Pointless ruminations on Sunset’s flat, because I am an architecture nerd · 6:07pm Apr 8th, 2022
While reconstructing Sunset’s idiosyncratic living space, I realized it actually is laid out quite poorly. In no way, however, should that be considered a negative criticism of the art and animation staff! I have seen equally or more awkward arrangements in the real world, especially in older constructions.
So far as I know, no background information has been provided on its history other than Ms. Hadley’s response to my oblique inquiry on Twitter. My best guess is it was built a century or more ago as a workshop of some sort—note the brick walls with retrofitted electrical conduits and switchboxes bracketed to them—but was converted into a studio apartment in more recent decades, with the loft platform and staircase added at that time.
Whoever installed the platform and stairs missed a bet. As it stands, the lower flight intrudes on the main room enough to create difficulties for efficient use of space, but is not long enough or best placed to function as a room divider. Shortening the upper flight by a step or two would make the lower flight that much longer and pull it closer to the “front” of the room (as defined by the location of the main entry door). That in turn would divide the latter more evenly and more emphatically into two separate spaces of moderate size.
Had I the job, though, I might have done the opposite, lengthening the upper flight by three stairs. That would reduce the lower flight commensurately, minimizing its intrusion into the main room, and push the landing closer to the bathroom door. The ideal, of course, would be to avoid entirely a landing and separate flights, but the monumental work that would entail in rearranging the bathroom, even to filling in the old doorway and cutting a new one through the (probably load-bearing) brick wall, would have made that a non-starter.
Likewise, Sunset could have furnished the place more efficiently than she did—though it’s obvious everything came from piecemeal Dumpster-diving and thrift-shopping, so she clearly had to take what she could get. Moreover, at sixteen she probably was not exactly a genius at interior design and likely never re-examined her choices since. Even so, she could have placed the television and associated electronics against the middle of the “back” wall, with the couch facing it and the added benefit of a reduction in glare from the main window. The guitar amp would have to move, but there’s plenty of room available for it to go against a wall, which would be better anyway.
On the other hand, as a streamer she also has to consider the best backdrop she has available for the reaction-and-hosting camera angle. Showing the whole length of the room, and her living arrangement, might not be ideal. She could back the television set up against the wall next to the bathroom door, but light leakage from the main window might blow out the exposure. As it is, she just has to remember to shut the bathroom door, and she has a background that is intriguingly eccentric without being too obtrusive or exposing too much of her living area.
The other possibility would be to swap the “living” and “working” areas, but again the presence of the gigantic main window, and the glare it generates, is a factor. Too, once Sunset picks up her interest in art, she might decide she prefers the natural light for her work area, even if it isn’t placed ideally.
Last but not least, when I first saw the whole of the place I realized instantly Sunset has no kitchen. The closest she gets is the bar refrigerator and microwave oven by the front door, which is . . . not great. The easiest thing to do would be to place a European-style set of kitchenette fittings against the wall beside the bathroom door—dry if necessary, plumbed if possible—but almost certainly that would be well beyond the means of a high-school student getting by on a shoestring! Maybe whoever moves in after she moves out will do that.
What surprises me the most is why Sunset’s flat didn’t have a small kitchenette at the rear because the bathroom makes the whole place L-shaped and there should have been some room on the other side.
To be honest I don’t see why more time wasn’t spent actually trying to make things work properly in EQG instead of how they did it. I guess a spin-off to generate additional income is all the were interested in. Equestria Girls could have had the potential to be so much more. Luckily there is a creative fandom here to do what Hasbro wouldn’t.
Clearly Sunset’s kitchen is Applejack’s next project after Rarity’s walk-in closet.
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Outside North America, if I understand correctly, it is not uncommon for a dwelling not to have a built-in kitchen, leaving it up to the occupants to provide furnishings for the kitchen along with those in other rooms. Ubiquitous built-in kitchens, like ubiquitous wall-to-wall carpeting, I believe are a relatively recent phenomenon starting in the US and spreading from there. So Sunset’s abode not having one is entirely reasonable, especially if it was converted to a living space, say, mid-century or between the World Wars, or during the equivalent period in that world. Moreover, it’s possible the place wasn’t originally intended as a living space and either is off the books or has a waiver exemption.
We don’t know anything about the surrounding spaces, especially since the building front shown in “Monday Blues” apparently was created without reference to the interior. My guess is the L-shape fits around other rooms or buildings. That said, yes, there would have been room to place a kitchenette beside the bathroom, in the main room.
If I were setting it up as a conventional living space, I would have made the area between the main door and the lower flight of stairs the “living room” and the back area, behind the lower flight, the kitchenette and dining area. But Sunset’s needs and priorities are different.
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Story idea!
this has just been one of the most marvelous series of blog posts :D
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Y'all are seriously overthinking this. She clearly was just taking after Fluttershy:
- MLP: FiM
- Comedy
- Random
- Slice of Life
My name's Fluttershy. And I don't have a kitchen. But um… everypony seems to think I do...(Also I love how so much of the interesting ideas of fanfiction come from limitations, incongruencies, plot holes, etc of the original media.) Hey FoME, is there a term for this?
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Too bad evil knighty won't ever let us bookshelf blogs together
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TV Tropes probably has something for it. I just think of it as filling in the gaps.