Why don’t they build square houses in the north of Europe: they remember this rule, but they forgot it here

In our country, when designing and building a house, few people think about its shape. First of all, we are concerned, of course, with its area, which will allow you to accommodate everything your heart desires. For some reason, even some architects are sure that form is completely unimportant and plays, rather, a secondary role.

But in northern Europe the opposite is true. There, they initially decide on the shape of the building, and only then think through all the other details: number of floors, layout, zoning, arrangement of rooms, etc. In these countries, square houses are almost impossible to find. Standard housing in Norway, Sweden, Finland for the most part has the shape of a rectangle or more complex shapes: L-, P-, T- and even F-shaped. It seems that the inhabitants of these states know some secret.

By the way, in some settlements in the Urals and Siberia, square houses are also rare. Mostly it is a rectangle. So where is the dog buried? What do architects and designers of our time not know?

Why aren't square houses built in northern Europe?

There are actually several reasons, and they explain everything clearly.

A square is a primitive figure, simple, equilateral and, as it turns out, capable of self-soothing. The inside of such a home will at first seem quite comfortable, practical and compact, with everything always at hand. But over time, space begins to put pressure on a person, limiting his movements, since a square is an accurate and equivalent figure.As for the rectangle, a house made in this shape has the effect of length, movement, and expansion.

In a square building it is almost impossible to properly zone rooms. A rectangle is another matter - here you can easily separate utility rooms from living areas, children's rooms from the parents' bedroom. There are more zoning possibilities in a rectangle than in a square.

It is permissible to organize a corridor not at the expense of the central living area, but, for example, along one of the walls or at the end of the building.

The facade of a rectangular house and all its living rooms can be arranged taking into account the cardinal directions. In northern countries, where the sun rarely shines, it is very important to place all rooms on the sunny, warm side. And in the south the location will be relevant in a different way.

Maintaining a rectangular house is often easier. So, you can zone the heating and properly organize water and snow drains on the roof.

These are the seemingly obvious reasons, which, unfortunately, few people know about. That’s why we mostly build square houses, which then, in the future, create many problems, sometimes unsolvable.