ABSTRACT
More useful as a typology in urban situations and at urban densities where space is at a premium, the maisonette, by its very nature and flexibility, is a hybrid creature, rarely used alone. The split into a level for sleeping, where privacy is a priority, and a level for living gives the dual-aspect two-storey maisonette an immediate advantage in flexibility over the single-level apartment, allowing the designer to keep the floors that need more seclusion separate from the external circulation areas. Memories of the dreary but space-efficient maisonettes that proliferated in 1960s’ slab blocks need to be banished. The maisonette typology has been reconfigured many ways, and each variation should be a bespoke response to context, aspect and outlook. Both contain a mix of flats and maisonettes on upper levels community facilities and parking on the ground and basement floors.
