House style name?

I've seen lots of references over the years to bedrooms needing windows as a means of escape but Approved Document B1 ain't so prescriptive.

"Escape from the ground storey

and

"Basements

Yes. The main worry and the reason for the regs is a stairwell being ablaze. A windowless basement with a fire exit and adequate ventilations is OK. Most fire regs as explained to me by a fire officer, are designed to do one of two things

- slow down fire spread to allow time to evacuate

- provide alternative means of egress. At te construction level there is a third - to allow bulding to withstand about 20 minutes before heat causes it to collapse. Cf 911. And 911 shows the value in alternative means of exit from upstairs rooms

I was thinking more of light and ventilation. A kitchen isn't a habitable room, nor is a bathroom, but I thought bedrooms and living rooms were and required windows.

On ventilation Approved Document F has "A habitable room not containing openable windows may be ventilated through another habitable room". There may be other options.

On lighting, do you have sources? All I know is that the Approved Documents for England include in the Note to L1A 2.41 "The Building Regulations do not specify minimum daylight requirements." (It's different in Scotland. And natural light can be required for rentals - e.g. by LAs licensing HMOs.)

Although there used to be all sports of arrangements for the casting of some natural light into cellars (often involving gratings and heavy glass insets into the pavement), I'm fairly sure that the basement of a modern house does not need it unless the room is intended as a properly habitable space (ie, living room, bathroom, kitchen or bedroom). The same for garages.

Unfortunately, I don't kn ow the name.

Years ago, friends of ours had a house like that. A single storey, with the front door at street level and the ground sloping steeply downwards. Leaving by the back door, there was a set of steps down to ground level and another door to get into the "basement". In their case, it was a stupid waste of space, as the headroom was around 5'4" and so it was useless for anything other than storage and maybe the boiler. I always wondered why the builders didn't dig out another 12 to 18" and make it a useful workspace ... perhaps even a couple more feet and make a proper second floor.

split level

Beau Brummell’s house in Chesterfield Street London was like that.

Bill

Nope, split level covers a lot more houses than that style.

AFAICR there is no requirement for windows in a habitable room. Only ventilation and a rapid means of exit via at least two routes

My sister built a house like that in Germany. The basement was full size = 3 rooms IIRC. I slept in it once. Although there were some skylights in it , they weren't much used. It was a playroom as well, as a boiler room* and a bedroom. It has a shower and toilet as well Later on it was an iron and washing room.

Then the municipal authorities had a sewage pump failure, and it filled up to ankle height with raw sewage.

Germans are so f****ng efficient you have to laugh.

Our house is built on a slope.

As you enter, you have the hall, a door to a double garage ( with utility area), a dining room, and a kitchen . There are stairs up to three bedrooms, including an en-suite to the master. Stairs down to two more bedrooms, a family bathroom, and sitting room. All bedrooms are doubles or larger.

I suspect there are large voids under the floor ‘up hill’ judging by how the house next door was built much later and I have half consider exploring the idea of a cellar under either the dining room, garage or kitchen but we don’t really need the room- there is just the two of us now, except when the family visit.

I describe it as split level.

But split level covers a lot more than that approach.