It happens on every project – sometimes you know exactly what it is because you had a hand in bring it into existence. Other times, you might be visiting the work of another architect, or really, you could just be going to a nice restaurant … but if you look around, you can always find that something special that seemed to get just a little more attention than the rest of the project. Andrew and I are going to dive into this idea a bit today Welcome to EP 161: Wow Moments
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Andrew and I are going to be talking about wow moments in architecture. This is really about their existence and if possible, I wanted to use this conversation to like to look for some sort of pattern in my own thinking – whether or not it obviously presents itself. The reason today’s topic came into existence is that I taught a professional practice class last week and the professor asked me to discuss a pretty wide range of topics as part of that presentation. Most of the discussed topics were not really related to one another so I was challenged a little more than normal to develop a way to move from one topic to the next in a way that made sense … at least, that was the goal so I settled in on trying to make it interesting and to hold the attention of these college seniors for a 2-hour lecture.
It's All in the Details jump to 5:55
I’ve always thought the front door of a house holds a lot of potential as a "wow moment." In fact, the first time I wrote about it was back in October 2010, not long after I started my website, and that article in particular was about a spec house I designed for a developer - which means that there was no specific client in mind. When you're designing for a client who's really the developer and not the end user—it changes how you think. There’s a certain amount of "lowest common denominator" thinking involved, not in terms of cheap materials, but in the sense that the house needs to appeal to a broad audience. You don’t want one person to love it; you want a lot of people to like it. In the example above, we concluded that this special moment should be one of the very first architectural items you encounter ... the front door. To make things even more interesting, we added an exterior skylight just above the entry door.
I believe that the front door "experience" can do a lot of heavy lifting. It's the porch, the steps leading up to it, the space around it—it all plays a role. I wanted to do something different for this spec house, so we decided to add a skylight right at the entrance. You’re still outside, but you get this incredible natural light coming through, which makes the whole area feel open and welcoming. And on top of that, we built in a strip light fixture so even at night, or on a cloudy day, the space feels bright and inviting—not like you’re walking into a dark tunnel. It turned out great. The detail worked exactly how I envisioned it. I think that’s when it really hit me—if you’re going to create a wow moment in a house, make it something most people are going to experience. Almost everyone who visits is going to come through the front door. That’s why I focus on that space. You’re not going to get the same reaction by putting all your effort into something like the kitchen pulls, which not everyone will even notice.
So apparently, as a result of the first front door experience, a seed was planted in my brain that this entry experience should be something special on all projects. The drawing above was a custom steel and wood infill door that really read more as a wall than the front door. Measuring in at 5'-7 1/2" wide, this was not a normal door and we wanted everyone who it to experience just how special this moment was - from the act of walking up to it, as well as the manner in which is swung open, revealing the passageway into the main social area of the house.