What is an interior? They are not sealed boxes nor are they open spaces… what defines them, as interiors are precisely their connection to the outside world, the boundary between the two. So what can this boundary be formed of? Immediately what come to mind are windows – but when we take a step back to reflect- what are the historical characteristics of such boundaries? What are their connotations today? In the past, where windows could not be made, people made their own views out in the form of tapestries or paintings that originally formed integral parts of the buildings for which they were made. These ‘openings’ offered some connection to the outside world, be that literal or metaphorical. In our present day, our ‘windows’ have multiplied, they are present not only as openings on walls but on all our multiple screens: our phones, our tablets, our computers, and our televisions. This digital dimension connects us at any time and any place to anywhere and anyone else, creating a bewildering new realm of interiors, where one feels included without the once necessary material proximity. Could we then take a moment to try and explore these ‘boundaries’, these thresholds that form the crucial element to allows us to decide whether to ‘retreat’ into oneself or come out?

Teresa Boulting is a Part 1 Architecture Graduate from Edinburgh University (ESALA)

Above Image: Scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘A Rear Window’ (1954)