This document discusses the design considerations for human dwellings. It notes that dwellings should accommodate various human activities, including social interaction, rest, hygiene, nutrition, work and spiritual fulfillment. These activities require appropriate space, lighting, sensory conditions, furnishings and equipment defined by human bodily limitations. It also discusses territorial behaviors and privacy needs that influence dwelling design, such as intimate, personal, social and public zones. Architects must organize spaces to relate activities appropriately while addressing structure, access, dimensions, lighting and other predetermined or controllable conditions based on the context. Windows, doors and pathways also impact spatial relationships and characteristics.

1. TB I, 5 Abalı 1
Inside the dwelling unit
the purpose of human dwellings
are to inhabit human activities

2. TB I, 5 Abalı 2
• Our dwellings should fulfill the
requirements of the activities we do in our
homes.
• Our dwellings should be safe in structures
and materials. They should be in
affordable cost.
• Our dwellings have to be beautiful and
culturally meaningful in the context of the
society we live.

3. TB I, 5 Abalı 3
What activities our homes accommodate
– social, domestic and intimate interaction
– rest, recuperation and recreation
– cleaning, personal hygiene and bodily
discharge
– nutrition: storage, preparation and
consumption of food
– work, education and hobby
– spiritual satisfaction

4. TB I, 5 Abalı 4
Activities require settings
• space,
• light and air (without light space do not exist,
without air humans in space do not exist)
• optimum sensory conditions (heat,
humidity, touch, smell, sound )
• furnishing and equipment,
all of them are defined by bodily limitations
of human beings

5. TB I, 5 Abalı 5
we perceive space only
when light hits and reflects
from objects and surfaces
Therefore without a minimal lux of light we
are unaware of space

6. TB I, 5 Abalı 6
We perceive space as void between objects and
surfaces, however it gains character with
proportions

7. TB I, 5 Abalı 7
Therefore
proportions between the dimensions of the space
gain importance
length – width – height
human scale, public scale, urban scale,
monumental scale, mega scale,.....

8. TB I, 5 Abalı 8
two masters studied human
bodily dimensions, they
both observed that its
ideal proportions are in
“golden ratio”

9. TB I, 5 Abalı 9
human dimensions are important both in
static settings and in motion

10. TB I, 5 Abalı 10
certain dimensions need to be memorized

11. TB I, 5 Abalı 11
• apart from structural and functional
(physical dimensions) we also have behavioral
dimensions: studied by cultural
anthropologists.
• Human territorial zones
– intimate zone : physical contact
– personal zone : 45-120 cm. for friends
– social zone : 120-350 cm. for strangers
– public zone : 350-750 cm. for community

12. TB I, 5 Abalı 12
territorial behavior of man kind

13. TB I, 5 Abalı 13

14. TB I, 5 Abalı 14
• Other than territorial zones, we have
privacy concerns
– certain activities we share with friends but do
not allow strangers to participate or to observe
(dinner party with friends)
– certain activities we share with people whom
we feel very close(display of love and
affection)
– certain activities we want to be alone(bodily
discharge)

15. TB I, 5 Abalı 15
Therefore we can classify domestic activities
according to the privacy degree they require:
• having friends as visitors (shared with outsiders)
• family spending time together (shared)
• family eating together (shared)
• work (singularly done but not concealed)
• sleep (singularly done)
• intimate relation (shared but concealed)
• bodily discharge (singularly done and concealed)
• bath and bodily maintenance (singularly done, may
or may not be concealed)

16. TB I, 5 Abalı 16
• apart from physical dimensions, we also
classify our activities according to their
relations:
– which activities should be closely related ?
– which activities need to be isolated ?
– which activities need more accessibility ?
– which activities may share the same space ?

17. TB I, 5 Abalı 17
kitchen and
dining area
sleeping space and
music room
sleeping area
of baby and mother
a kitchen may be
rectangular but living
room should be more
like square
a schema or diagram
of the dwelling

18. TB I, 5 Abalı 18
A case analysis
in a typical Turkish
2 flats/floor apartment
building unit
extraverted zone
(where we let
strangers enter)

19. TB I, 5 Abalı 19
functional relations

20. TB I, 5 Abalı 20
zones with common
requirements
(piping and pluming,
water proof surfaces)

21. TB I, 5 Abalı 21
extraverted zones
(dışa dönük alan)
introverted zones
(içe dönük alan)

22. TB I, 5 Abalı 22
In an American
Sub-urbian
detached home
extraverted
zones
(dışa dönük
alan)
introverted
zones
(içe dönük
alan)

23. TB I, 5 Abalı 23
architects organize spaces in two
cases
Case A
• remodelling an
existing space
– structure
– access
– space dimensions
– natural light
are pre determined
Case B
• designing a
prospective space
– have the opportunity to
control all conditions
up to some degree
(up to which degree is
determined by the
context)

24. TB I, 5 Abalı 24
– For each activity ask
• what are necessary dimensions ?
• what are necessary equipment and furnishings ?
• what are necessary sensory conditions ?
• with which other activities, which degree of relation
required ?

25. TB I, 5 Abalı 25
• Doors
– open out to or
– shut off from a space unit
therfore their location is important

26. TB I, 5 Abalı 26
• Which is correct ?

27. TB I, 5 Abalı 27
• Space behind the
door ?

28. TB I, 5 Abalı 28
Pathways in the space
• elements of space
dictate relations
• door ways imply paths
(zones within a singular
space)

29. TB I, 5 Abalı 29
windows have multiple purposes
• They let day light to interiors
• Their location,direction and size create different
kinds of light zones
• They let us to see the outer world, a pleasant view
or just out side
• They sometimes are for ventilating the spaces...

30. TB I, 5 Abalı 30
• Size of windows give us
feelings such as :
– enclosure,protectedness,
warmth, privacy.....
– continuity between
interior-exterior spaces....

31. TB I, 5 Abalı 31
• They frame and modulate the
outer world.
• Also, they create character of
the building as seen from
exterior.

32. TB I, 5 Abalı 32
• External
character
determined
by
opennings