ABSTRACT
The preamble presents the aim of the book; that is, an examination of the “threshold spaces” that connect and separate open-air public spaces from the interiors of publicly accessible buildings. A threshold space is a “singular” space, as people use it alternatively or concomitantly as a public space and/or a semi-private space. It intertwines both types of usage. Movements and usages of visitors need to be negotiated in threshold spaces.
The concept of Thresholds enables us to develop a critical thinking process about some contemporary tendencies of cities, such as the segregation of spaces and their antecedents in the Modern period. In the context of Walter Benjamin's philosophy of architecture, this book studies how singular programmes that intertwine public and private spheres express social life in its contradictions.
Conversely, these public buildings affect people and can have a political role. This book aims to identify the conditions under which some contemporary architectures both reveal and affect social life in a manner similar to Benjamin's descriptions. Finally, the book asks: What do thresholds reveal about society, and how?
