MOB architects
Boundaries Boundaries define spaces or areas, disconnect or gradually separate the private from the public, mark the beginning and the end of a function. Generally speaking, however, they enclose what is thought of as safe, personal, predictable. They may also propose particular ways of seeing things, through framing views or forming sightlines. They may create barriers and forbid entry, or allow interaction. Boundaries in architecture can be natural, such as those that arise from proximity to elements of the landscape, or are structures, more or less solid, transparent or opaque. Seen in a more abstract way, boundaries can be marks, signs, traces in space and time, explicit or implicit. In the three housing projects selected to be presented, defining boundaries was the critical challenge in realizing the basic concept. In these instances, boundaries determine indoor and outdoor spaces and shape the volumes. They are realised with either simple structures of elementary geometry and mostly rough surfaces, or through the use of vegetation. These structures are common walls, decks, fences, frames etc. The articulation of limits and the different raw qualities of materials create a network of spaces, built and unbuilt, enclosed and open, encounters and routes, an expression of coexistence and urbanity. Boundaries are placed so as to regulate degrees of privacy, to provide protection from the rain, sun and wind, and to exclude the adjacent nuisances. The inhabited outdoor space is clearly described and emphasized by its boundaries in order not to be
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deformed by neighbouring conditions, but to allow specific scopes of view and determinations of the surroundings. The simple geometries, chromatic intensities and hardness of materials are expressly selected with this in mind. Materiality, i.e. texture and colour, resolves the structural entities/ boundaries, as it can potentially accentuate the relationships between volumes and surfaces, differentiate depth, dictate the hierarchy of masses, array shapes, and can be transformed into spatial expression. The same structural entities/boundaries can reveal different properties in the ever—changing lighting and humidity conditions, depending on the season and on the time of day or night. Our main intention in these projects was to unite light, design, landscape and climate into a specific atmosphere that directly addresses the senses and that embraces, enchants and soothes the human body.