Circulation

"Circulation as the liberty that spaces have".

Circulations are the link between spaces of one or different levels, whose purpose is to allow accessibility or relationship, as well as mobility and depersonas and material flow between them. The correct circulations inside a building, dependen of relationships between environments, the individual design of each site, the status of the doors, side toward which open, and distribution grouping furniture.

​Kant defines the flow through corridors or hallways with different rhythm. Circulation always has a special cararistica in each work, and looking the relation with light. Each circulation system is thought to emphasize the spaces where he directs. It complements the smooth flow path, and beautifies the building. Kahn can use vertical and horizontal circulation.

Corridor of Salk Institute

Ayub National Hospital

In a house-room, circulation should logically begin in the lobby and will unfold around the unit. The entrance hall almost always several environments, and can considerarse as the axis of the system.

The Exeter House presents two similar entrances aligned with the circulation cores. They’re cut in relation to the boundaries of the house’s basic rectangle shape, forming an atrium. One of them is the main entrance to the house. The other one is an entrance to the garden. In the perpendicular direction to the entrances, two chimneys, also aligned, create a positive contraposition of the entrances. They’re elements that break the work’s orthogonality. The circulation defines an enclosed space, and very appropriate for a private house.

The Kimbell Art Museum has a rich horizontal circulation system defined by the vault’s directions and the open courtyards which clearly show the path the users should take when entering from the main entrance, a carved vault defined by its own shadow from which the lit interior can be seen. The paths inside are clear, shown by walls where artworks are exhibited.

The Yale Center for the British Art has a clear spatial sequence that show the circulation that one has to take inside. Going through an open corner of the massive building, a 4 story tall lobby receives people and distributes them to a circular staircase, the dominant element of another 4 story tall space. This vertical circulation element distributes people in all 4 floors and unto the final floor, where the gallery is. In this last floor, circulation is defined by walls that come in transversal direction to the circulation paths, these walls are absent of rest stops for people to take breaks from the circulation. The vertical circulation, distributes rooms with horizontal spaces, and provides a very entertaining and dynamic way.

Stairs of Yale Gallery