Fundamental Concepts of Architecture : The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations

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toring admission through instruments such as doorbells, in-
tercoms, spy holes, or the presence of a doorman, the entrance
becomes a controlled > filter. An initial ingress is followed
by subsequent steps of entry; one looks around, greets others
and is received, for which purposes > intermediate spaces and
> thresholds must be formed as spatial stages. Outer clothing
may be removed, the grime of the street cleaned off. These
processes are either informal, or else executed as > rituals in
ceremonial fashion, and call for corresponding amenities such
as cloakrooms, doormats or washing facilities.
To leave a building means to surrender the security of a
sheltered interior, or to liberate oneself from its constriction.
One hesitates on the threshold, perhaps in order to assess
weather conditions. French windows and balconies provide
tentative yet still protected forms of emergence into the out-
doors. Other architectural elements such as a pedestal set before
the front door, or a pulpit-style projection, offer an overview.
Literature: Alexander et al. 1977; Baecker 1990; Mäckler et
al. 2008

Inside and outside are the alpha and omega of architecture.
To organize their relationship and to render their intercon-
nection experienceable in concrete terms through design is a
genuine task for architecture. Interior and exterior forms al-
ways condition one another reciprocally, and a range of types
of relationship between them are possible, beginning with a
correspondence (> readability) between inside and outside
with only subtle deviations, all the way to dramatic oppo-
sition. In one case, the > inside is represented externally. In
the other, an entirely sober exterior may contain a refined,
complex, multifaceted interior. In the words of Adolf Loos:
‘The house should remain silent outwardly, revealing all of its
richness only within.’ Nevertheless, a building whose exterior
makes the impression of keeping silent about something is not
simply mute; it shows that it has something to hide. This very

Inside and outside

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