become more prominent. What is different is the degree to which such houses are custom-designed, making them multigenerational in two senses. First, they are designed to accommodate at least three generations of a family, allowing for changing needs as children grow up, and, secondly, they are often designed in a ‘timeless’ way to allow for multiple owners as they are on-sold. While the extended family might have a long tradition, it is a tradition that lives on in a rapidly changing world where as much as families may want to stay together, and as much as they see benefits in staying together, a younger generation also demands a greater degree of privacy and independence. This house is an excellent example of how a multigenerational house has been designed to be economically, socially and personally sustainable, not to mention environmentally responsive. The family had lived in the original bungalow since the 1980s. The idea was to build a new house that was essentially semi-detached—two houses in one. One son with his young family would live in one house, while his parents and an unmarried younger son would live next door. Physically, the two houses are connected, yet separate. Likewise, in terms of the continuity of family memory, they are separate yet connected.
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