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Third Space
Has it happened to you that you are in a place and you cannot define if you are inside or outside a building? Well, as a result of this feeling of not identifying the place, being outside but at the same time inside, the curiosity arises to identify this place identified as an intermediate space.
In mathematics, the set is a collection of elements with similar characteristics considered in itself as an object, Harold J. (2002).
An element is said to belong to the set if it is defined as included in the set in some way. The basic operations that can be performed are: union, intersection, difference, complement, etc.
By understanding the operations of set theory and making a simile that in architecture we can conceptually state that, at the intersection of two spaces A and B, there is a tension that as A approaches B, it becomes AB , just as while B approaches A, it is BA. We identify the set of all AB/BA that would result in the boundary convergence of the separate sets.
This idea is taken to the interior and exterior space where the interface between the two, according to the qualities and characteristics they possess, allows identifying the exterior and interior spatial fusion, becoming a threshold towards an intermediate space, where the spatial and sensory richness can still be elderly.
THE SPACE IN-BETWEEN
“Es el espacio intermedio, ni adentro ni afuera donde nos pasamos la mitad de nuestra vida”.
Shigeru Ban (2018).
The modern notion of architectural space, as a moldable and relative element that is perceived in the time dimension, serves as the basis for this study to differentiate those limit spaces of academic and traditional architecture whose function consists of protecting or venting the interior, of the spaces intermediates that make the passage between different territories a continuous experience, rich in directions and formal and spatial relationships.
The interior-exterior limit of the architectural space has been the subject of constant exploration since the end of the 19th century, when the construction techniques that made the growth planes independent of the load-bearing structure allowed architects to explore new strategies of composition of the form that gave rise to spatial continuity.
Modern architects made the transition between inside and outside a project theme, creating a space that transcended the limit condition where both conditions interpenetrate. An open, ambiguous and variable space with unique and singular properties that made it different from the interior and exterior although it was closely related to them. This was the space in between.
From this premise, the general objective was to determine and characterize the properties of the interior-exterior intermediate space conceived by modern architecture as a theme and strategy for the exercise of the project. For this, the condition of the intermediate space was analyzed from the elements that define it and the spatial relationships that are built from it and towards it.
The concept of limit opens this text, and it happens in this way in order to show the duality that is established from the very moment when two territories are separated. Applied to architecture, emphasis is placed on limit spaces, which serve as a reference framework for research, since they constitute a primary approach to the problem of interior-exterior transition. Their shape, location, role and relationship with the building are studied.
The notion of intermediate space is still valid in contemporary architecture, in fact it seems increasingly relevant to the lifestyle of today's human beings and their relationship with the environment, however beyond its aesthetic variations, the essence and intention it is the same as those considered by modern architects, hence the importance of its study and valorization.
THE INTERMEDIATE SPACE AS A RELAY OF THE INTERIOR
Just as there are limit spaces associated with the access door where the tension is exerted from the outside in, there are also those that come from the window, the result of a greater opening of the façade walls and the consequent projection of the interior towards the exterior. Terraces, balconies and roof terraces manifest man's need to experience the open and limitless environment from a controlled environment. They are places to see and be seen "by which the house shows and expresses its intimacies and evidences the unequivocal signs of its interior life" (Pintó, 1994, p.199).
“If the balcony opens on the vertical plane, the terrace sits on the horizontal plane; on the floor, the mezzanine or the flat roof” (Ibidem p. 200). The balcony, due to its location and shallow depth, maintains a close relationship with the verticality of the building, exalting it to the extent that the gaze demands recognition of height. The terrace, on the other hand, regardless of the level where it is located, takes up the horizontal view through the exaggerated extension of the floor slab.
THE INTERMEDIATE SPACE AS A PLACE
For Norberg-Schulz, the place constitutes a center clearly defined by limits, which he experiences “as an interior in contrast to the exterior that surrounds him” (Schulz, 1975, p. 23). But a place is not an isolated event, its character will depend on the interaction and reciprocal influence with many others and, although the polarity with the outside seems to keep them apart, any perforation in its edges leads to a connection with it. The different relationships that occur between the place and its broader context act as the forces that affect and modify it, which is why man recognizes in them the directions and dimensions (horizontal and vertical) that orient and locate him in space.
The degree of openness of a place expresses what it wants to be in relation to its surroundings. In architectural terms, so many forces act on a completely open interior that it will eventually lose its own limits and begin to be an ambiguous and eccentric place that would include everything around it. To understand this situation, it is necessary to study how these forces have affected the limits of architecture and their perception, both in the habitable limits and in the intermediate spaces.
The intermediate space breaks down the barriers between inside and outside, it is both inside and outside, a place where the two meanings overlap in a kind of spiral that can never reach a center, that is, an interior. It is necessarily open and permeable, because only in this way does it achieve continuity and ambiguity with what surrounds it. The opening becomes its main property, conditioning all the others that distinguish it.
Evidently, the intermediate space in architecture transmits a meaning in communication from one object to another alien to it, which in turn allows the functional use for which it was conceived to be enriched by other activities. Getting into the matter, these are some of the architectural scenarios identified as intermediate spaces:
*If you are interested in more about this topic, I recommend you see the publication Architectural Permeability for the interior / exterior spatial relationship
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Written and curated by Sarah Tió | Publicado el 17 de Abril, 2021.
