> most american homes have the front door open directly to the living room. Adding some info: in South America (Brazil at least) front door opens also to the l

> most american homes have the front door open directly to the living room. Adding some info: in South America (Brazil at least) front door opens also to the living room. On architectural theory it's common to correlate this trend with the 'less hierarchical' way of being of these countries. In Europe this hardly ever happen and in cold countries is even common to have 2 halls behind the front door on single houses: the first not heated (the ganek in Polish) and then another hall, this one heated.