The monster : liminality, threshold and spatial experience

Abstract

Victor Turner (in Dodds, 1992: 82) suggests to take every day elements and rearrange them in ways not experienced every day is to create a “monster”, which will achieve liminality in architecture. The titel of this dissertation is a result of this phenomenon. In this design investigation ways to transform liminality into a building are explored. Smith (2000) states, “liminality or the liminal refers to transitional space; neither one place nor another; neither one discipline nor another; rather a thirdspace in-between”. Various devices were examined to facilitate the transition from abstract concept into architectural possibility. The following devices: typology, technology, spatial experience, interlocking volumes, superimposition, programmatic bands and atmospheric effects have been examined. The final product is a fusion of theoretical notions and technology expressed as a hybridized typology, all these qualities are arranged in ways not experienced every day, resulting in a building called the Monster.