I woke up thinking about the Convocation of Malqort, known to legend as the Caliphate of Azithan, and to it's...

I woke up thinking about the Convocation of Malqort, known to legend as the Caliphate of Azithan, and to it's neighbors as the Necromancer Kingdom....

Or, more precisely, about buildings.

Design goal: a single building, buildable by Lifeless labor, that can contain nearly everything needed in a city. I need some ideas as I woke up, then walked around the neighborhood and thought about it some more.

The six or so story tenement is as old as Rome, then called the Insulae. Running water and sanitation, somehow. All but the poorest could live here.

We can do one step better.

Different cities experiment with different ways to shelter the Faithful. One version sounds like this:
-- Six stories. The first floor is given over to retail, maker spaces, kitchens. Almost always, a church. Basement is Lifeless and other storage
-- Obvious frontage, with a concierge. The majority of the first floor is communal spaces, and a few apartments.
-- Windows are covered in a loose leather, giving light and keeping out bugs. If you want glass, you can pay for that yourself. Glass is expensive. Additionally, in case of storms, storm shutters.
-- Temperature is regulated by cistern of water at the top, which is refilled and used through the day. This water gets warm during the day, and the heat released during the night -- keeping the building within liveable temperates.
-- Some first floor shops we'd recognize: school, restaurant, grocery, gym, useable green space.
-- Rent includes access to these, essentially a fiat currency. Not a company script, a fiat currency. What's the difference?
-- The grocery does as much prework as possible, selling ready meals for different sized groups.
-- Communal kitchens are available.

These are as long as a city block, as deep as needed. Each one is essentially a city, with some shared services. That is, each one has maybe 80% of what is needed, and folks flitter from one to the other as need be.

Private orphanages are unheard of in the Convocation. Instead, if children do not have parents -- or if their parents suck -- they are taken care of by the buildings. These children often grow up to be priests or other workers in the church. Not always, and it's not a rule. It's just common -- the same way teachers kids grow up to be teachers, and lawyers kids grow up to be lawyers.

The priests, of course, can and do marry. While their kids often become priests, there's a general rule against hiring people you are related to. You want them to go far away and learn different perspectives.

That's one version of a city in the Convocation of Malqort. What's another?