Edge Matters: Theoretical issues of living edge

When separating the meaning of dwelling to ‘home’ and ‘house’, ‘home’ has no clear boundaries, organizational types, physical features, and experiences (Chapman, 1999) - while ‘house’ does. The house is a physical container of dwelling activities. Since early days, the essential purpose of this container is to separate inside from outside and to protect and provide privacy, psychological as well as physical (Venturi, 1966). But, if dwelling phenomenon takes place both inside and outside the private house – why is the urban house an enclosed box? What is the differentiation between inside and outside the contemporary urban house? And what is the interplay between them?
The research argues for re-thinking the edge zone between inside and outside the urban house. Therefore, although, residential buildings in the city are the objects of study, the focal point here is the edge zone along the building. The research explores and develops the architectural characteristics of correlations between the resident, the singular unit, the building and the given location at the edge zone. It approaches the edge zone of the urban house as a platform for dynamic interactions between these behaviours.
The following text includes the first draft of the first two chapters: introduction and theory. The chapters are not written completely, and some parts are written only as headlines. These headlines and other comments are marked in red. The text is on working progress and far from being finished, but it will be wonderful to get your comments on it during the conference.