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Transitional spaces | Intermediate spaces

By João Mendes, Senior Architect

‘Museum architecture has, since its begining, been intrinsically associated with the configuration of transitional spaces.’¹ Helena Barranha's² reflection on the Louisiana Museum - in Humlebæk, near Copenhagen - opens the door to thinking about transitional spaces in architecture.

For his part, Aldo Van Eyck³ gives us an insight into intermediate spaces and the fragility of the relationship between the public and private domains when there are no adequate transitional elements between them. ‘Architecture must broaden these narrow boundaries, persuade them to generously become articulated intermediate domains.’⁴

Based on these two concepts, we reflect on the transitional and intermediate spaces of the GAIA HILLS multi-family housing project, located on a hill on the south bank of the Douro River in Vila Nova de Gaia.

The morphology of the terrain and the geometry of the plot place the built volumes at different levels and positions. This naturally creates paths and platforms on terraces that, echoing the terraced vineyards of the Douro region, define private areas for public use and private areas.

In the case of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, ‘a visiting experience focused on transitional spaces is explored through an itinerary that is both real and fictionalized between the buildings, the works of art, the park and the sea.’⁵

In GAIA HILLS⁶, this visit takes us from low to high ground with moments of pause, through the amphitheatre, the square, and the forest. The Douro connects with the green park through spaces designed for permanence. These transitional spaces are important to the framing of the intervention area with the city. This intervention considers the urban layout more than just the building itself, amplifying the view over the river and Porto.

These transitional spaces, designed around the outer perimeter of the building in contact with the void – a myriad of possibilities – are informal spaces that allow people to socialize and relate. In addition, the architecture of the spaces becomes contemplative.

The design of the amphitheatre reflects this; it presents itself as a multifunctional space in which everyone who walks through it assigns it a function. It encourages social gatherings and inner reflection – the architecture becomes a sensory stage.

‘Take off your shoes and walk along the beach through the last thin layer of water that moves towards the land and the sea. You feel reconciled in a way that you wouldn't feel if there was a forced dialogue between you and either of these two great phenomena. Because here, between the land and the ocean - in this in-between realm, something happens to you that is quite different from the sailor's alternating nostalgia. You don't long for the land from the sea, you don't long for the sea from the land. You don't want the alternative - there's no escape from one to the other.’⁷

A project of this scale can easily overlook the importance of 'the in-between realm'. This realm depends on experiencing multiple spaces simultaneously. In architecture, and in this exercise in particular, the spaces that best represent the characteristics described by Van Eyck are those that can be understood as the densification of the communication space between two places with different characteristics: entrances, terraces, balconies.’

Entrances and terraces

How can we resolve the relationship between ground floor housing and the ‘intrusion’ on privacy?

Museologists and curators often reject transparency, as Helena Barranha notes. However, this is not an option with housing. Light is necessary and, here in particular, the view is imposing and forces us to tear the façade apart with large openings.

Intermediate spaces, whether physical or aesthetic (often called recess spaces), are as important for social contact as thick walls are for privacy. This is the answer to the interior-exterior relationship.

The articulation between inside and outside is achieved through spaces that don't belong to the house or the street. They take on a distinct identity at the intersection of two worlds.

In the vast majority of cases, these elements mediate public and private spaces, both in their relationship between the street and the interior, and between internal spaces.

A slope can differentiate the circulation area from the living area, creating distinct zones within a unified space. Flower boxes and benches, often fulfil this delimiting role. However, if we place the narrative in a more abstract field, materiality and lighting—or lack of it—also allow us to create spaces in succession.

The balconies

In the Ágora and Parque buildings, the design of the balconies takes centre stage in the building's image. Their geometry becomes a permeable web - a set of vertical and horizontal props that frame the views and densify the relationship between interior and exterior. The balconies create a sense of spatial simultaneity. This makes inhabitants aware of the transition between zones, similar to the concept of engawa in Japanese architecture⁸.

The selective removal of balcony modules creates a sense of openness, allowing for unobstructed views in all directions. The balconies are further enhanced by climbing vegetation, forming a second skin that reshapes the houses. This living screen filters natural light, creating dynamic patterns throughout the day and seasons.

Transition spaces and intermediate spaces, such as hallways, landings, and shared balconies, play a key role in encouraging cohesion and social contact. Revitalising public and/or private spaces for shared use is important if people are to be stimulated and identify with community places.

At a time when social isolation is becoming increasingly prevalent - stimulated by the idea that one is self-sufficient, renouncing relationships with others - architecture becomes less an artistic exercise and more a vital social contribution.





¹BARRANHA, Helena. ‘Transitional spaces - a journey between buildings at the Louisiana Museum’, MIDAS [Online], 18 | 2024
²Helena Barranha is a Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon and a Researcher at the Institute of Art History of the NOVA University of Lisbon (IHA-NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST), where she is a member of the Museums Studies Group and coordinates the Art, Museums and Digital Cultures Cluster.
³Aldo van Eyck (16 March 1918 - 14 January 1999) was a Dutch architect and one of the main protagonists of the Structuralism architectural movement. He was a member of CIAM and co-founder of Team 10.
⁴VAN EYCK, Aldo [et. al.] - ‘Aldo Van Eyck. Stichting Wonen’, 1984
⁵BARRANHA, Helena. ‘Transitional spaces - a journey between buildings at the Louisiana Museum’, MIDAS [Online], 18 | 2024
⁶GAIA HILLS Project (Parque, Ágora, Douro and Gaia Buildings), 2020-present
⁷VAN EYCK, Aldo [et. al.] ‘Aldo Van Eyck’, 1962
⁸The engawa (縁側) is a strip of decking, often finished in wood or bamboo, that exists between the periphery of the Japanese house and the garden, covered by the part of eaves that extend from the moya.

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