genkan
I found an idea that I liked, in a slightly roundabout way:
1. this Unhappy Hipsters post (found on Twitter):
led to:
2. a search for "genkan", which led to:
3. this Wikipedia entry, which explains that genkan "are traditional Japanese entryway areas for a house, apartment, or building—something of a combination of a porch and a doormat. The primary function of genkan is for the removal of shoes before entering the main part of the house or building. Genkan are often recessed into the floor, to contain any dirt that is tracked in from the outside (as in a mud room). The tiled or concrete genkan floor is called tataki."
photos are from:
http://litlotrs.blogspot.com/2007/01/mans-home-is-his-shiro.html
http://www.tjf.or.jp/deai/contents/teacher/mini_en/html/genkan.html
I ran the idea by the husband today and he likes it too.
Benefits:
- We have a good-sized entry that would benefit from an additional separation from the main living area.
- Using a step would also allow us to more easily tile the entryway with a more durable material (transition between materials = easy—a step!)
- I really like the idea of physically stepping up slightly to reach the living spaces
- We could reduce the number of steps that need to intrude into the garage for our garage-to-house door.
Obstacles:
- this could involve too much re-engineering. We'll need to reduce one of the steps outside the door, same thing for the garage-to-house door, and then add this step back, between the entry area and the living room. We'd also have to decide how to cut the step (cut into the living room, or cut into the entry area, or use a diagonal step?).
- we don't want us/guests tripping or falling (like this JET exchange teacher's genkan which tries to kill all that enter it—it does seem to be a badly designed genkan).
The plan is to talk to the architect this week and see if it gives him a heart attack or not (or gives our budget a heart attack). Wish us luck.
