This is a summary of the 127th pattern from the “A Patter Language” book by Christopher Alexander and his team.
Unless the spaces in a building are arranged in a sequence which corresponds to their degrees of privateness, the visits made by strangers, friends, guests, clients, family, will always be a little awkward.
In any building – people need a gradient of settings, which have different degrees of intimacy. A bedroom is most intimate; a back sitting room or study less so; a common area or kitchen public still; a front porch or entrance room most public of all. A homogeneity of space, where every room has a similar degree of intimacy, rules out all possible subtlety of social interactions in the building.
In an office, the sequence might be: entry lobby, coffee and reception areas, offices and workspaces, private lounge. In a house: gate, outdoor porch, entrance, sitting wall, common space and kitchen, private garden, bed alcoves.
Lay out the spaces of a building so that they create a sequence which begins with the entrance and the most public parts of the building, then leads into the slightly more private areas, and finally to the most private domain.
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