ayoob aliniay motlagh

The creation a place boundary[1] in architecture is likened to the formation of an ‘inside’ within an ‘outside’.  In this paper, the concept of ´boundary´ in architecture refers to ‘being or having inside’. The constituents of place boundary, including borders, centrality, and scope of determined enclosures, seek to preserve this ´inside´; as the connection to the ‘outside’ in a place boundary is an inevitable reality, its neglect in defining the boundaries of places could result in the loss of the ‘inside’ attributes of place boundaries. In formulating the theoretical framework of this research, the following fundamental questions served as a starting point: which factors influence the explanation of boundaries? How can the application of the concept of liminality assist in explaining place boundaries in architecture? Perceiving the notion of liminality as a process in the inside-outside dialectic to define boundaries of places has aided in the discovery of the most important findings in this study. The research approach in this study is qualitative, with a descriptive-analytical method and based on logical reasoning. In this paper, after first defining the concept of boundary and analyzing the inside-outside dialectic, a theoretical model to figure boundaries of places is presented by referring to the emerging concept of liminality in architecture. The outcome demonstrates that liminality, as a consequence of the inside-outside dialectic, is composed of three states; namely “separation, transition and reaggregation". The ‘transition’ state as a liminal period and the most important state in the liminality process by emphasizing "in-being inside" defines a place boundary and by considering the direction and destination in approach to the places determines the quantity and quality of the separation and reaggregation characteristics in this process. Edges of a place which, following the hierarchical structure of this paper, provides three distinct relationships between these boundaries: Oppositional, Interaction and Transcendence. Each of these stages, due to their perspective and outlook to architecture, designate different roles for each of the constituent components of place boundaries, which could construct the experience of being fully ‘inside’ (unity) or fully ‘outside’ (alienation) for the perceiver, and could devise criteria for the development of these boundaries. These stages, which have been outwardly and inwardly arranged in a hierarchical perspective to analyze boundaries in architecture, describe the three different forms of connection of two place boundaries as the following: 1- the Oppositional state in the connection of boundaries due to neglecting the state of transition, in which transition is limited to only one border. 2- In the interaction state, the stage of transition in liminality simultaneously draws attention to the separation and reaggregation of boundaries and furthers their relation from a common boundary to a common separation. 3- Finally, the transcendence state of relation of boundaries leads to emergence on the edges of place boundaries. The expansion and reduction of a boundary is not a mechanically controlled process which could be easily expanded or limited, rather the factors influencing the concept of liminality as well as the comprising components of a place should be examined and researched.

Liminality indicates a state of transition or being in between, as opposed to being at one. In architecture, it refers to a transition between two places on the way to arrive at a destination. The starting point of the present paper is tackling the reduction of the concept of liminality to ‘being at a threshold’, and thereby the threshold itself as a mere connection point and the neglect of is denotational range. The adopted method is qualitative accompanied with logical reasoning. After accurately defining the etymology of the term, and also a search for transitional zones in the literature, the views of significant architectural thinkers in this field such as Christian Norberg Schulz, Christopher Alexander, and Louis Kahn are further scrutinised. Although these thinkers have different perspectives towards the matter, they still share some common views. An investigation into their views shows that on top of wide-ranging meanings to ‘liminality’, there is also hierarchies in terms of objectivity-subjectivity. Liminality is also classifiable, it is shown, into four categories of the physical, the functional, the denotational, and the substantial. The paper then moves on to investigate concepts such as boundary, centre, and threshold in order to analyse the substantial and its relation with other realms. The results show that transitional zones tend to converge into the centre, which materialise in thresholds. These liminal materialisations set the limits for the adjoining centre. The investigation of the bi-existential characteristics of thresholds and their emblematic state proves the denotational stance of liminality, with its existential demand explained in relation with the audience after defining the substance of the concept at a more subliminal stage. To conclude, architectural liminality is hierarchical, and paying attention to its various denotational levels yields a deeper understanding of the concept.

Design of the new apartment buildings in Iran, has been faced to a decline of quality of local life and an improper interaction between inside-outside of residential spaces. This interaction can be affected by the quality of in-between spaces in different scales of apartment buildings in residential developments. In-between spaces of apartment houses refer to a hierarchy of the main entrance, open spaces between buildings, entrance space of apartment building (lobby), in-between spaces of apartments in each floor, the entrance space of each apartment, and the balcony. The review of the related literature shows that, three categories of perceptual-semantic, functional-behavioral, and physical-environmental factors in a social-cultural context, determine the features of in-between spaces. In order to test the suggested theoretical model, among the defined in-between spaces, the balcony was selected as a private open space between apartments and the residential semi-public open spaces. The reason for selection of balcony was it’s importance in balance of inside-outside interaction in terms of privacy, overlook, social interaction between neighbors and an important impact on general image of the residential environments. Balcony can provide a proper or improper interaction between outside-inside based on the type of open space such as street, open space of the development or complex and other private and public surrounding buildings that apartment face to. Moreover the quality of interaction between inside-outside is affected by the type of inner space such as bedroom, living room, Kitchen, etc., connected to the balcony. The main research question is that, in different social-cultural contexts, which factors influence the quality of the balcony, and what the people expect from the balcony’s performance. Three residential apartments in Tehran were selected, representing various socio-cultural contexts, including Behjatabad apartments from higher level, Ekbatan housing development from middle level, and Amir-almomenin apartments in Parand new town representing the lower level. The research strategy was qualitative, carried out with the use of a survey questionnaire, interview with the residents and using a semantic differential technique. Statistical analyses of data have been conducted with SPSS-16. The results of research showed that, the relation of inside-outside residential spaces, as well as their link with the social status of the residents can be explained by means of the six factors within the suggested theoretical framework. Design and construction of balcony as an in-between space should provide a proper relation between the apartment’s outside-inside by means of three dimensions of suggested model. physical-environmental dimension including correct local orientation and paying attention to the construction of the balcony as an important part of the building façade; functional-behavioral dimension including multi-functionality of the balcony and its useful size in accordance to the residents’ needs; and perceptual-semantic dimension features including paying attention to outside view and observing the balcony’s beauty in combination to other elements of the façade. Moreover, in order to improve the quality of balcony, attention should be paid to secondary uses and multi-functionality of the in-between spaces in programming and design of the apartment houses.