My old tutor used to say 'a design is like the old joke about a spittoon...it's all in one' Dreadful I know. but I say this because it's difficult to isolate much of the reasoning behind decision making...you could be forcing the impact of a preconceived idea around the design but discounting relevant derived thinking from a site analysis. See later blog  For this reason I am not a fan of plan books, certainly they may spark off a new direction of a way of handling circulation but are limiting...maybe fun and useful for a family member keen to do some corrugated card modelling, but limiting. 

However, for the purpose of this blog I am ignoring all aspects of the site (You may not even have one). It needs to be emphasised that once you have secured a site, the constraints, positives and negatives will hugely inform many aspects of the design. You can speculate on the variations...the site might only be 5 metres wide, seriously overshadowed by protected trees, yet my have a glorious view to the North yet have limited access etc.

Anyway, ignoring all that I am going to suggest that the most important starting point is indeed the main entrance and its relationship to the immediate internal spaces...the smell of lunch or coffee, work activity, the sounds of piano playing, glimpses to the kitchen, play space or a sunny back or side garden.

Chris Alexander et al suggest that "placing the main entrance...is perhaps the single most important step you take during the evolution of a building design" Note that 'A Pattern Language' is a design manual, memory jogger, check list of possibilities for all manner of buildings, not just houses, from the town/city to small details of houses and gardens...a quite unique work, based on global settlements.

There is a good reason for main entrance statement when you start to consider all the family activities that take place there...negotiations with friends and neighbours, tradesmen, postmen and delivery arrangements...as well as occasional and long term storage of coats, shoes, umbrellas, skateboards etc to say nothing all the recycling. Make your own list, seasonally and weekly, and including a degree of flexibility for gatherings and a changes of circumstance.

Therefore this will be further developed with a degree of history and social arrangements from other countries in future blogs...some is in the book as examples and quotations. I hope you enjoy the process. Feel free to comment, argue or offer thoughts and examples.