---
title: "Secret Place (204)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 204
pattern_name: "Secret Place"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Secret%20Place%20%28204%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Thick Walls (197)"
  - "Ceiling Height Variety (190)"
  - "Closets Between Rooms (198)"
  - "Thickening the Outer Walls (211)"
  - "Floor-Ceiling Vaults (219)"
---

# Secret Place (204)

> 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
>Where can the need for concealment be expressed; the need to hide; the need for something precious to be lost, and then revealed?

### Solution
>Make a place in the house, perhaps only a few feet square, which is kept locked and secret; a place which is virtually impossible to discover—until you have been shown where it is; a place where the archives of the house, or other more potent secrets, might be kept.

### Related Patterns
... and here is a finishing touch to the thick walls, perhaps even to the low ceilings - [[Thick Walls (197)]], [[Ceiling Height Variety (190)]].

Classic types of secret places are the panel that slides back, revealing the cavity in the wall, the loose board beneath the rug, the trap door - [[Closets Between Rooms (198)]], [[Thickening the Outer Walls (211)]], [[Floor-Ceiling Vaults (219)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 930.
> #APL/confidence/low
>
> #APL/Building-Patterns/Thick-Walls