A VESTIBULE is a transition…
Think of a church entrance… the room before you enter the massive, vaulted, stunning church… you enter thru a vestibule.
From the cold or wet outdoors, to a calming, safe indoors.
This is enough input for a person.
Play down the high ceiling, massive chandelier for somewhere else…
Provide a bench, a mirror, hooks on the wall, PLACES to PUT things, boxes, keys, packages, flowers. A place to unload, and stop being an outdoors person, and become an indoors person.
Then, once YOU are settled, and can handle more, THEN, the transition is over, and the moment of AWE can happen, unencumbered, uncluttered by coats, and shoes, and boxes,and junk… just YOU, and the ROOM, the ceiling, and lights…
That is a good gentle, kind rhythm to give yourself, and your friends.
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A fascinating examination of what the architect THOUGHT a wife and kids would like, would need.. vs. how the actual dymamics of the house evolved into.
The kids did NOT want to be seen by the mom… and exited out the side door to their private yard. The fence was not protection but an obstacle… easily overcome by digging under it for passage to neighbors houses.
The atrium, was a place to store bikes, and large things….
The house out in the suburbs, isolated the wife, with the kids.
There was no place for the husband to have His space… etc.
Fascinating…
PS I always wondered how modern architecture could imitate the original Roman floor plan, with the atrium in the middle, and the front of the house blocked off for security reasons… and this house does just that. .. ..(google the roman words etc..)
Even the stark blank wall facing the street was not a turnoff to buyers, but a mandatory want…. (see article)
In the present day, the Beecher sister’s kitchen design has been cited as an early example of modern home design.[1] While many elements of their proposed home designs did not influence the structure of 20th-century American homes, their work emphasized the flexibility of home appliances and storage units. Today, flexibility and utility are valued greatly within modern home design to accommodate different families over multiple lifetimes.[1]\\ond
One of CA patterns is the need for a vestibule.. an interm place between the outdoors city and the private house. A place to phycially unburden your outdoor shoes, coats, packages, and mentally, enjoy the. Indoor comforts of a home…
The house above, did this by a natural atrium as the first view into the house, … as did the romans 2000 years earlier.