My neighbor’s house has a couple of steps, and my guess is it’s at least partly because we are on a hill. It’s also partly so that the place where you put down your umbrella and remove your boots is below the grade of the wooden floors, and puddles don’t spread.
I tried a Google Images search for what I was thinking of. I couldn’t find examples in the US but this Wikipedia page shows a similar feature in Japanese houses, where it’s called a genkan.
I’ve got it now - I was somehow picturing the step as being just past the door rather than a couple of feet away.
And the lack of balcony furniture is likely a rule of the dorm (or the picture was taken when there were no residents).
I remember my grandparents apartment in a very nice building in Tudor Village [a neighborhood I guess one would call it, in proximity to the UN complex] where the hallways were about double width to any apartment I have had. Large enough to actually have the cure consol tables with a lamp or flower arrangement, chairs and a sort of lobby where the elevator and stairwell were.
I think as a public space, the funky balconies are very similar to the inside balcony cabins on cruise ships. Nothing against them, they would be more personable with flower pots, or other decorative stuff on the balconies, and planters and such in the passageway - the suggestion of a central planter would be nice but make moving furniture a bitch.