Why are most city villas square?

In a city villa during the Gründerzeit or Weimar period, a manufacturer, judicial councilor, or a specialist "capacity" lived. Rectangular floor plans were more common there, and the houses had an axis / ridge direction.

With the KfW cubes aka Anstatt-Villa, the main focus is on an economical ratio of living space to exterior wall area. A side effect of the square floor plans is that they can be rotated "on the spot" by 90°, thus allowing a "one size fits all" approach regarding cardinal directions.

Meanwhile, the proportion of non-square Anstatt-Villas is increasing – usually for the trivial reason that the "leftover plots" still on the market (or even just their building envelopes) most often do not fit a square at some corner.

Symmetry is only _one_ contribution to harmonious shapes. It also has the disadvantage that it likes to be applied strictly, which usually only works well from about 120 sqm of floor space upwards. In this respect, the plan I welcome

Ich werde, denke ich, mindestens mit einem Längenunterschied von 2 Metern planen

would come down to "Ten by twelve" or at least "Nine by eleven" – below that it will be difficult. It also seems much more important to me that one does not mix windows in portrait and landscape formats "with fool’s hands". Above all, the combination of very tall and nearly square landscape formats (or crosswise and nearly square portrait formats) looks, in my opinion, to put it mildly, "an acquired taste".

Mir persönlich gefällt ja ein Walmdach, aber auf der anderen Seite kein quadratisches Haus...

A classic hipped roof actually also includes a ridge, which on a square floor plan would mean different roof pitches for the "longitudinal" and "cross" sides. Therefore, one then simply builds a pyramid roof (which geometrically is a variant of the hipped roof, basically a hipped roof without a ridge, just as a square is an equilateral rectangle).

I think that is simply a matter of taste. I prefer the square city villa to the rectangular one. The rectangular one with a hip roof reminds me more of an old school or a town hall. However, the most important thing for me is that the design fits well on the plot.

Best regards
Sabine

For me, a city villa is a house with two full stories without knee walls and a relatively flat pyramid roof. The square is therefore logical.

For me, a city villa is a house with two full floors without knee walls and a relatively flat hipped roof.

That puts you in exactly the majority that markets cater to. Which is okay. The relatively flat hipped roof without knee walls can be explained by the prototype "instead of villa" from three wishes that are to be combined under one roof: 1) the "thermal envelope" would prefer to have nothing above it; 2) the development plan wants pitched roofs (and, honestly, I understand the councilmen here: "Tuscany" would look even more modest with a flat roof than it already does); 3) the builder wants to be able to stow a bit of clutter around the inspection hatch (the bobblehead dog from the Audi 80, etc.)

The square is therefore logical.

Exactly (as already said): with a non-square rectangle the hipped roof would either have different roof pitches (flatter on the sides with the shorter base) or it would get a ridge and become a classic hip roof.

Is there then a term for houses with a classic hipped roof?

With that, you belong to exactly the majority that markets follow.

I just tried to provide a definition. Based on my impressions of this type of house. I myself wouldn’t build something like that, we are building such a white, flat cube. But I also think there are worse things than "city villas".