Daily Design: The Veranda Village

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Veranda Village proposes a different answer to one of Jamaica’s most familiar housing questions: how can an extended family live close together without surrendering privacy? Rather than a single oversized house, the editorial architectural concept arranges three modest independent homes around a shaded common yard.

This is not a completed or commissioned building. It is a residential proposition for a family-owned parcel where separate households want to share land, services and occasional childcare without sharing every kitchen or bedroom.

One yard, three front doors

Each dwelling has its own entrance, bathroom, kitchen and sleeping rooms. A continuous covered veranda links the buildings without forcing residents to pass through another household’s private space. The common court becomes an everyday room for washing, conversation and supervised play. It is deliberately left mostly open rather than filled with decorative planting or a swimming pool.

The arrangement draws on Jamaica’s long tradition of outdoor domestic life, while acknowledging that contemporary families need secure boundaries and quiet interiors. Sliding screens could mark the threshold between each private veranda and the shared route. A small accessible ground-floor unit could suit an older relative, provided the entire route is designed with sensible gradients and safe surfaces.

Climate before spectacle

Simple pitched galvanised roofs, properly tied down and detailed for wind uplift, would drain to accessible gutters. The roof over the common walkway should remain structurally legible and independently maintainable. Masonry walls, shaded windows, screened ventilation and replaceable timber or metal shutters would help occupants manage heat without assuming constant air-conditioning.

Rainfall must be planned for from the outset. The court needs a reliable fall to drainage, with water directed away from foundations and neighbouring properties. Shared rainwater storage could serve gardening or washing where appropriately filtered and maintained, but drinking-water arrangements require separate safeguards.

A site in inland St Mary or Clarendon could be appropriate where setbacks, access and land tenure allow it. Three homes do not automatically mean three legal lots: planning consent, subdivision requirements, wastewater capacity, fire access and ownership arrangements would need professional review before any construction.

The benefit is not simply a cheaper roof per family. It is a flexible way to use land over generations. One household could rent its unit, another could accommodate returning relatives, and a third could house a young family starting out. Shared space is valuable only when its rules, maintenance and responsibilities are agreed from the beginning.