Hi Jeff,
From an app structure standpoint you can get to the first item in the top level collection using goto://ApplicationViewState/library. If you create a collection as the first item in the top level, that URL will go there.
You can also still have the hamburger menu take you to home + five areas, since the contents of the hamburger are controlled by what’s in the top-level collection, and you’re already disabling horizontal swipe so people wouldn’t see them. I’ve done this with my Adobe Inspire demo app: I put the stuff I want to navigate to via menu in the TLC, and then duplicate them in the home collection as well.
I realize this isn’t the greatest workaround for your situation. I’m chatting with Nate about how we can address this in the future, but we made an early decision to not show update pills on articles so they didn’t intrude on readers while they are consuming content. The place that falls apart is when the top-level collection is nothing but articles ☹
Neil