There is a mixture of high- and medium-density housing, and free-standing homes for its 11,000 residents.

Although most lots for free-standing homes are 130 feet deep, with garages in back, lots can be as narrow as 45 feet.

As it stands now, the numbers are split about evenly, with no free-standing homes planned for Lighthouse Landing.

This building would realize the ultimate American dream: the free-standing home of suburbia amid the cultural and recreational amenities available only in a large city.

Sales of condominiums, particularly popular among real estate speculators, rose faster than sales of free-standing homes.

"You can get a single-family, free-standing home on a nice lot, five minutes' walk from the beach, for $749,000," he said.

Then came a commission for a free-standing home in Hampstead.

Uninterrupted stretches of the district's signature limestone rowhouses, with their rounded bays, give way on some streets to free-standing homes, some quite large.

In 2003, the CAC moved to its first free-standing home which was designed by Zaha Hadid.

Despite its large housing stock of free-standing homes, it nationally ranks high to very high in population density.