Domus IN 201903

Rassegna

Thresholds

presented by Giulia Guzzini

Doors and windows that define the confine

between inner and outer worlds and the threshold

that sanctions the limit between environments

lie at the base of any architecture project. They

identify belonging, inside and outside; they

integrate and exclude. By definition, a limit may

be transient or open and favour exchange and

osmosis. If there’s a designer who has constantly

interpreted the idea of partition between

environments as a fluid concept, it’s the Dutch

Petra Blaisse. Working in the prolific crossroads

between interior and landscape design, Inside

Outside — the studio she opened in 1991 — creates

interventions in which the notion of permeability

is key. Known for the gold curtain at the

Nederlands Dans Theater, 1987, and for the

textile installation for Maison à Bordeaux by

OMA, 2012, as far as landscapes go she recently

completed the Biblioteca degli Alberi in Milan.

In her work, the demarcation line takes shape

in the form of textile partitions that outline a

very light, non-permanent confine that always

invites inside and outside, interacting with

the light, weather, nature and change. A visual

confine that moves, that is manipulated by

the people who inhabit these spaces.

Below: detail of Re-Set, the installation

curated by Iside Outside studio for the

Dutch Pavilion at the 13th

International Architecture Exhibition,

Venice Biennale, 2012.