re: focus design |
Turning Architecture Inside Out: Revolving Doors and Other Threshold Devices
Translated from German by Jill Denton
ETH Zurich, Department of Architecture, Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) laurent.stalder{at}gta.arch.ethz.ch
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Abstract |
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Architecture, in a historical deterministic perspective, can be viewed as a technological system that is expressed in ‘objective’ parameters such as construction, material or functional operations. Correspondingly, the history of architecture can be understood as a history of its technological development, which is focusing on innovations. Yet, architecture is not only technology but also belongs to the field of commodities. Accordingly, the technological developments not only lead to the change of the built environment but also to a change of their experience and their use. Biometric controls, motion detectors and different media of telecommunication such as the Intercom lead to an extension and change of the perception of the human environment. Nevertheless, the origin and the significance of these technological developments can only be understood within a wider cultural context, as an expression of new, real or imagined needs, or as their representation. This article uses the architecture of the threshold as an example to examine these questions. The threshold separates the public and private sphere, private and common property and self-determined and over-directed action. As an architectural element or spatial configuration, it highlights historically specific, culturally determined zones of transition, in which certain gestures and activities are performed.
Key Words: architecture • design theory • human body • modernity • technology • threshold