bed
alcove
view into larger common space
v
Build the ceiling low—ceiling height variety (190)5 add some storage in the walls around the alcove—thick walls (197), open shelves (200), and a window, in a natural position-NATURAL DOORS AND WINDOWS (22 i). Perhaps HALF-OPEN
wall (193) will help to give the alcove the right enclosure. Where space is very tight, combine the bed alcove with dressing room (189). And finally, give each alcove, no matter how small, the characteristics of any indoor space—the shape of indoor space (191). . . .
871
| 189 DRESSING ROOMS* |
|---|
 |
| 872 |
. . . if the beds are in position—marriage bed (187), bed alcoves (188)—wc can give detailed attention to the dressing spaces—both to the closets where people keep their clothes and to the space they use for dressing. These dressing spaces may also help to form the bathing room (144).
♦I* v
Dressing and undressing, storing clothes, having clothes lying around, have no reason to be part of any larger complex of activities. Indeed they disturb other activities: they are so self-contained that they themselves need concentrated space which has no other function.
We have argued, in bed alcoves (188), that the concept of the bedroom leads to wasted space around the bed. This pattern lends further support to the idea that “bedrooms” in their present form are not valuable entities to have in a house.
The arguments are:
1. Clothes lying around are messy; they can take over a great deal of space; they need some kind of individual space. A dressing-space can be for one person or shared by a couple. The important thing is that it be organized as a small space where it is comfortable to store clothes and to dress. When such a space is not provided, the whole bedroom is potentially the dressing room; and this can destroy its integrity as a room. It becomes more a big closet to “keep neat,” than a room to stay in and relax.
2. People tend to take up a private position while they dress, even where they are relatively intimate with the people they live with. Even in a locker room, people will make a half-turn away from others as they dress. This suggests that the space for dressing be relatively private. The old fashioned standing screens in a green room or a boudoir worked this way; they created a halfprivate dressing space.
3. The time of dressing, the activity, is a natural moment of transition in the day. It is a time when people think about the day ahead, or unwind at the end of the day and get ready for bed. If you dwell, for a moment, on this transitional quality of
BUILDINGS
dressing, it seems clear that the dressing space can be made to help support it. For example, a good place to dress will have beautiful natural light; this requires as much thought in your design as any room—see, for example, light on two sides of
EVERY ROOM ( I 59) .
4. The dressing space should be large enough, with room to stretch your arms and turn around. This means six or seven feet of open area. It must also have about six feet of clothes hanging space, another six feet of open shelves, and a few drawers for each person. These figures are rough. Check your own closet and shelves, think about what you really need, and make an estimate.
Therefore:
| I „ S*AS |
|---|
 |
Give everyone a dressing room—either private or shared —between their bed and the bathing room. Make this dressing room big enough so there is an open area in it at least six feet in diameter; about six linear feet of clothes hanging space; and another six feet of open shelves; two or three drawers; and a mirror.
light on two sides
mirror
Set)
closets and shelves
Place each dressing room so that it gets plenty of natural light ON TWO SIDES (159). Use THICK WALLS (197), CLOSETS BETWEEN ROOMS (198), and open shelves (200) to form its walls; include a wide shelf around the edge—waist-high shelf (201); and for the detailed shape of the room, see the shape of
INDOOR SPACE (I 9 I). . . .
fine tune the shape and size of rooms and alcoves to make them precise and buildable;
| 190. | CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY |
| 191. | THE SHAPE OF INDOOR SPACE |
| 192. | WINDOWS OVERLOOKING LIFE |
| *93- | HALF-OPEN WALL |
| 194. | INTERIOR WINDOWS |
| 195. | STAIRCASE VOLUME |
| 196. | CORNER DOORS |
TOWNS
family. I shall now describe one particular solution, which involves the large scale social organisation of the metropolis.
The solution is this. The metropolis must contain a large number of different subcultures, each one strongly articulated, with its own values sharply delineated} and sharply distinguished from the others. But though these subcultures must be sharp and distinct and separate, they must not be closed• they must be readily accessible to one another, so that a person can move easily from one to another, and can settle in the one which suits him best.
This solution is based on two assumptions:
1. A person will only be able to find his own self, and therefore to develop a strong character, if he is in a situation where he receives support for his idiosyncrasies from the people and values which surround him.
2. In order to find his own self, he also needs to live in a milieu where the possibility of many different value systems is explicitly recognized and honored. More specifically, he needs a great variety of choices, so that he is not misled about the nature of his own person, can see that there are many kinds of people, and can find those whose values and beliefs correspond most closely to his own.
. . . one mechanism which might underly people’s need for an ambient culture like their own: Maslow has pointed out that the process of self actualisation can only start after other needs, like the need for food and love, and security, have already been satisfied. [Motivation and Personality, pp. 84-89.] Now the greater the mixture of kinds of persons in a local urban area, and the more unpredictable the strangers near your house, the more afraid and insecure you will become. In Los Angeles and New York this has reached the stage where people are constantly locking doors and windows, and where a mother does not feel safe sending her fifteen year old daughter to the corner mailbox. People are afraid when they are surrounded by the unfamiliar; the unfamiliar is dangerous. But so long as this fear is an unsolved problem, it will override the rest of their lives. Self-actualisation will only be able to happen when this fear is overcome; and that in turn, can only happen, when people are in familiar territory, among people of their own kind, whose habits and ways they know, and whom they trust.
. . . However, if we encourage the appearance of distinct subcultures, in order to satisfy the demands of the first assumption, then we certainly do not want to encourage these subcultures to be tribal or closed. That would fly in the face of the very quality which makes the metropolis so attractive. It must be possible, therefore, for people to move easily from one subculture to another, and for them to choose whichever one is most to their taste; and they must be able