169intérieur that leads through a building, or the shopping
arcade. Within the extreme density of cities like Tokyo, for
example, the gaps present within the urban development are
used as living space, and moreover without distinguishing be-
tween public and private outdoor spaces.
The phenomenon of intermediate space demonstrates
that the characteristics of > inside and outside, > body and
space, > closure and openness, private and public, need not
represent irreconcilable polarities, but that the one can be
achieved with the assistance of its counterpart through ‘reci-
procity’ (Van Eyck 1960/2003).
Among intermediate spaces are the vestibules that delay
a passage or break it up into steps. A passage, however, may
terminate in an intermediate space, such as a bay window or
summer room. When stepping into a bay window, one has
the feeling of withdrawing from the room, of being outside in
a certain sense. Seen from outside, in turn, loggias, terraces,
verandas and balconies are stages of a sort in public space,
where the lives of occupants are observable. In an analogous
way, the sheltered spaces of arcades and pergolas, which are
set part-way within buildings, are available for typically pub-
lic activities.
The character of intermediate spaces emerges already
through the superimposition or mixture of traits, for example
temperature, acoustics, or illumination, which originate in ad-
jacent rooms. Surfaces and materials that are allocated to one
side continue into the next, and elements typical of one space
serve in the other as well. Patterns of behaviour are mixed and
transformed.
Constructive resources encompass the staggering or > lay-
ering of wall planes in depth, folding, inside-out inversions of
the spatial envelope and vice versa, as well as gradations in
degrees of > screening or permeability. Special constellations
are, first, the superimposition of the plans of two adjacent
spatial spheres, whose intermediate space is formed by their
intersection (> transparency), and second, modelling as thick