The question of why I feel this way is a challenging one, for which I have no answer.
Some observations thus far.
1. The building as a base.
Whatever Im doing, no matter where Im going..... Im always returning to this building. Tasks and journeys are not the end goal, instead the return is the goal. There is a degree of satisfaction and calm associated with getting home, whereby I recognise it as my place in the world, my sanctuary and my home.
2. Connection with the outdoors.
Regardless of what Im doing I seem to seek out a connection with the outside, and will seldom be inside without the large window or door open. I think it is the combination of views and ventilation, whereby the space feels larger due to the visual links to external objects, and the movement of air. Likewise the deck has become so important to me and could probably be doubled in size to accommodate all the different functions it seems to accommodate.
3. The loft ladder.
Im not quite sure how to remedy this issue but the ladder seems to make the space considerably smaller. When cooking it must be pushed aside for access to the sink and gas cooker, this then obstructs access to the food storage and esky. Likewise when accessing other items within the storage the ladder must be pushed in front of the kitchen. As such I am never sure of where a particular item is, which is ridiculous considering the size of the building. Furthermore, I am continually stepping around and moving the ladder, which again makes the space seem smaller than it actually is.
4. Indoor lighting.
Indoor lighting is generally pretty good, however there is not a light situated above the only integrated seat, meaning that to read (or do anything requiring task lighting) I am required to either move up to the loft (inconvenient for many reason including the difficulty of hauling things up, and its proximity to other things such as the kitchen) or place a camp chair in the middle of the space.
some kind of collapsable ladder?
ReplyDeletei guess you can file that with all of your recommended improvements, which is in a way a big part of the project, i suppose. seeing the imperfections that would only become apparent to a true inhabitant, and finding ways to remedy them.
Fiona.
There are definitely different solutions available, and while I particularly like the idea of a sliding, movable ladder the pragmatics of actually living around it are a bit too much.
ReplyDeleteA few other detail of the ladder seem to also be ill considered, such as closing off the back of some of the steps (so you can only get a toes worth of purchase on the already shallow steps) and the units width. The ladder tries to slide out from under you when your at its top, due to its narrow width. This could be prevented by adding notches to the slit that the upper part of the ladder sits in, or the ladder could be made wider (which would make it worse in other respects).
Lou has come up with a clever solution to the ladder issue, which would be to swap the off centre gable to the other side, then the ladders could become fixed integrated units on the opposite site of the building, leaving the kitchen and utility side free.
Barry Lopez (in Arctic Dreams) refers to the writings of Yi-Fu Tuan, an american geographer, writing "Human beings, he says, set out from places, where they feel a sense of attachment, of shelter, and comprehension, and journey into amorphous spaces, characterised by a feeling of freedom or adventure, and the unknown". Page 278.
ReplyDeleteI think this ties into the first point I made, about the building acting as a base.