5. The Entry

A proper entry is often the first compromise of a small house — but not here. Frequently, one simply stumbles directly into a living room or the back of a kitchen. Yet when we come and go from our homes we are usually burdened with all sorts of things -- bags and keys and sunglasses, breakfast even, or strollers and umbrellas. Getting out the door can be a lot of work! You shouldn't have to squeeze out behind a stack of old grocery bags. 

The lowered entry floor also provides a "semi-interior" space which lets you stomp in from the cold or the wet with muddy feet and without worry. The entry is like a porch, but on the inside of the building, which means you can store things securely, and so they will dry. Dirt is trapped in the entry floor pan, which is finished concrete and has 4" concrete stub walls where normally baseboard would be found. This means the floor can be mopped easily, and it even makes it possible to install a floor drain if this is something you desire. These are examples of the ways the 5x5 House helps you live your life.

Yet the design is not merely functional. Small gestures embellish the transition from inside to outside in order to create an extended threshold condition which is more nuanced than the hard "building envelope" line between inside and outside. The way the finished floor, for example, floats over the concrete entryway, or the way the exterior porch step is pulled away from the building, allows each "zone" to be fully distinct. As you move from exterior to semi-exterior to semi-interior and finally to interior, it is you who must cross, or step up, into the next space. A small detail perhaps, but that is all it needs to be. ​