Threshold

In dialogue withJian 間

Architecture, read through its thresholds.

I’m Yanzhi Yang, a PhD researcher in architecture at KU Leuven. I study how transitional spaces shape movement, sight and pauses between one space and the next.

Enter the research ↓

Cutaway drawing of a courtyard sequence with doorways, a bench and planted beds; no stones. — Courtyard and passage · Spatial studyView the drawing ↗

Spatial study · Passage01 / 03

Shift the view43°

Portals: 4
Clear width: 1.31 u
Plane spacing, back to front: 1.00 / 1.00 / 1.00 u

Column section · width × depth: 0.57 × 0.06 u

Passage · Enfilade 齊廊

Enfilade aligns a sequence of openings so that the eye can travel across several spaces. Here, four openings and three equal intervals establish a continuous line of sight. The route follows this alignment, linking seeing with moving forward.

Fig. 01 · A contemporary spatial study, read alongside classical Chinese writings on landscape painting and garden making.

©︎ yanzhiyang, 2026

Model data & references

u is a relative model unit: the equal spacing in Passage is 1.00 u. These are designed proportions, not metres or measurements of a historical building. Values are rounded to two decimals.

Three arrangements · dimensions in u
State	Portals	Opening	Column width × depth	Overall portal width	Plane spacing	Max. span

All columns share a 0.57 × 0.06 u section (width × depth, rounded). Overall portal width equals the clear opening plus two column widths. In Pause, the rear two whole portals shift sideways without changing their column sections.

Enfilade: V&A, Inside the Baroque palace ↗

Classical reference

「山水有可行者、有可望者、有可遊者、有可居者。」

Guo Xi, compiled by Guo Si, Linquan Gaozhi Ji, ‘Shanshui xun’ (Song dynasty). Read the source ↗

This passage discusses landscape painting. It is introduced here as a reference for moving, looking and dwelling.

「深奧曲折，通前達後，全在斯半間中，生出幻境也。」

Ji Cheng, Yuanye, vol. 1, ‘Liji’ (Laying out foundations), ‘Tingtang ji’ (Hall foundations), Ming dynasty. Read the source ↗

In his discussion of hall foundations, Ji Cheng describes how a half-bay can connect front and back through depth and turns. The passage offers a way to consider the scale, routes and connections of transitional spaces.

Passage, Pause and Room are the contemporary model’s three labels. Their sequence and numerical proportions are designed for this drawing and are not taken from either classical text.

Yipu, Suzhou · 1:5 spacing and paired views

通过丈量刘敦桢测绘图发现，清初乳鱼亭与亭北侧至爱莲窝的空间间距比约为1:5(图4)，亭面向爱莲窝处未植花木，与爱莲窝构成通畅相对视域，形成对景关系[5]，说明1:5间距比可以构成良好视域，无须在两景之间添花木。

云嘉燕、陈徵羽，〈基于乳鱼亭尺寸框格分析的苏州艺圃植物造景理法演变〉，《中国园林》38卷12期（2022）：127–132，引用见第128页，2.1节“乳鱼亭区域”；对应图4见第129页。 DOI: 10.19775/j.cla.2022.12.0127

Chinese original. Emphasis added; [5] retains the article’s reference numbering.

Sources & figure credits

Yang, Yanzhi. Thresholds of Poetics in Architecture: A Research on Architectural Transitions through Spatial Analysis and Phenomenology. Doctoral research project, KU Leuven. Project page.
Liu, Dunzhen 劉敦楨. Liu Dunzhen quanji 劉敦楨全集. Vol. 8, Suzhou Classical Gardens 蘇州古典園林. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2007.
Tong, Jun 童寯. Jiangnan yuanlin zhi 江南園林志. 2nd ed. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 1984.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “Classical Gardens of Suzhou.” World Heritage List, no. 813. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/813/.
Xia, Changshi 夏昌世, and Mo Bozhi 莫伯治. Lingnan tingyuan 嶺南庭園. Edited by Zeng Zhaofen 曾昭奮. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press, 2008.
van Eyck, Aldo. Collected Articles and Other Writings, 1947–1998. Edited by Vincent Ligtelijn and Francis Strauven. Amsterdam: SUN, 2008.
Teyssot, Georges. “Aldo van Eyck and the Rise of an Ethnographic Paradigm in the 1960s.” Joelho 2 (2011): 50–67. https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8681_2_5.

Threshold

What makes a threshold an architectural operation that creates a transition, rather than just a line between two spaces?