Dr.

Irene Pasina Interior sights

Prince Sultan University

Interior Design Department
College for Women
aa. 2018-2019
 Space vs Place
Place is here assumed as a practiced space; intending the space as an
isotropic spatiality, characterized by dimensions, materials, light… and
place as a practiced space including velocities, time and users’
experiences.
A movement always conditions the production and fruition of a space,
often it associates this space with a history that takes root also in our
memory and identity and affects the perception of this space,
transforming it from a neutral space into a place.

Dogville, 2003- Lars Von Trier

Production Design: Peter Grant; Set designer: Simone Grau
Which is the right design for the
house and its rooms, which is the
shape of of their relations?
1. Accedere / to enter;
2. Addentrarsi / to go into;
3. Accogliere / to receive;
4. Spostarsi / to move in;
5. Affacciarsi / to overlook;
6. Appartarsi / to set apart;
7. Raccogliersi / to retire
 To ‘Enter’ and to ‘Go into’
The threshold as an interior place

Rites of passage – this is what the ceremonies connected to death, birth,

weddings, puberty, etc. are called in folklore. In modern life, these passages have
become more and more unrecognizable and imperceptible. We have become
impoverished of threshold experiences. The only one left to us perhaps is that of
falling asleep. […]
The threshold (Schwelle) must be very clearly distinguished from borders
(Grenze). The threshold is a zone. Change, transition, floods lie in the word
“Schwellen” and etymology ought not to overlook these sense. On the other hand
the architectural and ceremonial context that has led to the meaning of the word
must be rigorously adhered to.
Walter Benjamin
The threshold is a place of duality.

_an un-dimensional space: it does

not belong to the exterior neither to
the interior
_it can be introflexed or everted
_it can be dematerialized but still
present with traces
Bust of the god Janus, Vatican museum,
Città del Vaticano.
Ianua is door in Latin. The term is related
with god Janus the two-faced god. He is
the god of material and spiritual
beginning, who looks at the past and the
future.
To enter – the doorway

a doorstep, posts and lintel (trilithon),

the door.

The doorway marks the passage from

exterior to interior, from public to
private; it pre-exists the act of entering
into the house; it can welcome or ward
off. It has a practical function as well
as a high aesthetic and symbolic
value. The doorway marks a threshold.
Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930
Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930
Alvar Aalto, Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, 1938-39
Alvar Aalto, Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, 1938-39
Spazi di mediazione
genkan - ingresso
To go into – the entryway

a corridor, a hallway, a hall, or a more

complex and articulated sequence of
open and enclosed spaces equipped
with different furniture such as benches,
hangers,…

The act of going into a space (a house,

a museum, …) can be mediated by
several spatial dispositive creating a
sort of itinerary that marks the rhythm of
the act of entering. It is the
tridimensional spatial transposition of
the act of passing the threshold
between the outside and the inside.

.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Mackintosh
House, Glasgow, Scotland, c. 1906
Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia,
Venezia 1963.

Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice 1961-63

Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice 1961-63.
Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia,
Venezia 1963.

Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice 1961-63

Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia,
Venezia 1963.

Carlo Scarpa, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice 1961-63

Le Corbusier, Casa Curruchet.
La Plata, Argentina, 1949

Le Corbusier, Curutchet house,La Plata, Argentina, 1949-55

Le Corbusier, Curutchet
house,La Plata, Argentina,
1949-55
Le Corbusier, Curutchet house,La Plata, Argentina, 1949-55
Umberto Riva, Casa Insinga, Milan 1987
Umberto Riva, Casa Insinga, Milan 1987
 to ‘Receive’, to ‘Set Apart’ and to ‘Retire’
>> private & public interior places

The extreme opposition between private and public – like the

opposition between collective and individual – has resulted in a clichè,
and is unsubile and false […] the concepts ‘public’ and ‘private’ may be
seen and understood in relative terms as a series of spatial qualities
which, differing gradually, refer to accessibility, resposibility, the
relation between private property and supervision of specific spatial
units.
H. Hertzberger, Lessons for students in architecture
To receive – the fire pit

Alcobaca monastery, Portugal 1153.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock house,
Los Angeles 1921.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock house, Los Angeles 1921.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock house, Los Angeles 1921.
Louis Kahn, Fisher House, Hartboro, Pennsylvania 1967.
Louis Kahn, Fisher House, Hartboro, Pennsylvania 1967.
 To set apart

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, desktop Charles comte de Clarac, Carolina Murat e i suoi figli nella
Mackintosh House, Glasgow, Scotland, c. 1906. reggia di Napoli, c. 1810.
Michelangelo Buonarroti , Biblioteca Laurenziana, 1519 -1534.

Luis Khan, Exeter Library. Exeter, 1967-72

The inglenook in Calder Abbey house, UK, XIX cent.
The inglenook in Adolf Loos Apartment, Vienna 1903.
To retire

Joe Colombo, Cabriolet Bed, 1970 Jennie Pineus (1972), Cocoonchair, prototype 2000
Joe Colombo, Casa Argelati, Milan1970
Joe Colombo, Casa Argelati, Milan1970
 to “move in” and to “overlook”
>> interior promenades

“This […] will be a bit like an architectural promenade. You enter:

the architectural spectacle immediately presents itself to your gaze:
you follow an itinerary and the perspectives open out with great
variety. There is a play with the flood of light lighting the walls or
creating shadows. The window bays open out perspectives to the
exterior where you rediscover the architectural unity”.

Le Corbusier, Euvre complète, 1910-1929. p.60

To overlook

Herman Hertzberger, Central Beheer, Apeldoorn 1968-72.

Herman Hertzberger, Central Beheer, Apeldoorn 1968-72.
Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930
Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930
Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930
Casa Muller, 1929-30
Praga, Adolf Loos

Adolf Loos, Villa Muller, Prague, Czech Republic,1928-1930

 “This […] will be a bit like an architectural promenade. You
enter: the architectural spectacle immediately presents itself
to your gaze: you follow an itinerary and the perspectives
open out with great variety. There is a play with the flood of
Maison La Roche, 1923-24,light
Parigi,lighting the walls or creating shadows. The window bays
Le Corbusier
open out perspectives to the exterior where you rediscover
the architectural unity”
.
Euvre complète, 1910-1929. p.60
A house with all rooms with the same height, a project studied in its
plan and not in its section, offer a reductive and flattened idea of
architecture.
The double height is the archetypical dwelling place for execellence
[...] the double height space, considered in its potential spatial
articulations, embeds the very essential dwelling attitudes: to enter
and get into, to welcome, to overlook and to retire.
(Adriano Cornoldi, Balconate Domestiche)

Un’abitazione con le stanze alte uguali, un progetto studiato in pianta e non in

sezione, offrono una versione dell’architettura riduttiva, appiattita.
La doppia altezza è per eccellenza luogo archetipo dell’abitare […] l’ambiente
a doppia altezza, considerato nelle sue potenziali articolazioni, ospita in nuce,
gli eventi essenziali della vita di casa: l’addentrarsi, l’accogliere,
l’affacciarsi, l’appartarsi.