The Elongated Architectural Threshold: Healthful Placemaking within the Thickened Facade

Edges of architecture and the body define spatial relationships that influence the preservation and/or deterioration of human health. Proxemics during historical infectious diseases, as well as the recent realities of the COVID-19 experience, have demonstrated the physical health benefits of an elongated threshold. However, the methods used to create the extension of space necessary for proper physical distancing has also revealed the inefficient conditions of spatial and structural thinness of contemporary urban storefronts. Thin architectural entrances do not provide the interstitial depths necessary for accommodating secure distances and interactions between bodies in public settings. The phenomenon of physical objects being tactically reappropriated as appendages of typical streetscape façades materializes the need for thickening the entry sequence. This thesis aims to investigate how the elongated threshold can develop an entrance system that achieves dynamic opportunities of accessibility and provides corporal and social healthfulness during pandemic and post-pandemic periods.