Housing and Space Management

Housing And Space Management 3(2+1)

Lesson 12 : Planning For Family Life Space

Types Of Life Spaces

In every home five basic types of activities occur, and each require certain types of spaces

• Social—involve people from outside the family
• Family—involve family members
• Individual—involve only one person
• Private—require visual & audio privacy
• Work—accomplish a specific task

Entryways

• Easily accessible for household members & their guests
• Front entry—somewhat separated from living area; closet near front door; powder room for guests
• Service entry—through attached garage
• To & from back yard through the public zone; easy access to kitchen for outdoor entertaining & dining

Circulation

• Avoid going through middle of rooms
• Don’t interfere with good furniture arrangement nor interrupt activities
• Don’t interfere with private zone
• Don’t go through kitchen work area
• Easy access from kitchen to rest of house
• Direct access from entrance to clean-up area
• Short paths to conserve human energy

Kitchen and outdoor work area

• Convenient work space & access
• Configuration of basic work centers: countertops, cabinet storage, appliances & food preparation
• Suitable space standards
• Plan for efficient task operation

Laundry area—near kitchen, service entry or bedrooms; choices based on lifestyles
Privacy—highly valued

• private bath for householder
• private den or study
• secluded and not in direct sight nor sound transfer

For facilitating meaningful communication and interaction among family members, life space is grouped into three zones –

• Public zone—where social & family activities occur
• Private zone—where individual & private activities occur
• Work zone—where work activities that support the household’s lifestyle occur

Public Zone - Group spaces :
The group space in any home are the areas where the members of the household gather and where friends are entertained. Ex - entrance hall/verandah, family room, living room, drawing room, dining room etc.. They provide an atmosphere for such activities as general conversation, games, parties, listening to or making music, eating, and small children’s play.

Private spaces - Private zone:
Privacy is an important issue in planning this space. Degree of privacy required by the family for performing different personal activities differs. Ex - Sleeping, personal care, dressing/make-up, prayer/meditation etc., with intelligent planning one can design homes that offer each inhabitant a private space in which to retreat.

Support spaces- Work zone:
Those areas of home responsible for the maintenance of daily living – for the stock preparation of food, the care perhaps fabrication of clothing, the storage of equipment – may be termed support spaces. In the sense they nurture the lifestyle ex – kitchen, pantry, store, laundry, garage etc.
The buffers can separate zones are: internal walls, doors, closets, room dividers and large-scale furniture