Intimate architectures: a cultural geography of doors

Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to geography's continued interest in architecture through a focus on the 'intimate architectural space' of the door. Its aims are threefold; the first section seeks to extend knowledge of the door within geographic literature as it becomes a key site in which 'events are gathered' and through which politics can be encountered; the second section takes a 'minor theory approach', using a range of non-western, feminist, and class-based perspectives, exploring the social and political affordances of the door through the themes of 'body' and 'performativity'. Whilst the conclusion uses these discussions to demonstrate how intimate architectures might further develop our knowledge of built spaces, providing an additional framework to engage with the often-overlooked aspects of architecture. In doing so, the door is presented as a site that structures how we move and relate to our bodies in physical space; most notably that the door's capacity as a barrier maintains a distinct exclusionary politics which reinforces class and racial divisions through the built environment.

Plague Markings: Doors and Disease

“…The threshold concentrates not only the boundary between outside and inside but also the possibility of passage from one zone to another (from the profane to the sacred) 27 In this respect, the door as an 'intimate architectural feature' 28 serves as a particular embodiment of the threshold, regulating who or what can cross between the division that the threshold creates, paradoxically holding together and simultaneously separating two binaries (inside/outside; sick/healthy) 29 . Thus, the door and the threshold that it marks can be understood in terms of movement and transformation, as it denotes the passage from one state to another 30 .…”

“…The door therefore represents a physical manifestation of each of these concepts, as it structures a point of transition and transformation, which sits between two opposing points. This 'liminal' position means that the door embodies a point of instability, where roles and statuses are not always clearly defined, often resulting in transitional states or power struggles, whereby 'events are gathered' and through which politics can be encountered, negotiated, and ritually performed 33 . This can be seen in the door's importance to domestic life and the ways in which we interact with the space of the home, as the threshold is often reinforced through numerous rites and ritual practices which frequently accompany passing the domestic threshold; whether that be the removal of shoes; the shaking of hands; or making the symbol of the cross 34 .…”

“…This 'liminal' position means that the door embodies a point of instability, where roles and statuses are not always clearly defined, often resulting in transitional states or power struggles, whereby 'events are gathered' and through which politics can be encountered, negotiated, and ritually performed 33 . This can be seen in the door's importance to domestic life and the ways in which we interact with the space of the home, as the threshold is often reinforced through numerous rites and ritual practices which frequently accompany passing the domestic threshold; whether that be the removal of shoes; the shaking of hands; or making the symbol of the cross 34 . Therefore, the front door is often the first point of engagement with the house and its occupants, structuring the relationship between public and private life 35 .…”

“…Therefore, the front door is often the first point of engagement with the house and its occupants, structuring the relationship between public and private life 35 . Similarly, the movement between thresholds and doors is an intrinsic aspect in how we encounter 'the body' whether our own or that of others 36 . As such, it becomes a mechanism through which we choose to order and classify the people and objects we wish to allow into the household; as waste is funnelled out 37 , and friends and family are allowed to enter 38 .…”

“…It is through this process that bodies are afforded different statuses based on which 'body' is deemed safe or appropriate. This exemplifies the politics of the door which becomes a site of struggle through which the social and bio-political relations of contagion are enacted and maintained 20 . As such, the door is an intrinsic point of communication and segregation between the spaces of the home, the body, and wider society.…”