Doing away with the entrance hallway

[Ralph]

Hi all,

I wonder if you could give me your thoughts on removing a small hallway and having the front door open straight into the open plan space.

 

This is our current design, the concern is that you come through front door into a small hall (2.2 m by 2.6 m) open the internal door and you’re into another hall facing the door into the utility room.

If we remove the walls marked in red and make the stair free standing it will open up the space a bit. You can see that the first floor is open to downstairs just above the dining area.

 

I’m guessing the cons with doing this are more to do with heat loss than anything else but I’d be interested to get your thoughts.

Many thanks

Ralph

[Russell griffiths]

Yep, open it up, having lived and built a house in Australia it baffles me by our English want to add walls and make our homes pokey and cramped. 

[caliwag]

Yes, you could do that. The hallway idea is hangover from Edwardian times, and earlier, when a hall acted as a reception room for people visiting but not necessarily welcomed into the family room...business people and the like...the hall even was equipped with a coal fire and comfortable seating and small table and side lamps. Indeed you could still use it as such or as an office, but encourage every day visitors to use the back door into a tidy utility! Depends how you use your house. People tend to use entrance halls to stop draughts and keep order to outdoor gear and skateboards! 

In my  limited experience traditional Spanish  and South Korean homes to retain 'reception' rooms for just such events.

[Temp]

Remember that opening up the stairs can make a loft conversion harder later That's because converting the loft makes it a 3 storey house and the fire regs effectively mean the stairs on the ground floor may have to be enclosed again (or at least protected from a fire in a ground floor room). If that's not a concern then go for it.

 

[Ralph]

1 hour ago, Russell griffiths said:

Yep, open it up, having lived and built a house in Australia it baffles me by our English want to add walls and make our homes pokey and cramped. 

Yeah I have some Aussie mates who say the same thing

 

 

1 hour ago, caliwag said:

Yes, you could do that. The hallway idea is hangover from Edwardian times, and earlier, when a hall acted as a reception room for people visiting but not necessarily welcomed into the family room...business people and the like...the hall even was equipped with a coal fire and comfortable seating and small table and side lamps. Indeed you could still use it as such or as an office, but encourage every day visitors to use the back door into a tidy utility! Depends how you use your house. People tend to use entrance halls to stop draughts and keep order to outdoor gear and skateboards! 

In my  limited experience traditional Spanish  and South Korean homes to retain 'reception' rooms for just such events.

If you have loads of space then making a feature of grand hall makes sense but less than 6sqm is not really use for much.

 

1 hour ago, Temp said:

Remember that opening up the stairs can make a loft conversion harder later That's because converting the loft makes it a 3 storey house and the fire regs effectively mean the stairs on the ground floor may have to be enclosed again (or at least protected from a fire in a ground floor room). If that's not a concern then go for it.

 

Vaulted ceilings upstairs so no problem. Lofts are banned because  "you'll only fill it with crap." 

 

We had thought of putting an open porch to give a bit of shelter and try and mitigate draughts, not sure it will make any difference though.

[Ralph]

I'm convinced it's the right thing to do for the space but I'm still hesitant due to heat loss and draughts. 

 

Has anyone on here built a house with the front door opening right into the main space without some sort of hall way / porch and how did it work out?

[Russell griffiths]

Are you buying a second hand timber door from an old church ?

 

if not I don’t think you should be worried. 

[jack]

8 hours ago, Ralph said:

I'm convinced it's the right thing to do for the space but I'm still hesitant due to heat loss and draughts. 

 

Has anyone on here built a house with the front door opening right into the main space without some sort of hall way / porch and how did it work out?

 

Our entire downstairs is open plan, with a 2.4m wide hallway straight through to the kitchen/dinner from the front door (which is a metre wide and 2.5 metres tall).

 

There's almost no draft or heat loss if you open the front door. However, I think that's largely because the house is so airtight that there's nowhere for air to go.

 

If you're planning to build airtight, I suspect it won't be a big issue.

[Sue B]

I loved having a draft lobby in our last house and have planned the same for this house.  For me it is also about a space to open the front door with the dogs behind so I can have a normal conversation and welcome visitors while we get the dogs calmer in the house.  It also allows post to be delivered through a letterbox without them eating although that isn’t an issue for us this time round - security box will be on the driveway for post.

[Ralph]

14 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

Are you buying a second hand timber door from an old church ?

 

if not I don’t think you should be worried. 

You know it's funny, up to about 5 years ago when we started thinking about building a house an old church door would have sounded great, our previous house was 300+ years old. Now no matter how amazing an old house looks I think, cold, damp repair bills.

 

14 hours ago, jack said:

 

Our entire downstairs is open plan, with a 2.4m wide hallway straight through to the kitchen/dinner from the front door (which is a metre wide and 2.5 metres tall).

 

There's almost no draft or heat loss if you open the front door. However, I think that's largely because the house is so airtight that there's nowhere for air to go.

 

If you're planning to build airtight, I suspect it won't be a big issue.

That's good to know, thanks.

 

14 hours ago, Sue B said:

I loved having a draft lobby in our last house and have planned the same for this house.  For me it is also about a space to open the front door with the dogs behind so I can have a normal conversation and welcome visitors while we get the dogs calmer in the house.  It also allows post to be delivered through a letterbox without them eating although that isn’t an issue for us this time round - security box will be on the driveway for post.

That's a good point, we've been a couple of years without dogs but they are on the cards.

[patp]

We have just built a porch on to our old cottage so that messy boots and wet dogs are contained for a while on the way in. We have told our architect to make sure we have a barrier between the outside and inside of the new bungalow for the same reason - dog containment and mud barrier. It is too tempting to go traipsing through the house with dirty shoes otherwise.

[caliwag]

Aye, a wise move, tradition has any 'hall' as an indoor/outdoor space ideally with an outdoor surface like York stone. As I mentioned I think the rural Spanish and trad South Korean builders (no doubt amongst other nations) always has an indoor/outdoor transition, as mentioned in the some of the books I reference in my notes to 'Self build home...the last thing you need is an architect'. This is a set of design notes not damning architects but to encourage you to base your design  decisions on tried and tested methods from history and often other cultures.

 

Particular reference is made to A pattern Language by Chris Alexander and others, Arthur Martin's guide, The Small House (both recommended) and an article in the Architectural Review, from the 80s journal by Peter Blundell Jones on traditional South Korean Houses....to name three. It'a all down to your (or your designer's) observation and experience.

 

Good luck and happy designing...Jamie

Edited May 3, 2019 by caliwag
Publication data The Blundell Jones article on Trad. South Korean houses is published in the Architectural Review Sept 2004...sorry

[Ralph]

15 hours ago, caliwag said:

Aye, a wise move, tradition has any 'hall' as an indoor/outdoor space ideally with an outdoor surface like York stone. As I mentioned I think the rural Spanish and trad South Korean builders (no doubt amongst other nations) always has an indoor/outdoor transition, as mentioned in the some of the books I reference in my notes to 'Self build home...the last thing you need is an architect'. This is a set of design notes not damning architects but to encourage you to base your design  decisions on tried and tested methods from history and often other cultures.

  

Particular reference is made to A pattern Language by Chris Alexander and others, Arthur Martin's guide, The Small House (both recommended) and an article in the Architectural Review, from the 80s journal by Peter Blundell Jones on traditional South Korean Houses....to name three. It'a all down to your (or your designer's) observation and experience.

 

Good luck and happy designing...Jamie

I have and like your book. The idea of the hall being social and a transition from outside to inside makes complete sense. I have a feeling we will end up with more glass to get this openness but keep some sort boundary, your point on internal windows between stairwells and kitchens is exactly what I'm thinking.

[caliwag]

Aye, thanks.