This book explores the relationship between architecture and philosophy through a discussion on threshold spaces linking public space with publicly accessible buildings. It explores the connection between exterior and interior and how this creates and affects interactions between people and the social dynamics of the city.
Building on an existing body of literature, the book engages with critical philosophy and discusses how it can be applied to architecture. In a similar vein to Walter Benjamin’s descriptions of the Parisian Arcades in the nineteenth century, the book identifies the conditions under which thresholds reveal and impact social life. It utilises a wide range of illustrated international case studies from architects in Japan, Norway, Finland, France, Portugal, Italy, the USA, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil. Within the examples, thresholds become enhancers of social interactions and highlight broader socio-political contexts in public and private space.
Architecture of Threshold Spaces is an enlightening contribution to knowledge on contemporary architecture, politics and philosophy for students, academics, and architects.
Author(s): Laurence Kimmel
Series: Routledge Research in Architecture
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 242
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preamble
Some contemporary tendencies of cities and their antecedents in the Modern period
The concept of Threshold
Focusing on thresholds with public space: an expression of social life
The political role of architectural space
Potential of threshold spaces
Notes
References
Part I: Thresholds: some theoretical background
1. Threshold spaces are singular spaces
What are threshold spaces?
Architecture as an array of spaces whose physical boundaries can be represented as envelopes
Threshold spaces adjacent to public space
Threshold spaces adjacent to semi-private space
The experience of passage through threshold spaces
Thresholds foster a non-objectifying perception of architecture
Visitors are affected by variations of experience
Unsettling threshold spaces foster both distracted perception and attention
Potential unity of the experience of threshold spaces
Notes
References
2. Threshold spaces express dialectics
Threshold spaces are singular and display tensions
Singular space
The social meaning of architecture
Tensions in the architecture of threshold spaces
Singular architecture with impact on people
Envelopes of spaces and effect on people
The impact of the architecture of the Yokohama Ferry Terminal on people: political meaning
Notes
References
3. Observations on Threshold spaces
Threshold Architecture enables agency
The emancipatory potential of architecture according to Critical Theory
What is the emancipatory potential of architecture?
Does Threshold Architecture, in particular, have emancipatory potential?
Applying the theory: key points for discussion in the following Parts
References
Part II: Thresholds of buildings of different functions
4. Thresholds in cultural architecture
Thresholds as major spaces in cultural architecture
The social impact of SESC Pompéia's vast threshold spaces
Design of exterior and interior museum thresholds
Siza's sculptural museum architecture
Odile Decq's design of thresholds for the MACRO in Rome
Decq's interiors as public space
Passages between and through envelopes
Decq's architecture of freedom, constraint, and negotiation
Negotiations creating political architecture, and the limits of the political meaning
Thresholds in SANAA's Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa
Threshold space infuses the museum
The museum displays singular threshold spaces
Translucent partitions tend to erase the structure of spaces
Conclusion
Notes
References
5. Thresholds of services areas and retail shops
Thresholds between public space and service areas
The concept of Schaulager
Thresholds between service space and served space in markets
Retail shop thresholds
When retail shops enhance public space
Retail threshold space in an Australian Aboriginal community
The concept of Third Space
Notes
References
6. Thresholds in architecture for age-specific groups
Public buildings for youth and thresholds with public space
The integration of delinquent youth through links with public space
Two examples of Threshold Architecture in youth sports centres
An example of Threshold Architecture at a university
Threshold Architecture for the elderly
Threshold Architecture for traditional Aboriginal lifestyle spaces
Notes
References
7. Public space as threshold space
Public space as a space of negotiation
Thresholds of public space
Thresholds that enhance events in public space
An example of public space as a metaphor for the socio-political context
Public space as Thresholds in high-rise buildings
Public space in high-rises as threshold spaces
Thresholds enhance public space
Connection and separation
Fostering action and observation
Public space as threshold enhances the "publicness" of public space
Notes
References
8. Thresholds around semi-private Pockets in public space
Pocket Spaces in public space
Thresholds around open-air places of debate
Pocket Space for a community in public space
Pocket Spaces enhancing the publicness of public space
Threshold space around domestic-related amenities
Cooking and eating spaces
Other domestic-related Pocket Spaces in public space
Thresholds for people in need of housing support
Political implications of sharing amenities in public space
Notes
References
Part III: Constraints to the existence of thresholds and proposals of resistance strategies
9. Thresholds in the context of security strategies
The architectural impact on thresholds from protection against Hostile Vehicles
Balancing security and openness by creating thresholds
Various design requirements in a security context
Security strategies enabling Thresholds
Notes
References
10. Thresholds in the context of excessive morality or denial of social practices
Acknowledgement of sexual practices through threshold spaces
Sex life and the city
Stygian aspects of civic life
Threshold between public space and death-related practices
Cultural contexts and relation to death
Expression of death in Mexican culture
Threshold spaces in a funeral parlour
A city that does not deny intimate practices
Note
References
11. Thresholds in the context of homogenisation of space
Computational design tools: challenges and advantages for Thresholds
Computational design in critical practice
Computational design and thresholds in the critical practice of artist Jean-Luc Moulène
Jean-Luc Moulène's sculptural process
Potentials for the design of Thresholds through computational design
The expression of dialectics is enhanced through CD
Robotic partitioning: challenges and advantages for thresholds
Transformable architecture blurring the limits between public and private space
Community-controlled robotic partitions
Atmospheric architecture: challenges and advantages for Thresholds
A lack of collective experience and privacy from atmospheric architecture
Imagining the potential for atmospheric architecture to create Thresholds
Notes
References
12. A critique of homogenisation and segregation
Ideologies of hyperconnectivity and segregation in architecture
(Auto)regulation of society as pendulum movement between segregation and homogenisation
The contradictions of capitalism exemplify the contradictions of the social-political context: homogenisation and segregation
Freedom and constraint in the context of capitalism
Contradictory effects of capitalism on architecture
Tools for a critique of Semi-private-Complex architecture expressing extreme contradictions
Notes
References
Part IV: Towards a concept of Threshold Architecture
13. Artworks in public space: the role of Thresholds
Artworks mediating negotiation between individual space, collective space, and physical context
Threshold spaces in performance art: experiments on individual and collective bodies
Site-specific installations: threshold spaces and physical context
Threshold spaces as a dispositive, mediating the relation between the visitor's spatial experience and the context
Examples of threshold spaces as dispositive
Framed views and threshold spaces
Aesthetics of framed views and threshold spaces
An example of framed views and threshold spaces as an experience of the collective dream of Berlin's history
Museums as threshold spaces around art
Threshold Architecture as Pharmakon
Notes
References
14. Design principles of Threshold Architecture, and theoretical implications
Fundamental principle of Thresholds: Relational Autonomy
Design principles for threshold spaces
Threshold Architecture in relation to other categories of architecture
No threshold: Autonomous Architecture
No threshold: example of an autonomous approach through unowned property
No threshold: Open and Fluid architecture
No threshold: Semi-private Complex architecture, including phantasmagorias
Threshold Architecture can display a complex array of semi-private spaces, but public space prevails
Threshold Architecture as resistance and Threshold Architecture as adaptation
Resistance through a network of threshold spaces
Notes
References
15. Implications of threshold spaces for communities
Threshold space between community space and public space
The concept of Threshold addresses debates about communities
The spatial dimension of community
Theoretical implications: empowering communities through Thresholds
The actuality of Critical Theory
Dialectics between the majority, or mainstream, and minorities
The concept of Threshold as a feminist issue
Design enabling visibility and non-stigmatisation in public space
Can threshold spaces enhance the presence and expression of communities in public space?
The role and impact of threshold spaces on the presence and expression of communities in public space
A stranger in the city's thresholds
Notes
References
Conclusion
Threshold spaces enhance public space
Threshold spaces are spaces of social expression
By disappearing, threshold spaces tell us something about our society
Threshold spaces as resistance
Categories of architecture: Semi-private Complexes, Autonomous Architecture, and Threshold Architecture
Index
