LIMINAL BEYOND HUMAN

Spaces 

do not belong solely to humans. 

do not exist solely for human purposes. 

yet,

a dignified life is 

the right of all.

and design is 

what makes this possible.

As like Aronis says; many people use their porches, windows, balconies to get a sense of others, to be part of a larger scene, to observe social life, and reflect on their own or to enjoy a place that implies connectivity without clear obligation to connect. In this project, I embrace these qualities of the balcony not merely as a physical extension of the dwelling, but as a liminal space that mediates between the private and the collective, enabling diverse forms of coexistence, observation, and interaction among human and non-human inhabitants alike.

The project begins with a condition of liminality already embedded within its site. Positioned between contrasting urban realities, the block occupies a threshold rather than a singular identity. One edge faces a busy commercial street and a metro entrance, characterized by constant movement, visibility, and public life. The opposite edge opens towards a quiet residential fabric overlooking a cemetery and dense greenery, where the pace of life slows and human activity gradually gives way to ecological presence.

Rather than treating these opposing conditions as a conflict to be resolved, the project recognizes them as an opportunity to explore the spatial potential of in-betweenness. The block becomes a mediator between movement and stillness, density and openness, the urban and the ecological, the living city and the landscape of memory.

...connectivity without clear obligation to connect...

"Visual proximity is possible, but interaction is never mandatory."   Aronis, 2020

In light of these ideas, in the typical floor plans, some of the consecutive balconies were pulled back volumetrically while others were pushed forward. Some adjacent balconies were separated by movable permeable panels, while others were separated not by superficial elements but by volumes that create space for the non-human and become spatialized with the non-human. Others, in contrast, were separated through deliberately emptied volumes.

If we look at some partial details, also some inspired notions embedded in them...

...where the presence of others can be sensed without being fully disclosed...

A translucent glass partition separates the balcony from the vertical circulation space, creating a shared threshold between dwelling and circulation. Rather than a fully exposed encounter, it allows for blurred perceptions of presence. 

Residents can sense movement, light, and life beyond the glass without feeling observed, while those moving through the circulation space are no longer confined to a dark and purely functional passage. 

Instead, they remain connected to daylight and gain subtle glimpses of different domestic rhythms unfolding on each floor. The threshold therefore transforms an otherwise dead transitional space into a zone of awareness, where everyday lives are sensed rather than directly revealed.

...What is typically reduced to a dark and forgotten interval between destinations becomes a porous threshold where daylight, air currents, seasonal change, and more-than-human life continuously pass through...

On the northern façade, adjacent balconies belonging to separate apartments are divided by a shared storage wall. Observations of existing balcony use revealed that these small and often residual spaces are frequently appropriated for storage. Rather than disregarding this everyday practice, the project recognizes it as a legitimate domestic need and incorporates it into the design. The storage element not only accommodates daily life but also provides acoustic and thermal insulation between neighbouring balconies, strengthening privacy without introducing additional barriers.

The wavy elements visible on the façade are a series of rotating clay columns. Positioned along the otherwise blind façade of the vertical circulation core, they facilitate natural ventilation between the northern and southern exposures while filtering daylight into the circulation spaces behind. As light passes through the rotating elements, the staircase is transformed from a purely functional passage into a spatial experience shaped by changing shadows, airflow, and seasonal conditions.

Beyond their environmental performance, these clay elements are conceived as habitats. Their porous surfaces and cavities provide opportunities for fungi, insects, and other small beneficial organisms to settle and coexist within the building envelope. In this way, the façade becomes part of a larger more-than-human ecosystem, accommodating multiple forms of life rather than serving exclusively human occupation. This ecological layer extends continuously to the ground floor, where all façades facing the shared rear garden adopt the same strategy, creating a continuous living interface between architecture, landscape, and non-human inhabitants.

...Here, the balcony is no longer an architectural addition to the dwelling; the dwelling itself begins to organize around the logic of the balcony...

In “Balcony as an Intermediate Space: A Prosthetic Threshold in the Domestic-Urban Life of Izmir,” the balcony is described as a threshold that mediates between domestic and urban life while functionally connecting the most frequently used spaces of the dwelling. Drawing from this understanding, the balcony is reinterpreted not as an attached outdoor extension but as a spatial spine embedded within everyday domestic life.

Rather than serving a single room, the balcony establishes a continuous sequence between the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. It becomes part of the dwelling's circulation network, enabling movement, visual continuity, and environmental exchange across different domestic functions. As occupants move through the house, they repeatedly pass through this intermediate condition, oscillating between interior and exterior, private and collective, enclosed and open.

The balcony therefore operates as a prosthetic threshold that extends domestic life beyond the interior walls while simultaneously bringing light, air, vegetation, and urban presence deeper into the dwelling. Instead of occupying the edge of the house, it becomes one of its primary organizing elements.

...Like liminal architecture itself, the dwelling refuses a singular identity, oscillating between visibility and withdrawal, connection and contemplation...

Drawing on the balcony’s role as an intermediate threshold between domestic and urban life, the corner apartment explores two contrasting spatial atmospheres within a single dwelling. The front balcony extends the living room and kitchen toward the active street, engaging with movement, visibility, and the rhythms of the city. In contrast, the rear balcony is recessed into the building mass and oriented toward the quieter residential fabric. Deliberately sheltered and more intimate in character, it is directly connected to the bedroom and offers a space for retreat, contemplation, and withdrawal.

These two balconies are linked by a narrow internal corridor, creating a gradual transition between exposure and enclosure, activity and stillness, collective life and personal refuge. Through plan organization alone, the dwelling accommodates two opposing yet complementary spatial experiences, allowing inhabitants to navigate different modes of living within the same home.

As stated in our manifesto when we started the blog,

Rather than treating the balcony as an architectural appendage, 

the project reimagines it as a liminal spatial framework through which domestic life, urban rhythms, ecological processes, and more-than-human forms of inhabitation are continuously negotiated.