targeted product for the smaller niches.

This product starts out as a fairly traditional single-family house, so virtually any builder can build it. Where it differs is more about the layout, features, and amenities offered (or duplicated) to meet the specific needs of the household combination.