Architecture
Architect's Toolbox: A Room Within a Room
Create a more intimate space with ceiling detail, columns or even a four-poster bed
Architects and designers sometimes create a room within a room to reduce the scale and provide a more intimate setting — nesting a space within a space, a little like Shaker nesting boxes and Russian matryoshka dolls.
The grandest example of all is St. Peter's baldachin at the Vatican. Here Bernini's sculptural room sits within the great space of the cathedral, breaking down the vastness of the space while providing the stage for religious activities. Open on all sides and covered, the baldachin's four columns and roof define a most intimate and sacred of spaces.
So the next time you get under the covers of your four-poster bed or engage in a conversation in an inglenook by the fire, remember that you're enjoying the type of space architects have been creating for centuries.
The grandest example of all is St. Peter's baldachin at the Vatican. Here Bernini's sculptural room sits within the great space of the cathedral, breaking down the vastness of the space while providing the stage for religious activities. Open on all sides and covered, the baldachin's four columns and roof define a most intimate and sacred of spaces.
So the next time you get under the covers of your four-poster bed or engage in a conversation in an inglenook by the fire, remember that you're enjoying the type of space architects have been creating for centuries.
The most common type of room within a room is the four-poster bed. This works especially well in a spacious room with tall ceiling. And the architectural treatment of the bed frame here suggests this is more a building within a building, not just a room within a room.
A four-poster bed can be a simple and contemporary design and still create an intimate space in a large room.
A contemporary interpretation of the idea has the bed in a room defined by sheer fabric hanging from a raised ceiling.
Not limited to Western design, the posts and "ceilings" of traditional Chinese beds create that room-within-a-room quality.
A large living area can be enriched by a smaller room within. While the piano sits in the larger volume space, columns and a change in ceiling height create a more intimate conversation area.
Using the step up and seating structure for spatial separation — and the fireplace as a focal point — this inglenook is a room within the larger context of rooms around it.
Not just an approach for living rooms and bedrooms, the idea of a room within a room can be used in bathrooms to create a special place to shower or bathe.
A room within a room isn't just for the inside. Some simple lattice screening and greenery makes for a wonderfully intimate and restful way station in the great outdoors.
More: Homes With Houses of Their Own
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More: Homes With Houses of Their Own
How to Create a Nest at Home
Creating Nests in Unexpected Places