Squeezing and releasing

I went with some friends yesterday to the Pope-Leighey House, a very small house designed in 1940 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Now, I am not particularly enamored of Wright, but my SO the architect is... so I went for the company, but I learned a few things and gained some amount of appreciation for him. Even though I still wouldn't want to live in one of his houses, LOL.

Prudence, our tour guide, was outstanding. Friendly and knowledgeable and willing to answer any questions, she gave us a good feel for both the history and the design of the house. What struck me most was her explanation of the low ceiling/roof of the entranceway. At Fallingwater (which I visited a few years ago), I felt cramped in the bedrooms and disliked the house for that reason. Walking up to the Pope-Leighey House, I saw the same low ceiling and felt the same crampedness. But Prudence explained that Wright did it on purpose, with the aim of giving people a "protected" feeling to start with and then expanding the space once they stepped inside. He called it "compression release," she told us.

Although I still don't care for the cramped feeling of the low ceilings (and I'm not particularly tall, being of average height for my age), I can appreciate the concept and can recognize its value.

In someone else's house.