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Thresholds & Boundaries
Objects that carry social obligation
at moments of contact.
Orientation
Doors, gates, locks, screens, and entry elements redistribute responsibility at the point of entry.
Interaction is timed by objects rather than negotiated each time.
The Problem These Objects Solve
Daily life in Tunisia is close.
People visit often.
Streets are active.
Encounters are frequent and familiar.
Without mediation, every knock would require explanation, justification, or performance.
Threshold objects absorb that work before people have to.
The First Pause
Exterior doors and building gates create a necessary delay.
They do not say “no.” They say “wait.”
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Street doors open into transition, not into life.
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Building gates separate the street from shared interior space.
This pause allows households to receive others without being immediately available.
If removed, social warmth becomes social demand.
Delegated Permission
In Tunisia, encounters are rarely scheduled.
People pass by, call out, knock, or stop because they were already nearby.
Distance does not signal intention.
Locks, keys, chains, and intercoms absorb that ambiguity.
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A locked door does not reject a visitor; it buys time where delay must not offend.
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A chain allows acknowledgment without full entry.
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Intercoms and peepholes shift recognition away from the street, where sound and proximity collapse decision time.
Without these objects, every knock demands immediate social performance:
Who is it? Why now? How long will this take?
Delegated permission allows interaction to slow without breaking hospitality.
Controlled Visibility
Light in Tunisia is strong, horizontal, and revealing.
At night, interiors glow outward.
During the day, movement inside becomes legible from the street.
Screens, curtains, and shutters regulate this exposure continuously.
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Lattices allow air and presence while interrupting direct sightlines.
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Curtains soften exposure once the door opens.
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Shutters seal interior life after dusk, when visibility reverses.
These objects do not hide life.
They modulate it across heat, glare, and social nearness.
Without them, domestic space oscillates between extremes:
permanent display by day, total withdrawal by night.
The Moment of Entry
Mats, raised sills, shoe zones, and entry hooks choreograph the crossing.
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Movement slows.
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Outside objects stop.
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The body adjusts before interior space begins.
No instruction is needed.
The objects already did it.
Structured Reception
In some houses, bent entries and entry corridors extend this logic.
The door opens, but life is released gradually.
Guests are received before the interior is revealed.
Hospitality unfolds without surrendering privacy.
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