The Affordance of a Boundary:
Liminality and Thresholds as Design Tools.
Design-Driven Doctoral Research
PEP Programm Entwurfsbasierte Promotion
TU Berlin, Entwurfsfachgebiete Architektur Landschaftsarchitektur
Abstract:
While boundaries define the spatial order of the built environment, their ambivalent nature can constitute not only divisions and separation, but also built fabric’s stitches with a capacity to foster connections. A physical manifestation of boundaries defines domesticity and inhabitants’ relation to the outside, at the same time shaping local co-existence by characterising fringes of the public sphere. A transition from private to public can be formed by a sequence of thresholds and vestibules, each with affordance for a particular visual or direct relation. The focus of the study lies in delaminating vertical separators into elements which selectively fulfil their intrinsic functions, aiding gradual transitions and the formation of porous margins. The research is based on a review and analysis of design tools and methods used in a series of small-scale, predominantly residential projects located in India and Poland. Both the post-communist and post-colonial contexts were subject to socio-political transformations which affected the perception of security and privacy needs, as well as the attitude towards ownership status. The climatic requirements of the tropics and those in the northern hemisphere grant an additional dimension to the evaluation and typological classification of walls and wall-like devices.
If one were to use architecture to illustrate the different ideological positions, then for modernist architects, the wall of a building would be a mediating membrane between the inside and the outside. For post-modernists, the wall is the screen on which the message is projected. Neoreactionaries need the wall only as a meter-thick concrete barrier to protect the space inside the bunker.
Krzysztof Nawratek, Granice, Interfejsy, Infrastruktura, Autoportret, 2020
Recognising the wall’s potential as a connector rather than a divider, this study looks at the design methods that redefine the role boundaries play in the dynamically changing social and built environment. The project argues that curating a transition can augment the qualities of the space, where the wall not only constitutes a mediating membrane (as per modernist use mentioned above) but an urban fabric stitch, a space with affordances for interactions and the capacity to shape a shared habitat. This is an examination of boundaries perceived as a space of transition rather than a point of division. The exploration begins with an attempt to grasp the ambiguous essence of the boundary concept and the associated power dynamics, paving the way to an informed use of it as a tool for architectural interventions.
As the hermetic borders of the increasingly privatised portions of the built environment stand bereft of any relation to their surroundings, they interrupt the continuity of the public realm not only by denying access but also by limiting the freedom of the gaze. What we can observe is a manifestation of ownership, often as a symbol of wealth, a projection of aspirations, yet offering nothing to the public sphere other than the projected message of status. This phenomenon is especially evident where rapid development and profound social and economic transformations have occurred in a relatively short amount of time. For the purpose of this research, projects set in two different contexts—Indian and Polish—sharing the above-mentioned challenges will serve as a testing ground for strategies that aim to develop a spectrum of architectural solutions for richer, more diverse sets of spaces that produce a coherent environment without abrupt physical or visual barriers.
The study investigates a design method in which the spatial experience is conceptualised by a visual narrative brought about by a sequence of specific architectural moments. Consequently, scripting the experience of liminality and the formation of thresholds lies at the core of the tested concept development approach. Proposed strategy positioning a narrative of progression through the space as pivotal to the design development. This shapes the form and porosity of the building, the functional layout, and, by defining a versatility of connections to the outer realm, provides affordance for a manifold of specific activities and behaviours. As Beisswenger writes in relation to Le Corbusier’s Promenade Architecturale, in order to appreciate the spatial experience through movement, one has to “challenge the perspective of visualising spaces or representing the design from the point of view of a single immobile viewer.”
As the hermetic borders of the increasingly privatised portions of the built environment stand bereft of any relation to their surroundings, they interrupt the continuity of the public realm not only by denying access but also by limiting the freedom of the gaze. What we can observe is a manifestation of ownership, often as a symbol of wealth, a projection of aspirations, yet offering nothing to the public sphere other than the projected message of status. This phenomenon is especially evident where rapid development and profound social and economic transformations have occurred in a relatively short amount of time. For the purpose of this research, projects set in two different contexts—Indian and Polish—sharing the above-mentioned challenges will serve as a testing ground for strategies that aim to develop a spectrum of architectural solutions for richer, more diverse sets of spaces that produce a coherent environment without abrupt physical or visual barriers.
The study investigates a design method in which the spatial experience is conceptualised by a visual narrative brought about by a sequence of specific architectural moments. Consequently, scripting the experience of liminality and the formation of thresholds lies at the core of the tested concept development approach. Proposed strategy positioning a narrative of progression through the space as pivotal to the design development. This shapes the form and porosity of the building, the functional layout, and, by defining a versatility of connections to the outer realm, provides affordance for a manifold of specific activities and behaviours. As Beisswenger writes in relation to Le Corbusier’s Promenade Architecturale, in order to appreciate the spatial experience through movement, one has to “challenge the perspective of visualising spaces or representing the design from the point of view of a single immobile viewer.”
A case study. Design process of a small scale residential buildinh in Inida.︎︎︎
The research mind map.
all drawings by Kaja Deleżuch
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