Thresholds

Giorgio Agamben’s essay on Thresholds and Doors in ‘When the House Burns Down’ separates what is usually treated as the same object: The threshold as a space of passage, the in-between where movement happens (entering, exiting, crossing). The door as a material barrier - something that can be opened or closed, allowing or blocking passage. Threshold is about relation and transition, while the door-panel is about control.

Framing the door as law and prohibition - it introduces authority and restriction: it decides who can/can’t pass; it turns the open threshold into something regulated; it creates binary divisions (allowed/forbidden, inside/outside). The door has power.  The threshold has transformational potential - a zone of relation (where inside and outside are not yet fully separated); it’s a space of potentiality (you can cross but haven’t yet); it blurs distinctions (inside/outside, sacred/profane).

I am interested in thresholds — architectural openings that frame movement, light, and transition. By isolating these forms, the attention shifts from what is built to what is removed.  Windows and doorways define environments through voids; they are spaces of passage, pause, and perception.

Agamben, G (2023) (translated by Kevin Attell) When the House Burns Down, Seagull Books, London