Walk Through A Building

WALK THROUGH A BUILDING

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The Muhaisnah Residence Building 1 is often misunderstood as two buildings instead of one by anyone other than its residents. The main reason for this is the unique triangular shape of the building and the presence of two lobbies. The main entrance door of the building is a swing glass door facing the main road, and it takes us to a lobby. In the lobby, the space on the left is occupied by a small couch and a security desk. Several residents wait for their transport to school or work in this lobby every morning. Moreover, this lobby would perhaps have been the first interior part of the building seen by most of the residents as it serves as an information desk for the newcomers. Therefore, it is commonly referred to as the main lobby. Directly opposite the main entrance door, another glass swing door can be seen. This door takes us to the topmost parking level out of the three levels of the parking garage (two of which are underground).

Walking across the parking garage, we reach the second lobby located almost opposite the main lobby. It is mostly used by the residents as a shortcut to the mosque behind the building, and by those whose apartments are accessible faster via the two elevators in the same lobby. This lobby is not as adorned as the main lobby as its entrance cannot be seen from the main road and hence, is not used to attract new tenants. The lack of furnishing therein results in the space only being used as a path to the outside of the building and not as a place to relax and is, therefore, referred to as a secondary lobby. It consists of two elevators and has three glass swing doors, two of which open to the ground floor parking lot, and the third which opens to the outside.

The building consists of a total of eleven floors (excluding the parking garage) - the ground floor, nine residential floors, and the tenth floor devoted to recreational amenities, such as the gym, and is denoted by “HC”, which is short for “Health Club”.

To the right of the main entrance door in the main lobby, two elevators, highly similar to the elevators in the secondary lobby, can be seen and are the main mode of transport to the different levels of residential apartments, as well as to the two underground parking levels. These elevators only provide access up to the highest residential floor or the ninth floor. The topmost level cannot be accessed by using

these elevators. To use the recreational facilities, it is required to ride the elevators from the secondary lobby, as these provide access to all of the parking levels, residential levels, as well the HC level. (It also makes sense to get off the elevators from the main lobby at any one of the residential levels and walk through the corridor to reach the two other elevators, and use those to reach the HC.)

The elevator opens at the HC level and to the left, we see the gym. To the left of the gym, a single flight staircase consisting of ten steps can be seen. This staircase leads us to a glass door that connects to the terrace which contains the swimming pools. Turning left from before this staircase, we see the sauna, steam room, and two separate changing rooms for men and women.

Directly opposite the glass door of the pool, is a wooden door. This door leads us to the main stairway in the building that connects to the secondary lobby. It has landings at all of the residential levels and is meant to be used in case of emergencies such as a fire. Between any two levels, there are two flights of steps and two landings. Each step has a tread of 28cm and a riser of 14 cm. The landings have a width of 118cm and a length of 295cm. The handrail is made of metal and is high enough to prevent accidents. The wall adjacent to the first landing has a huge window, approximately 415cm in height and there is a similar window at every level. These windows allow for a view of the adjacent buildings and the mosque. The size of the windows also allows its users to experience bright sunlight during the day and a glittering view of the neighbourhood during the night; the higher the level, the better the view. The stairway is positioned in such a way that the windows are on the same side as the main entrance to the secondary lobby. This stairway is used by people going to the gym as it serves as a warm-up, and by people who have finished swimming and want to dry off before entering their homes. The wide steps also act as a play area for children.

The stairway ends at the ground floor, and we open a wooden door to arrive at the secondary lobby. Adjacent to this door is a second wooden door serving as an entrance to another stairway, which leads to the two basement parking levels. Exiting this stairway at either of the basement parking levels, we come out into smaller lobbies having two glass swing doors each, which opens to the parking lots. These lobbies are only meant to be used as a comfortable space for people waiting to ride the elevator to their respective levels. The building houses two other stairways that are very rarely used by tenants. These connect the bottommost floor of the parking garages to the highest residential floor of the building. Almost every part of the building, including the stairways, have false ceilings, and is equipped with central air conditioning and motion-sensing lights.

Depending on which side each tenant’s apartment is positioned on, the residents

choose to enter through the main lobby or secondary lobby and take the elevator to their respective levels. There are also two garbage disposal rooms present near the elevators. The triangular-shaped building accommodates the three stairways such that they are almost equidistant to each other, and each side of the triangle has one stairway. It enables each tenant to choose a stairway that provides quick and easy access to their apartments.

It can be noted that almost all of the tenants of the Muhaisnah Residence Building 1 have undergone a similar experience of utter confusion during their first few weeks residing in the building due to forgetting where their apartments are located. The presence of twelve identical doors on each floor, two oppositely located entrances, and the long corridors that seem never-ending are the reasons behind this. However, once accustomed to the overall layout of the building, the tenants enjoy a highly convenient environment filled with good services.

Figure 1: Recreational Amenities Note. The image on the left shows the stairs leading to the swimming pool; the air conditioning vents can also be noticed on the ceiling. The image on the right shows the corridor comprising the changing rooms, steam room, and sauna. By N. Naveed. Copyright 2021 by N. Naveed. Figure 2: A Path with a View Note. The railing and the glass window can be seen in the image on the left, while the image on the right shows the stairway connecting two floors. By N. Naveed. Copyright 2021 by N. Naveed. Figure 3: Design of the Corridor Note. The first image is of the corridor on a residential floor. The design of the floor and wall tiles can be seen. The second image shows two elevators that are located on the same side as the main lobby. The false ceiling, motion-sensing lights, and ac vents are apparent here. By N. Naveed. Copyright 2021 by N. Naveed.