Many of San Francisco’s traditional homes, like those in the Victorian and Edwardian styles, are long and thin. The floor plan is a string of rooms following a long corridor. My first San Francisco apartment, on Steiner in Lower Haight, fits the long-thin pattern perfectly. <<Image>> Notice the only rooms, with adjoining walls along the long-axis, are the two front and two back ones. At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the long-thin pattern as a period style. Upon deeper thought, the pattern provides privacy, minimizes overcrowding and ultimately boosts psychological well-being
Strong evidence suggests overcrowding in small spaces creates psychological as well as social damage to its dwellers. In small spaces with overcrowding, everyone is in each other’s space, everything is too near everything else, and privacy is impossible. Too much time, in a place like this, strains relationships and provokes stress.
In order to create more privacy, increase the distance between places within a house. Think of it mathematically (wow, putting my CS degree to some use!), privacy is directly related to the point-to-point distance between two places: the higher the point-to-point distance, the greater the privacy. That makes sense, right? When a room is further away, you are less likely to hear or interact with its inhabitants.
With these thoughts in mind, long-thin houses provide more privacy and less overcrowding than square or circular ones. In long-thin houses, the point-to-point distance between all room combinations is high. In square or circular houses, the average point-to-point distance is low.
Back to my flat on Steiner. I shared it with four roommates, three of which had significant others. Moreover the building owner used the room across from mine as his office. Despite living with eight additional people, I never felt cramped. In fact, my private and social time was well balanced. Only closets adjoined my room to my roommate’s room, so I felt free within my space. When I felt social, I gathered with friends in the kitchen or living room. Would I live in an arrangement like this again? No. No way. Now way in … you get the point. However my experience highlights the point that even with nine people, five rooms worked in a long, thin house. (If you didn’t notice already from the drawing) The downside to traditional, San Francisco houses is the arrangement of bathroom. Yes, the word is singular. (I was twenty-four when I lived on Steiner).
All in all, the long-thin floor plan provides comfort and well-being by maximizing privacy and minimizing overcrowding. Next time you walk within a traditional, San Francisco house, notice the arrangement of rooms and ask, “How would I feel living here?” Your thoughts may surprise you.
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