References and further reading
This page lists the resources that influenced the guidance in this documentation, and the online tools we used to test the prompt templates and screenshots.
Tools used in the examples
floorplanai.net - the AI-driven floor plan tool used to test the prompt templates in Prompt templates. The output is intentionally sketchy and is the right level of fidelity for an early design conversation.
Sphinx - the documentation generator that builds this site.
MyST Parser - the Markdown flavour used in these pages so that the documentation can be edited without learning reStructuredText.
Read the Docs - the hosting platform that builds and publishes this documentation.
Books on small-home design
The following titles are general-audience references that helped shape the layout principles in Layout guidance. They are not affiliate links and we receive nothing from listing them.
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein. The classic catalogue of spatial patterns from courtyard size to alcove placement.
The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. A practical case for designing fewer square metres better, rather than more square metres poorly.
Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski. Useful background on why our intuitions about “home” are not universal.
Articles and websites
The Wikipedia article on floor plan gives a compact overview of conventions for symbols, scale and notation.
The UK government’s Technical Housing Standards lists minimum room sizes used as a sanity check throughout this guide.
The US Access Board’s ADA Standards for Accessible Design is the source for the accessibility dimensions mentioned in Layout guidance.
Standards mentioned in this documentation
Minimum room sizes referenced in Layout guidance come from a mixture of jurisdictions. Always check the standards that apply in your own country, region or city before treating any number in this documentation as authoritative. The advice on plumbing walls, kitchen triangles and circulation percentages is rule-of-thumb guidance from working architects, not from any single building code.
How to contribute references
If you have a published source or an online tool that fits the spirit of this documentation, open a pull request on the GitHub repository that adds it to the appropriate section above with a short, neutral description.