The bedroom is often the repository of most of these items of personal property around which the individual builds his own satisfactions and which help to differentiate him from the other members of the inner circle of his life—indeed he will often reveal them more freely to a peer in age and sex than to a member of his own family.
In summary then, we propose that a room of one’s own—an alcove or bed nook for younger children—is essential for each member of the family. It helps develop one’s own sense of identity; it strengthens one’s relationship to the rest of the family; and it creates personal territory, thereby building ties with the house itself.
Therefore:
Give each member of the family a room of his own, especially adults. A minimum room of one’s own is an alcove with desk, shelves, and curtain. The maximum is a cottage—like a TEENAGER’S COTTAGE (154), or an old age cottage (155). In all cases, especially the adult ones, place these rooms at the far ends of the intimacy gradient— far from the common rooms.
Use this pattern as an antidote to the extremes of “togetherness” created by common areas at the heart (129). Even for
671
BUILDINGS
small children, give them at least an alcove in the communal sleeping area—bed alcove ( i 88) ; and for the man and woman, give each of them a separate room, beyond the couples realm they share5 it may be an expanded dressing room—dressing room (189), a home workshop—home workshop (157), or once again, an alcove off some other room—alcoves (179), workspace enclosure (i 83). If there is money for it, it may even be possible to give a person a cottage, attached to the main structure—teenager’s cottage (154), old age cottage (155). In every case there must at least be room for a desk, a chair, and things from your life (253). And for the detailed shape of the room, see light on two sides of every room (159) and THE SHAPE OF INDOOR SPACE ( 191 ) . . . .
672
142 SEQUENCE OF SITTING SPACES*
. . . at various points along the intimacy gradient (127) of a house, or office, or a public building, there is a need for sitting space. Some of this space may take the form of rooms devoted entirely to sitting, like the formal sitting rooms of old; others may be simply areas or corners of other rooms. This pattern states the range and distribution of these sitting spaces, and helps create the intimacy gradient by doing so.
❖ 4* *5*
Every corner of a building is a potential sitting space. But each sitting space has different needs for comfort and enclosure according to its position in the intimacy gradient.
We know from intimacy gradient (127) that a building has a natural sequence of spaces in it, ranging from the most public areas, outside the entrance, to the most private, in individual rooms and couples realms. Here is a sequence of sitting spaces that would correspond roughly to the intimacy gradient (127):
1. Outside the entrance—entrance room (130), front door bench (242)
2. Inside the entrance—entrance room (130), reception welcomes you (149)
3. Common rooms—common areas at the heart (129), short passages (132), farmhouse kitchen (139), small meeting rooms (151)
4. Half-private rooms—children’s realm (137), private terrace on the street (140), half-private office (152), alcoves (I79)
5. Private rooms—couple’s realm (136), a room of one’s
OWN (l4l)3 GARDEN SEAT ( I 76) .
Now, what is the problem? Simply, it is the following. People have a tendency to think about the sitting room, as though a building, and especially a house, has just one room made for sitting. Within this frame of reference, this one sitting room gets a great deal of care and attention. But the fact that human activity naturally occurs all through the house, at a variety of degrees of intensity and intimacy, is forgotten—and the sitting spaces throughout the building fail to support the real rhythms of sitting and hanging around.
To solve the problem, recognize that your building should contain a sequence of sitting spaces of varying degrees of intimacy, and that each space in this sequence needs the degree of enclosure and comfort appropriate to its position. Pay attention to the full sequence, not just to one room. Ask yourself if the building you are making or repairing has the full sequence of sitting spaces, and what needs to be done to create this sequence, in its full richness and variety.
Of course, you may want to build a special sitting room—a sola or a parlor or a library or a living room—as one of the sitting spaces in your house. But remember that each office and workroom needs a sitting space too; so does a kitchen, so does a couple’s realm, so does a garden, so does an entrance room, so does a corridor even, so does a roof, so does a window place. Pick the sequence of sitting spaces quite deliberately, mark it, and pay equal attention to the various spaces in the sequence as you go further into the details of the design.
Therefore:
Put in a sequence of graded sitting spaces throughout the building, varying according to their degree of enclosure. Enclose the most formal ones entirely, in rooms by themselves; put the least formal ones in corners of other rooms, without any kind of screen around them; and place the intermediate one with a partial enclosure round them to keep them connected to some larger space, but also partly separate.
674
142
SEQUENCE OF SITTING SPACES
inside the entranc _
 | private rooms |
| outside the entrance |  |
public rooms
Put the most formal sitting spaces in the common areas at the heart (129) and in the entrance room (130); put the intermediate spaces also in the common areas at the heart (129), in flexible office space (146), in a PLACE TO WAIT (150), and on the private terrace on the street (140); and put the most intimate and most informal sitting spaces in the couple’s realm (136), the farmhouse kitchen (139), the rooms of one’s own (141), and the half-private offices (152). Build the enclosure round each space, according to its position in the scale of sitting spaces—the shape of indoor space (191); and make each one, wherever it is, comfortable and lazy by placing chairs correctly with respect to fires and windows
-ZEN VIEW (134), WINDOW PLACE (l8o), THE FIRE ( 18 I ),
SITTING CIRCLE (185), SEAT SPOTS (241). . . .
are not cultivated now, protect them: keep them for farms and parks and wilds.
| hills for building |
|---|
 |
Keep town and city development along the hilltops and hillsides—city country fingers (3). And in the valleys, treat the ownership of the land as a form of stewardship, embracing basic ecological responsibilities—-the countryside (7). . . .
| 143 BED CLUSTER* |
|---|
 |
676
. . . the sleeping areas have been defined to be inside the couple’s realm (136) and children’s realm (137). Beyond that, they are in places facing east to get the morning light— sleeping to the east (I 3 8). This pattern defines the grouping of the beds within the sleeping areas, and also helps to generate the general sleeping areas themselves.