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When looking at single-family homes, we often focus on the number of rooms, the liveable space, plot efficiency, the constructive system and its materiality. One very overlooked aspect is how these buildings actually support domestic life over long periods of occupation through their storage spaces. These spaces are usually treated as secondary. Yet they indirectly structure consumer behaviour and the long-term adaptability of houses. Storage is rarely discussed as an architectural feature on its own.
This paper examines storage as a regulator of accumulation and as an archive of spatial use. It asks how a single-family house absorbs and redistributes objects over decades, and how this process reshapes spatial hierarchy, thresholds and room identities. Bases on a case study of a specific detached family house in Spain, continuously occupied since 1990, the research approaches storage as a spatial, visual and architectural process that showcases in the built heritage of single-family house.

Research Gap

Research on material accumulation has a tradition in anthropology, where possessions are equal to identity and memory (Csikszentmihalyi/Rochberg-Halton 1981; Miller 2008). These studies rarely ever address how architecture accommodates these objects spatially or how space shapes the conditions under which accumulation takes place.
More recent architectural research has identified storage as a forgotten side of architectural design. Marco(2022) shows that storage space is often poorly integrated and too small. It is frequently treated as a leftover, added late in the design process. Other studies demonstrate how insufficient storage leads to the displacement of objects into garages or external storage facilities, fragmenting the unity of the dwelling and extending functions beyond the house (Marco et. al 2021).
Regulations provide little clarity. In Spain, the national Código Técnico de la Edificación does not define a minimum storage capacity for dwellings, leaving requirements largely to regional habitability regulations. These regulations often address storage through minimal per-person surface rather than through spatial performance or long-term use. As a result, storage is treated as technicality instead of as lived space. This regulatory vagueness contrasts with the realities of long- term occupation in single-family houses, which must adapt to changing household structures and growing material layers.

Methodological Approach

The research uses a qualitative, exploratory, single-case study methodology. It is grounded in research by observation and documentation, and supported by methods drawn from visual ethnography.
Dimensions Journal 2 Detached Realities
Three methods of data collection are used. A literature review draws on architectural theory with particular attention to work addressing storage as a spatial issue (eg. Marco 2022; Miller 2008), as well as texts on regulations of habitability in Spain. Second, a documentation of the house through drawings. Storage spaces will be classified according to type, location and accessibility. Temporal mappings and layered diagrams trace the relocation and densification of storage over time. Photographic documentation will record storage conditions, spatial saturation and thresholds.

Expected Results

The research expects to show that storage does not remain confined to designated spaces, but extends progressively into circulation areas, semi-covered zones and other spaces. This redistribution is anticipated to reduce spatial adaptability turning rooms into fixed storage. At the level of thresholds, the study aims to reveal how storage migrates towards garages, terraces and plot boundaries, making private material life more visible. This shift is expected to alter the relationship between the house and its surroundings.
Conclusion
This research aims to make storage visible as a central architectural mechanism in single-family housing. By analysing a detached house through its storage spaces over long-term occupation, the study seeks to show how material accumulation reshapes spatial hierarchies, room identities, and domestic thresholds over time. It contributes knowledge on how detached housing functions in use and offers a framework for understanding storage as part of the architectural substance of single- family houses, providing a basis for future transformation strategies that engage with long-term occupation rather than short-term efficiency.