Thresholds

threshold: 

[thresh-ohld, thresh-hohld]

any doorway or entrance
the starting point of an experience, event, orventure: on the threshold of manhood

any place or point of entering or beginning: the threshold of a new career

We have now been introduced to our Objects and Context project, Thresholds. We started by discussing what the word meant, and we found that the best way to describe it was the point of transition between two things. 

The projects asks us to map our experiences as we cross the threshold from public to private...where is this threshold? How do we behave differently in the threshold as apposed to how we behave in public and in our private spaces? How does it make us feel? What objects do we have in our thresholds? Does our threshold change depending on weather, season, days of the week...our mood? And as a result of all these things, can we design something to enhance the user experience?

First I started by mapping my journey physically from outside to inside my home: 
(image from sketchbook here)

We have discussed the idea of territories, feelings of safety and also social boundaries, and have revealed that thresholds is all about transitions. As we cross certain points in our journey home, we begin to feel differently...for example, my journey home from uni is split into 3 sections - walking from uni to the train station, the train journey then the walk from the train station to my house. As I complete each section, I do certain things and begin to become more and more relaxed, so you could say that my threshold is perhaps at some point in my journey, rather than the obvious threshold of the door to my house - maybe there could be stages of the threshold? My commute home usually takes me about an hour door to door; I generally complete the commute on my own (unless I may meet someone I know on the train home) so for that hour, all I have is myself to keep me company. Sometimes on the walking parts of my journey I listen to music, or the radio and on the train I may read the newspaper or a book. You could say that my commute is part of my threshold, as on my morning journey to uni, I spend the hour waking up, reading, thinking about what kind of day I have ahead of me...preparing myself for the day...on my commute home, I am thinking about what I may have learnt that day, writing down in my notebook any ideas or things I need to remember to do, switching my brain from uni mode to home mode. Mentally, a lot happens on my commutes, its a great opportunity to gather and organise my thoughts. Many people ask me why I don't drive to uni, but if I did I wouldn't have this personal thoughtful time, I'd be concentrating on driving and probably be getting rather stressed in rush hour! I really enjoy having this hour alone (twice a day!) forced on me, with very few major distractions. I don't know when I would do this kind of thinking if I didn't do this commute.

In our lecture from Jane Webb, we started to think about the theoretical side of the threshold, and how we see and treat public thresholds and private thresholds differently, we also thought about the object-ness of thresholds, in specific doors. In 1940's and 50's, after French designer Le Corbusier reinvented the weight bearing in large commercial buildings, which meant that glass could be used much more in architecture for outside walls. Doors were made to look like part of the windows and walls; automatic doors completely blur the threshold, pushing the threshold out into society. Revolving doors are interesting because they are neither open nor closed. 

Entrance to the new Manchester School of Art building

Entering Uni, I completely forget that I am even walking through a door when I arrive in the reception. I was thinking about how this affects the work that is displayed here...you would imagine that it would be a great place for work to be seen by many people, however I actually think that this doesn't quite happen as successfully as one may hope.  I find that the work displayed gets ignored. When entering the building, you are too busy packing your iPod and head phones away, taking off your hat or gloves and perhaps going to the loo before figuring out which room you need to walk to and what is the most effective way of getting there. I couldn't tell you what work is currently being displayed in the entrance hall as Im too busy thinking of other things as I enter the space. With this new way of designing public buildings and the blurring of the threshold, you loose the ritual, you keep moving and your thoughts don't get interrupted. You consequently don't concentrate on the act of crossing the boundary from outside to in.

French anthropologist Marc Auge describes these places as non-spaces, and they result "in a profound alteration of awareness", I think this perfectly describes the majority of modern public building entry ways just like the one at uni. Other non-spaces include motorways, supermarkets, shopping centres and airports. Auge says the world has been invaded by these so called non-spaces. The idea that a space can be something we perceive, but only in a partial and incoherent manner explains this breaking down of the threshold in public spaces. Our ever growing need for the instant, our super fast paced lives call for ease of user experiences, and this is slowly making places and spaces less personal and more universal. For example the Trafford Centre, you don't go because you want to, you go because its efficient and its easy, as all the shops you need are under one roof. When your inside the Trafford Centre you could be anywhere in the world, as it doesn't have any personal or individual identity.

Its interesting to start thinking about the way buildings and houses are designed and how this affects our journeys from out-to-in and in-to-out. Anthropologist Mary Douglas was interested in human culture and symbolism, her book Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo depicts the idea that purity is the centre of all societies ambitions. Douglas believed that dirt is 'matter out of place'. Traditional terraced houses are designed to have the clean rooms at the front (living room, dining room) and the 'dirty' rooms at the back (kitchen, toilet). This idea of only allowing your guests to view specific rooms, concealing the practical rooms at the back of the house is very interesting, and links in with my interests of women having to be both domestically practical yet aesthetically beautiful. Presenting yourself and your home in a certain way that you see as acceptable for the outside world may be different to how you look and live in the comfort of your own home. However I do feel in more modern times this notion is changing slightly, we don't always present ourselves perfectly every time we leave the house...last week I saw 3 girls in Tesco wearing onesies! What would the ladies in the 1940's, 50's and 60's think who would be seen cleaning the front doorstep regularly, portraying a feeling of decency to the outside world!?

I've often thought about the way women present themselves in my practice, but it has always centred around how we present our bodies; housewives in adverts with perfect hair, make-up and clothes force me question whether this is a really a realistic portrayal of the women of Britain. But to now have the opportunity to explore the way we present our homes, I have realised how they closely relate to each other. I've been considering the object-ness of the threshold. A fancy door knocker, hanging baskets and a welcome mat, to intricate decoration on the front of buildings. The Righton building at uni from the front has a very decorative facia, yet viewed from our 5th floor studio you can see it is actually a utilitarian, block building and it is wearing a decorative layer to make it seem more grand. There are many buildings like this around Manchester and many other cities. We also decorate the outside of our homes, and for me, when I come to buy my first house, how it looks from outside will be very important, but why? The majority of my time at home will be spent inside, so why is it important for the outside of the home to look nice? Again it all goes back to the portrayal of ourselves to other people.

The Righton Building

I am becoming more and more interested in the idea presentation, practicality and decoration. A good example of presenting your home in a certain way to others is my Grandparents house. Their house is a traditional end of terrace 'two up, to down'. They have a small front garden and a porch (that is decorated with flowers and other nick-nacks) at the front of their house and a small back yard behind. Anyone who knows them well enough, knows that they never use the front door, the only people who do use it are strangers. So the threshold to their house changes depending on how well you know them. I decided to go and take some photographs of Nana and Poppas house, to have a closer look at the details. As I presumed, I noticed things that I had never noticed before, or perhaps I had, but I hadn't acknowledged them, in the way that Marc Auge describes we use non-spaces. As you walk in the back door the toilet is on your right and the kitchen and the rest of the house is on the right, the walls in the back corridor are decorated with tiles, rather than wallpaper. I found this quite interesting, the room revolves around practicality yet it isn't purely utilitarian; the tiles have a nice pattern on them, there are decorative hooks for keys, coats and hats, there is even a clothes brush and a comb hanging so there's no excuse for Poppa to leave the house looking scruffy!

The front of Nana's house

The back of the house

I also photographed my own hallway at home, and the utility and more themes run true there as well, perhaps even more so. We have a number of things to prepare ourselves for coming into the house, going out or to welcome guests; a mirror, air fresheners, changes in carpets and rugs to prevent dirt being brought into the house - we even keep the hoover literally next to the door in the next room to quickly hoover before visitors arrive.

I am keen to relate the thresholds project to my own interests of women, domestic objects and jewellery, I think it is already heading that way with the idea of thinking about practicality and image, and now its time for me to begin thinking about the threshold in a wearable way.

I like this idea of deeply mapping peoples lives to help you create more meaningful and wanted, and it links in with what I have been learning about ethnographers and social learning in my pathways seminars. Both my Design Intentions and my Objects and Context projects seem to be mingling and this isn't really something I have forced, I suppose when one person has a certain area of interest this is inevitable! Next step...lets make this more 'objecty'!


Books to find & read:
Mary Douglas - Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

Irene Cieraad - At Home: An Anthropology of Domestic Space (Space, Place & Society)

Joanne Hollows - Domestic Cultures (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies)

Marc Augé - Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity