The outside room defined

Abstract

The term 'outside room' is often referred to, but its definition is ambiguous and dependent on an ever changing collection of complex relationships between many variables. However the key relationships in defining such a space are that of inside/outside and nature/architecture. The outside room seems to be a space where architecture and nature meet, sometimes harmoniously and other times more brutally. It is an inbetween space, a transition zone between two opposing forces, each of which tries to impose its own sense of order. It is a transition zone which can be defined as nature taking on architectural characteristics or architecture the characteristics of nature. Architecture is a creator and validater of the outside room and in turn this space may be seen as an integral part of architecture itself. A study of three important aspects of the outside room will allow a definition to emerge. The study will begin by looking at the cultural evolution of the outside room through the architectural history of two prominent approaches, the Eastern and Western or more broadly the approaches of harmony or domination. These approaches that have been shaped by cultural attitudes and changing responses to the environment. The second aspect shall look at the boundary between in and out as a transition zone between nature and architecture. With focus on the main contributing factors that form this concept of boundary: the facade, land use and intermixing of elements. The final area discusses the issues of perceiving such a space, by looking at two complementary properties; the physical aspects of an outside room and the mental perception of these by the individual.