LILONG: THRESHOLD By Justin Wallace, Urban Designer + Architect
LILONG: THRESHOLD realm is met by a continuous frontage of three-story buildings composed of a commercial strip along the bottom and a two-story residential band along the top.
This formation of perimeter buildings
surrounding the lilong structure is generally continuous forming a hard shell around the interior core. Where there is no building frontage, there is most likely a high wall that again separates the public realm from the interior of the block to form tight cellular neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is a confined unit contained by a wall or perimeter building and many neighborhood units can make up the interior of one block. Access to the neighborhood units is controlled by a main gate which in turn forms a threshold condition.
Therefore, the threshold
plays a critical role in distinguishing the separation of a common realm from a public realm. Tian Zi Fang Gate
The concept of thresholds appears in much of
Definition of Threshold: “the place or point of entering
Chinese architecture. They are found in examples
or beginning” or, “a level or point at which something
of Chinese palatial architecture, religious structures,
would happen, would cease to happen, or would take effect,
and in the urban residential areas as well.
become true, etc”
the lilong structures, two main distinguishable threshold conditions are observed.
In
The first is
There is a clear delineation between private, common,
termed “shi ku men” and is translated as meaning
and public domains in the Lilong neighborhoods
“stone gate.” It is generally the term given to the
through the use of thresholds and boundaries. In
type of house found within the traditional Lilong,
the area of Wu-Jia-Fang, thresholds and boundaries
but the term refers to the front entrance of the home
are what form the perimeter condition of the blocks
marked by a stone arch over the doorway. In some
so that general access into the interior of the block is
lilongs, the arched doorway is more monumental
constricted to a limited number of access points. The
while in other lilongs, the doorway contains no
public realm is thus held at bay in a linear formation
arch but merely a framed rectangular door within
with the street and thus not having any moments of
a masonry wall. The door establishes the entrance
penetration into the bounds of the block. The public
into the private realm and is relatable to the Western
:NXKYNURJ (U[TJGX_
Wu Jia Fang Block + Boundary + Threshold Condition
version minus the significant fact that the “shi ku men” condition separates the privacy of the home from the communal domain of the neighborhood confine. In the private realm of one’s household, many familial and social activities transpire simultaneously and without notice from neighbors or the general public.
While walking through the neighborhood,
there are hints that give a sense of what occurs in the private realm of ones household: An elderly woman gracefully opens a small wooden third-story window as she chats with someone in the dark room behind her; the sound of clinking dishes and running water spill out into the air from another open window on the ground floor; meanwhile, shouts from the voices of little children can be heard bouncing from within the home through a rear screen door and out
Threshold Boundary
into the alley way. Unless invited in, this domain is strictly off-limits except for the opportunity allowed
Neighborhood Boundary + Threshold Condition
Wu Jia Fang Neighborhood Boundary from Public Domain
by open doors and windows.
In contrast, just
other neighbors. For instance, bikes and mopeds park
outside the household but within the confines of the
side by side sharing a temporary communal wall.
neighborhood, the perception of space changes into
Near the entrance to the neighborhood, individual
a blurry shared space. Here, activities observed by
notices are posted on a community bulletin board.
the naked eye of visitors are perhaps relatable to a
Near the rear of each home, spigots hover over
mixture of the western concepts of a front porch
basins so that each family may wash food or clothes
and a rear lawn located within a communal space.
outdoors in the midst of all their neighbors. On the
Residents share individual activities in the midst of
Redevelopment of Lilong removes threshold and boundary to allow public space to penetrate into block
stoop of her back door, a woman sits in a chair and
most apparent. Where Wu-Jia-Fang’s lilong structure
shucks corn while a neighbor cooks on a grill down
holds a tight boundary and threshold condition, both
the same alley. Small plants lie in pots on the lane
Xin Tan Di and Tan Zi Fang have removed boundaries
below while gourds hang alongside wandering
and thresholds so that the communal domain has
vines on a makeshift bamboo lattice above. All of
become deteriorated from the neighborhood unit. In
these activities may happen simultaneously out
Wu-Ji-Fang, the administrative guards close o access
in the open space between homes and for the most
to the neighborhood after a certain hour via a boom
part are partaken in by the residents who live there.
or gate intervention. However in lieu of a communal
Although this space is accessible to an outsider, he or
domain in the newly developed districts, the public
she is under the constant watch of a neighborhood
penetrates fully into the block up to the very door
guard who is stationed in a small guardhouse at the
step of residences which have been converted into
sole access point of the neighborhood. Meanwhile,
boutique shops at the ground level. Here, access is
neighbors also give clues as to when an outsider is
unrestricted at all hours. The threshold conditions
in their shared space by gesture of a curious look or
at the access points to Xin Tan Di and Tan Zi Fang
with a random question. The two thresholds (private
no longer maintain an order like they once did at the
and public) distinctly mark the end and beginning of
entrance to a neighborhood unit. Instead, they mark
the communal domain.
the entrance to a general place or destination – like a welcoming signifier to the public.
It is both interesting and significant that the traditional lilong structures have in some instances been converted to a more western ideal of space by the removal of the neighborhood threshold. In the developed areas of Xintandi and Tan Zi Fang, this is