Robert J Morton
Robert J Morton |
These form the interface that mediates between the warm dry clean secure functional environments of my ideal home and the cold, wet, dirty, vulnerable environment of the outside world.
The purpose of an entrance is to provide a zone of transition between outside and inside. The scale of this transition can vary greatly. Entering a house after a car journey on a dry summer's day probably involves no more than changing from shoes to slippers. At the other end of the scale, entering the house after working in the garden, woods or fields on a cold, wet winter's day is quite a rigmarole. An entrance hall must be designed to cater efficiently for both extremes and for everything in between.
An entrance hall must also provide a secure zone of containment for receiving and conversing with visiting strangers from the outside. I do not want the private parts of my home vulnerable to potentially threatening officials or criminals who may inveigle their way in through the outside door - especially likely during wet or cold weather.
In order to fulfil these requirements, an entrance environment must comprise 5 functional zones:
Each entrance is an enclosed area equipped with a thermally insulated door to the outside at one end, and a similar door to the domestic connecting spaces at the other end. This is to keep the heat in the house during winter and out during summer.
The floor of each entrance is partly covered by a steel grating over a dirt pit to allow mud and dirt from boots to drop through. Each dirt pit is large enough for it to need emptying not more than once a year. The messy entrance is also equipped with a high pressure water or steam device with which to sluice one's boots before one enters the inner connecting spaces. The posh entrance contains a foot wiping mat and shoe shining facilities. A cloakroom connects to both entrances. This not only provides space for residents' and visitors' outdoor clothing, but also provides adequate storage for all the forms of clothing and footwear necessary for outside messy conditions in all seasons.
The central entrance hall has thermally insulated doors to both the messy entrance and the posh entrance. It also has secure doors to the inner private parts of the house. It provides direct access to an interview room with seating and a table to allow comfortable meetings with visitors without the need to allow them into the private areas of the house.
Toilet and washing facilities are available directly from the central entrance hall. Access positioning bears in mind that people may need to use the toilet before they have had time to change out of messy outdoor clothing.
Beyond the secure door is the connecting space to the inner parts of the house. This connecting space comprises a lower landing, two intermediate level landings, an upper level landing and a central access to the bedrooms. These are connected as follows.
Immediately beyond the secure door is the lower landing. This is connected to an intermediate level landing via an 850 mm wide staircase. The staircase comprises of 8 steps, each rising 170 mm and progressing 250 mm. The lower landing also contains the inner door to the laboratory/workshop. The first intermediate level landing has a door to the kitchen and an open portal to a second intermediate level landing containing stairs to an upper landing and doors to the dining room and the lounge. The intermediate level landings each accommodate a toilet room. The staircase between the second intermediate level landing and the upper level landing is the same size and design as the lower stair case. The upper landing has an open portal to the central access to the bedrooms and a door to my study booth. The intermediate floor level is 1250 mm above ground level. The upper floor level is 1250 mm above the intermediate level.
My own physical realization of this functional design comprises 7 circular cells, each 4000 mm external and 3600 mm internal diameter as shown below.
