Public vs. Private Space

Buildings help us decide who we want to be with. A living room is public for your family and friends to sit together, but your bedroom is private just for you. A park or a library is public for the whole city. Architects use walls, doors, and even plants to create boundaries. These boundaries tell us where we are allowed to go and where we should be quiet and alone.

Buildings help us decide who we want to be with. The door is the most powerful piece of architecture ever invented. Open: welcome. Closed: not now. The threshold between public and private is the most crossed border on earth. You cross it every time you come home. Every time you close a door, you are drawing a line between the world and yourself. Architecture does not just give us shelter. Architecture gives us solitude.

Spatial sociology: proxemics — human use of space and effects of density on behavior and communication. Architects design thresholds to transition between public and private states. Defensible space theory: physical design can inhibit crime by creating ownership. Architecture is the tool used to negotiate the social contract within a physical environment. The wall is not a barrier. The wall is a negotiation.

SOUND: The difference between a noisy echoing lobby and a quiet carpeted bedroom: architecture sorting sound.

SMELL: The outdoor smell of a public courtyard versus the familiar smell of your own pillow: privacy has a scent.

TASTE: Sharing a big pizza in a public plaza versus a quiet snack in your room: eating changes with audience.

TOUCH: The hard cold bench of a bus stop versus the soft cushions of your own sofa: public and private feel different.

SIGHT: Many people walking past in a mall versus seeing only your own things in your room: the eye measuring privacy.

BODY: Feeling exposed in a glass-walled lobby versus feeling tucked in a small nook: your body knows the difference.

Music: Amazing Grace by Judy Collins

Part of Architecture & Built Space — ART — Education Revelation