Common Areas at the Heart
Pattern 129Description
Place the common areas — kitchen, dining, family room — at the geometric heart of the house, not at its edge. Bedrooms and private rooms cluster around the common heart.
Why this exists
When the kitchen / family room is the gravitational center, family members naturally pass through it on their way between rooms — leading to the small unscheduled encounters that bind a household. A kitchen pushed to one corner becomes an isolated work zone.
Categories
Source
Solver enforcement
Browsable only — the solver does not currently enforce this directive (no spec-level data to check against). This entry exists so the architect personas can cite it in conversation and the user can read what the rule says.
Backed by research
When kitchen/dining/family form the geometric heart of the house, members naturally cross paths and household interaction grows. A kitchen pushed to a corner becomes an isolated work zone.
Alexander et al. (1977), Oxford University Press — Pattern 129 — view source ↗
See the full research bibliography for context. Our licensing principle describes how we cite published research without using the underlying datasets.
Related directives
- Intimacy Gradient · Pattern 127
- Long Thin House · Pattern 109
- Main Entrance · Pattern 110
- Indoor Sunlight · Pattern 128
- Entrance Room · Pattern 130
Last reviewed 2026-05-09.