---
title: "Family of Entrances (102)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 102
pattern_name: "Family of Entrances"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Family%20of%20Entrances%20%28102%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Circulation Realms (98)"
  - "Main Entrance (110)"
  - "Entrance Transition (112)"
  - "Entrance Room (130)"
  - "Reception Welcomes You (149)"
---

# Family of Entrances (102)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>When a person arrives in a complex of offices or services or workshops, or in a group of related houses, there is a good chance they will experience confusion unless the whole collection is laid out before them, so that they can see the entrance of the place where they are going.

### Solution
>Lay out the entrances to form a family. This means:

>1. They form a group, are visible together, and each visible from all the others.
>2. They are all broadly similar, for instances all porches, or all gates in a wall, or all marked by a similar kind of doorway.

### Related Patterns
... this pattern is an embellishment of [[Circulation Realms (98)]] which portrayed a series of realms, in a large building or a building complex, with a major entrance or gateway into each realm and a collection of minor doorways, gates, and openings off each realm. This pattern applies to the relationship between these "minor" entrances.

In detail, make the entrances bold and easy to see - [[Main Entrance (110)]] ; when they lead into private domains, houses and the like, make a transition in between the, public street and the inside - [[Entrance Transition (112)]]; and shape the entrance itself as a room, which straddles the wall, and is thus both inside and outside as a projecting volume, covered and protected from the rain and sun - [[Entrance Room (130)]]. If it is an entrance from an indoor street into a public office, make reception part of the entrance - [[Reception Welcomes You (149)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 499.
> #APL/confidence/medium
>
> #APL/Building-Patterns/Group-of-Buildings