[Cloudy]

An architect once told me that low ceilings are desirable in certain parts of homes because they give a very comforting, secure presence.

High ceilings do feel better for group and work spaces, room to breath.

[0] an actual anecdote that happened to me.

[picks_at_nits]

Frank Lloyd Wright used low ceilings in entranceways so that the house would “open up” as you walked into it.

[design-of-homes]

"...so that the house would “open up” as you walked into it."

This is a well-known effect that architects have employed for centuries. In fact, you probably encounter it in many places without even thinking about it:

- when walking into a cinema auditorium, you walk through a low-ceiling entrance or corridor and then the auditorium space opens up in front of you. This effect is even more dramatic in some old theatres and opera houses

- the historic concept of contrasting spaces has been used in many different ways by changing the type of space or the size/scale of a space. For example, the narrow streets of a medieval town that suddenly and dramatically open up to a large market square.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier designed a block of flats (apartments) called the Unité d'habitation (housing unit) in Marseille in France. It was completed in the 1950s and had a huge influence on the design of post-war housing across Europe (it generated much controversy too).

The duplex flats have a narrow width of just 3.66 metres. As you enter the flat, the first ceiling height is 2.26 metres (which Le Corbusier described as "intimate"). This leads into the double-height space of the living room (i.e. the second ceiling height). The windows in this double-height space are 15 square metres. Light floods in to the apartment in winter and summer and, according to Le Corbusier, can penetrate to a depth of 20 metres. The flats are fitted with stairs without risers to accentuate the sense of space.

Here are some pictures of an apartment: https://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/8562877755/ http://www.house42.com/2010/10/14/unite-dhabitation-duplex-a...

[bluthru]

Also as a smart way to dissuade people from loitering around an entrance in a public building.

[mahmud]

So, like an igloo?

[abandonliberty]

Pedant moment. You want the verb form, breathe.

"Breath" is a noun that means "the air taken into or expelled from the lungs."

[seanalltogether]

While reading the article I was wondering what the affects of a low ceiling would have on sleeping habits.