An analysis of three modern British house types is described: the 19th-century terrace house, associated with the building byelaws of the 1870s and 1880s; the working-class ‘cottage’, designed and built by local authorities to new national standards introduced after World War 1; and the private semidetached house, characteristic of suburban development in the interwar period. For each type, a set of design constraints is inferred, in part from the housing literature, in part from examination of the plans of the dwellings themselves. These constraints are tested by use of an automated system of plan generation (the ‘DIS’ computer program). It is shown that systematic experiments with the program can help to clarify the historical and social influences that impinge on housing design. This has important implications for the analysis and interpretation of archaeological data.
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