Description
Access describes the path from the public to the private sphere and the space it occupies, which begins with two thresholds: the first is the transition into the building; the second leads into one’s own apartment. In between lies an entire sequence of spaces with horizontal and vertical connections, which can present a generous face to the public sphere, and either inviting or inhospitable in nature, may promote or discourage encounters among neighbors. In conjunction with open spaces such as balconies and terraces, the access also represents connection to the outside – it is, one might say, the prelude to a building. Similarly, it is a filter that controls and manages intimacy and allows for highly diverse lifestyles in close proximity to one another.
The word “access” is potentially ambivalent. To begin with, it simply describes an architectural space that allows residents to enter their private sphere; beyond architecture, however, it also describes a kind of taking stock, a step-by-step build-up of understanding and acquiring insight into complex contexts. According to the “promenade architecturale” postulated by Le Corbusier, which provides the basis for exemplary designs such as the Villa Savoye in Poissy (1929), the entire configuration of the design is derived from the path into and through the house. To the user, the “promenade architecturale” is revealed as a scenic sequence of spatial perceptions; however, it is also an element that establishes a hierarchy, a kind of unwritten user manual with which the structure of the house unfolds and becomes accessible to the user by virtue of his movement – step by step.
The Question of Function
But what is the function of this space if one thinks beyond its pure circulation role and wishes to explore its potential? The access space is a spatial and social buffer between a complex, anonymous public space and the intimate, individual environments of the residents. Sociologists have coined the term living environment for such spaces – an area that surrounds the residence, protects it while still being a part of it and at the same time providing an additional sphere of activity for the residents.
To regard the access space as no more than a thoroughfare is to misjudge its potential. After all, it offers ideal conditions for neighborly contact, for in contrast to the public space the number of local residents is manageable – an important prerequisite for people’s willingness to socialize. Moreover, encounters take place out of necessity, as it were, and repeatedly; neighborly routines can therefore develop and become established. For children, especially, the access space also functions as an open space – located beyond the boundaries of the parental apartment but still sheltered. Thus it becomes part of their living environment in a most natural fashion – and it becomes a space in which they linger.
The question whether the access space is merely a passage space or whether one also enjoys spending time in it, is first and foremost in the hands of the residents. They might be able to live in the building without the access space as a social interface; however, when the space invites this type of use by virtue of its architecture and program, it is readily utilized as such. The invitation to linger is thus an offer with no strings attached. If it is accepted, the access space can become a place for casual meeting, communal identification, and representation for all residents.
On the other hand, the access space is invariably in a tenuous relationship with the rest of the building, because efficiency dictates that it should occupy as little area as possible. This is an economic dilemma, especially evident in social housing developments where the dictum of economic efficiency has resulted in access spaces that are spatially, functionally, and qualitatively impoverished. Often, too many units are attached to a single access system. As a result, the access system becomes anonymous and inhospitable and is one of the reasons for the social problems arising in buildings of this kind.
Forms of Access and Circulation
Shaping the circulation in terms of space and program is one of the great challenges in housing. In this context, how to deal with the access space also depends on how habitation is understood and on the question of where habitation begins: in front of the building, behind the front entrance or only behind the apartment door?
Depending on the urban context and the building type, the access spaces vary in expanse and complexity: in the case of detached houses and larger housing estates, the houses are often surrounded by additional buildings, green spaces or common areas – and in some cases shared spaces within the buildings – which taken together can be regarded as part of this space and its potential. Apartment towers often feature lobbies in the entrance area, which deliberately delay the transition into the private sphere and invite residents to linger for a while. The access space tends to be more compact in urban infill developments, where details can play a key role: whether there is a canopy or not, whether the entrance door is recessed and thus sheltered from the elements, how the threshold is designed, how spacious, bright and inviting the space on the inside of the front door is, whether the landings are large enough to encourage social interaction, or even whether there are opportunities along the way to sit down for a brief chat.
Direct Access from Street or Courtyard
If apartments are directly connected with either the street or a courtyard, each resident has the privilege of having a personal entrance. Row houses, for instance, where multiple units have direct street access, provide each resident with an individual street address, often with a front garden or at the very least a front step. Tessenow articulates this area in a very subtle manner – running along multiple house fronts is a continuous stoop with room enough at the top for a bench. The space belongs to the individual unit and acts as a buffer despite being in a public setting – ideal circumstances for pleasant yet sheltered neighborly interaction.
In a courtyard, individual units are accessed from a semi-public open space either enclosed on all sides or part of an open building ensemble. This spatial arrangement forms a safe space for communal activities or events, which in turn may aid in community development.
In the project BIGyard, a townhouse typology forms part of a block edge development providing each unit with its own entrance and a room for potential commercial use despite its inner-city location. The garden houses run along the rear firewall and are accessed from the shared courtyard: eat-in kitchens form a buffer and threshold between the two.
Stairs
A set of stairs is probably the smallest common denominator among all residential building access systems. To begin with stairs are a mundane, functional building component; however, they also serve to stage the passage into the house. In baroque architecture, stairs evolved into complex, three-dimensional spatial configurations and became the stage for social encounters. The path towards the destination was artificially prolonged in order to endow the event of the encounter with time and space. In ordinary housing, stairwells can be designed in such a fashion as to consciously shape and publicly present the connection of residents with their environment.
In Álvaro Siza’s housing development “Full Stop and Comma” in The Hague, the stairs define the character of the building to a large degree: access is via a portico – a wide set of stairs leads directly from the street to a loggia-like space, which is open towards the cityscape and from which all apartments are accessible through front doors exclusive to each unit.
Vertical Access Systems
The most commonly used stairwell in housing consists of several stacked flights of stairs that give access to a specific number of apartments at each landing: thus there are stairs that provide access to a single unit, two, three, and more units per floor. Horizontal access systems are preferred for buildings in cases where the number of units per level is too high. There are numerous subcategories to these models; there are buildings with internal or external stairs, which are combined with short horizontal corridors or housed in a separate building section. When they are constructed as a shaft, vertical access systems of this type can contribute to the structural integrity of a building and increase the design flexibility within the apartments.
The ten-story residential building by Henri Ciriani in The Hague demonstrates the possibilities of variation for this type. The apartments are organized into four units per floor; what is remarkable in this case is how the space around the sets of stairs expands into an open atrium reaching across all floors between the two building wings. On each floor, bridges connect to the landings and lead to the loggias projecting into the atrium, and it is these loggias that serve as entrance areas for the units. Beyond the loggias, the atrium opens onto the city, while the comings and goings of the residents become an event in its interior.
The same access type is interpreted in an entirely different manner in the project e3 by Kaden Klingbeil: for reasons of fire safety, the stairwell lies in a building component set apart from the apartment units. Because the building is comprised of a wooden structure, the escape route had to be constructed in reinforced concrete and set apart from the main building. The open gap gives each apartment a third facade and allows for more flexible interior spaces, thanks to the separation of the stairwell. Moreover, the access via a footbridge is pushed into the urban space and thus emphasized. On three floors, the apartments are accessed via generous, recessed open spaces, which enhances the sense of possessing one’s own floor and home in the city.
Circulation as Separation – The Invention of the Circulation Core
In the enclosed circulation cores of larger and higher buildings, vertical access systems are taken to the extreme: effective skeleton structures in steel or reinforced concrete and elevator facilities allow for extremely tall residential buildings with a steady repetition of the building’s horizontal footprint. It is the use of elevators in access cores that radically reduces the amount of time that residents spend in this common interface. In this sense, the vertical circulation core is the symbol of an autonomous treatment of each floor and its inhabitants. The floors inhabited by “others” are merely perceived in a fleeting glimpse through the opening and closing elevator door; residents disembark only on their own floor.
There are, however, exceptions to the rule. At Citygate Tower in Vienna, a vertical incision in the building provides natural lighting to the central circulation core, opening it up to a view of the city. Additionally, shared and in part double-height spaces are inserted into this cut-out void every few floors and are used for instance as a media room, home theater, laundry room, play area or roof terrace.
Horizontal Connecting Spaces – “Rue Intérieure” and “Streets in the Air”
Central corridors such as the “Rue Intérieure” and external access areas such as galleries or “Streets in the Air” are horizontal access systems.
Corridor
A corridor is a horizontal passage located in a building’s interior, which for the most part runs parallel with the building’s facade and is lined on both sides by residential units. A groundbreaking example of this type of access system is the Unité d’Habitation, which emerged as a result of research on urban living. Le Corbusier established that it would require a minimum of 1,600 residents to create a functioning piece of urbanity and it was from this assumption that he derived the scale of the Unité – complete with retail strips, communal establishments and the so-called “Rues Intérieures.” Located on every third floor, they provide access to the left and right to maisonette units, which occupy the entire width of the building on the floors above or below. In contrast to the galleries, these interior streets have virtually no relationship with the surroundings: running the entire length of the building, dark and with low ceilings, they failed to achieve the effect of a lively streetscape.
Van den Broek and Bakema’s residential high-rise in Berlin also features an internal street. However, in this case it receives natural light from two sides and opens onto a two-story shared loggia on the south side with sun decks and playground terraces. The number of units along each corridor is manageable in this case. Spatially and programmatically, the access area is thus intentionally designed as a communal area.
Access Gallery
An access gallery is generally speaking a path projecting from one side of a building, usually on the outside, and connected to one or several vertical circulation cores. Many of the built examples fall into a predictable pattern: the gallery is often located on the side disadvantageous for living spaces – depending on the geographic location, this may be the side with too little or too much sunlight. In heavily trafficked areas it may also serve as a noise barrier. It is sometimes set slightly lower than the floor level or else accompanied by horizontal windows set high into the wall to ensure privacy.
The kitchen, entrance hall, and sanitary block are often placed parallel to the gallery as an intermediary zone between it and the more private living areas, which run along the more attractive side of the building. This type of access is often employed in conjunction with maisonette units: within a spatial unit comprising several stories, galleries provide access to the entrance area on one level of the maisonette, which continues on the floor above or below. On this floor, front-to-back interiors are thus possible. On the lower floors, maisonette units can be arranged with ground floor entrances, thus allowing for access from private front gardens similar to a row house.
Alison and Peter Smithson adopted the term “Streets in the Air” – borrowed from the idea of the urban street based on traditional images – to describe their generous galleries. They were proclaimed as a deliberate alternative to Le Corbusier’s “Rue Intérieure” – the interior access corridors they criticized in the Unité d’Habitation. To the architects, the term “Streets in the Air” expresses their program: on the one hand, the building is interpreted as a small piece of city in its own right, and on the other hand, it illustrates the idea that access areas can serve as urban spaces for socializing with neighbors. Although their project Robin Hood Gardens in London ultimately revealed the limitations of access systems of this kind – the galleries proved to be inhospitable and anonymous due to the sheer number of units and the exposure to the noises of the highly trafficked surroundings – the spatial relationship between housing unit and gallery is nevertheless exemplary. Nearly 2 meters wide, the galleries expand into even wider bays in front of each entrance, creating a kind of forecourt. The apartment doors are set sideways into the resulting niche, further enhancing this entrance area. The apartment stairs lie parallel to the gallery and create a buffer between horizontal access and the housing unit. Internally, the stairs connect the common rooms, kitchen, and living rooms, which are deliberately located on different levels to avoid a strict separation of common and private spaces.
Taking the private sphere within an access space into consideration and providing each unit with its own anteroom can also become a unique quality of the common access space. In the Kölner Brett by b & k+ in Cologne, the access area is deliberately set apart as an independent sculptural element, with the result that access to the units is only possible via bridges. At the same time, the galleries are notable for their width and inviting spaces; they integrate balconies, patios, and even gardening areas.
Space-defining Access Systems
When horizontal access systems are not simply straight elements, but instead enclose spaces either singularly or with an opposite, the impression of a shared communal space emerges that allows for visual and neighborly contact.
The galleries of “Juliet,” part of Hans Scharoun’s “Romeo and Juliet” twin housing complex in Stuttgart, can be overlooked and controlled from every vantage point thanks to their curved shape, which seems to almost form a circle and interior courtyard. By means of the intelligent shaping of the gallery balustrade and the exterior walls of the apartments, which usually run parallel to each other, each entrance lies in a triangular bay, enclosed on two sides and seemingly giving each unit an anteroom of its own. At the transition to the vertical access at the center, the gallery widens into a generous front-to-back space, with a large balcony facing towards the other side, inviting contact among neighbors.
Atrium
Similarly, an atrium uses access galleries on every floor that flank an open, naturally lit space and connect – whether covered or not – the horizontal and vertical access systems in a singular space, which also usually serves as a source of natural light. In the atrium-like access space of the residential building by Diener & Diener in Amsterdam, the vertical access elements are arranged at the peripheral gallery in such an intelligent way that one passes no more than one other unit on the way to one’s own apartment. The placement of the floor-to-ceiling glazed eat-in kitchens at the transition between the public and private spheres lets life inside the apartment merge naturally with the communal life of the building as a whole.
Complex Access Systems
In some housing schemes, an intentional effort is made to go beyond a single access system; they are conceived as complex systems and as such permeate the spatial hierarchy of the entire building. One example for the combination of several access systems is the superblock Mirador; it integrates horizontal and vertical access routes, which – again and again – lead to communal spaces. Access cores project openly into the cityscape and lead to loggias cut into the corners. Internal streets provide access to maisonette units and, at the very top, become part of a multi-story open-air atrium. At the center of the high-rise, several access routes open simultaneously onto a dramatic five-story courtyard, which can be used by all residents as a common space offering an urban panorama.
In the high-rise cluster of Walden 7, a spatially complex network of pathways spans vertically and horizontally through a series of courtyards. Starting at the centrally placed elevators, numerous spatial situations and chances for neighborly encounters are experienced along the path to each individual apartment. The more generously dimensioned courtyards with entrances to the units broaden in section at their middle, thus allowing for a multitude of views.
In such cases the access system is simply a space so attractive that one happily accepts a delay en route to one’s own apartment and is thereby drawn into the building‘s community – casually and only when desired.
Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider with Eric Zapel (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fifth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2018.