Redefining the middle area in the today apartment housing

Abstract

Human beings during the course of life and all the time need to connect with their surroundings and other people. The scope of this relationship has been extended among public, middle and private area. Middle area encompasses a scope of the public area to the private, so that it can begin from boundary of any home in the residential units and extend to the neighborhood and make a connection to the public space. Today, because of the limitations of apartment living, including increasing the density of residential units, Spaces for each residential unit have been dropped and middle areas as an interface between the inside and outside are vague or have been forgotten. This article by taking into consideration the importance of attention to middle area attempts to investigate these spaces in a residential apartment with limited units. This research is based on library studies and qualitative methods. Studies show that in the redefining of the middle area needs such as the relationship with nature (the seasons change, feeling the rain, seeing the sky), communication with other people (neighbors), as well as a sense of security and attention to children and the elderly are particularly important. The present paper has attempted the relationship of any of these needs to be investigated with different scales of middle area. In other words, the middle area is defined based on three parts including the way to the building (the first turning point), the route to each house (the second turning point), and within each home. The offered strategies in the part of route to each house (the second turning point) show attention to this route and its integration reduce individual “street temper” and improving mental relaxation at the moment of entering the house. Following the link with the main courtyard, creating dynamic spaces and related with outside, the availability of floors (alley in height) and middle courtyard model will link them with inside house and vice versa.