ii. The in-between Realm – Analysis

A house must be like a small city if it’s to be a real house; a city like a large house if it’s to be real city (Van Eyck 1961, as cited in McCarter 2015, p.113)

Fig.07 In-between analysis - The In-between Realm of Aldo van Eyck

This figure [fig.07] basically shows the dualities of opposites, among others, that could be simultaneously engaged and reconciled in a design.

Fig.08 In-between analysis - The In-between Realm of Aldo van Eyck

This figure [fig.08] shows that the in-between reconciles conflicting polarities by intensifying the interaction and communication. The first set represents the human scale named ‘Man’ and the second set, the ‘City’ scale. Each element of a set can be reconciled with its opposite in an architectural element or form. The overlap thus represents Aldo van Eyck’s In-between Realm.

Fig.09 In-between analysis - Habitat – Whole-Part

With regard to the shape - the configuration - of a habitat, this means that the identity of the whole must be latently present in the components parts, while the identity of each component part must continue to exist in the whole. The habitat thus becomes the counterform of the complete individual-community configuration, with individual and community being more than part and whole: they constitute each other’s ingredients (Van Eyck cited in McCarter 2015, p.118).

The Habitat, to be considered as a real place, must take into account simultaneously the Man scale ‘Identity of the Particular’ and the City scale ‘Identity of the Whole’. Hence, the in-between can reconcile the whole-part, house-city. [fig.09]

Fig.10 In-between analysis - How to recreate social cohesion ?

This last diagram [fig.10] summarizes the interested key points of this in-between analysis as how to recreate social cohesion. The first set Vernacular of the Heart consists of a return to vernacular inspirations. The second set comprises the notion of Place and Occasion, each one are interdependent, the place creates the occasion and if there is no occasion, there is no place but a space. Place is where a dimension is formed by people’s relationship with physical settings, individual and group activities. The creation or preservation of a sense of place is important in maintaining the quality of the environment as well as the integrity of human life within it. The third set reiterates the In-between Realm [fig.06]. The overlapping between vernacular cultures and Place, named as the Vernaculars Archetypes, represents the search for the lost counterforms of vernacular architecture. The form refers to the concrete and intangible phenomenas. The counterform refers to Art as the interpretation of these phenomenas extracted from their natural context. For example, in Muslim culture, masculine and feminine spaces are separated, this is the form. The architectural element of the mashrabiya therefore embodies this meaningful separation, its counterform. In contemporary society, the lack of a well-defined form caused by universalization makes it difficult to express its counterform. Hence the importance of studying lost vernacular counterforms. The second overlap called In-between Places restates the previous figure of the Habitat: Whole-Part [fig.07]. Finally, the last overlap incorporates the form-counterform relationship, called as the Vernaculars In-between. In response to the lack of social cohesion and the problem of individualism, this analysis therefore proposes a ‘comprehensive social pattern’ and a ‘collective concept of vernacular’.