Shanghai | Lilong Threshold

LILONG: THRESHOLD By Justin Wallace, Urban Designer + Architect

LILONG: THRESHOLD

Defi nition of Threshold: “the place or point of entering

or beginning” or, “a level or point at which something

would happen, would cease to happen, or would take eff ect,

become true, etc”

There is a clear delineation between private, common,

and public domains in the Lilong neighborhoods

through the use of thresholds and boundaries. In

the area of Wu-Jia-Fang, thresholds and boundaries

are what form the perimeter condition of the blocks

so that general access into the interior of the block is

constricted to a limited number of access points. The

public realm is thus held at bay in a linear formation

with the street and thus not having any moments of

penetration into the bounds of the block. The public

realm is met by a continuous frontage of three-story

buildings composed of a commercial strip along

the bott om 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 confi ned 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.

The concept of thresholds appears in much of

Chinese architecture. They are found in examples

of Chinese palatial architecture, religious structures,

and in the urban residential areas as well. In

the lilong structures, two main distinguishable

threshold conditions are observed. The fi rst is

termed “shi ku men” and is translated as meaning

“stone gate.” It is generally the term given to the

type of house found within the traditional Lilong,

but the term refers to the front entrance of the home

marked by a stone arch over the doorway. In some

lilongs, the arched doorway is more monumental

while in other lilongs, the doorway contains no

arch but merely a framed rectangular door within

a masonry wall. The door establishes the entrance

into the private realm and is relatable to the Western

Tian Zi Fang Gate

Wu Jia Fang Block + Boundary + Threshold Condition

Neighborhood Boundary + Threshold Condition

Threshold

Boundary

version minus the signifi cant fact that the “shi ku

men” condition separates the privacy of the home

from the communal domain of the neighborhood

confi ne. 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 fl oor; meanwhile, shouts from the

voices of litt le children can be heard bouncing from

within the home through a rear screen door and out

into the alley way. Unless invited in, this domain is

strictly off -limits except for the opportunity allowed

Wu Jia Fang Neighborhood Boundary from Public Domain

by open doors and windows. In contrast, just

outside the household but within the confi nes of the

neighborhood, the perception of space changes into

a blurry shared space. Here, activities observed by

the naked eye of visitors are perhaps relatable to a

mixture of the western concepts of a front porch

and a rear lawn located within a communal space.

Residents share individual activities in the midst of

other neighbors. For instance, bikes and mopeds park

side by side sharing a temporary communal wall.

Near the entrance to the neighborhood, individual

notices are posted on a community bulletin board.

Near the rear of each home, spigots hover over

basins so that each family may wash food or clothes

outdoors in the midst of all their neighbors. On the

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

shucks corn while a neighbor cooks on a grill down

the same alley. Small plants lie in pots on the lane

below while gourds hang alongside wandering

vines on a makeshift bamboo latt ice above. All of

these activities may happen simultaneously out

in the open space between homes and for the most

part are partaken in by the residents who live there.

Although this space is accessible to an outsider, he or

she is under the constant watch of a neighborhood

guard who is stationed in a small guardhouse at the

sole access point of the neighborhood. Meanwhile,

neighbors also give clues as to when an outsider is

in their shared space by gesture of a curious look or

with a random question. The two thresholds (private

and public) distinctly mark the end and beginning of

the communal domain.

It is both interesting and signifi cant 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

most apparent. Where Wu-Jia-Fang’s lilong structure

holds a tight boundary and threshold condition, both

Xin Tan Di and Tan Zi Fang have removed boundaries

and thresholds so that the communal domain has

become deteriorated from the neighborhood unit. In

Wu-Ji-Fang, the administrative guards close off access

to the neighborhood after a certain hour via a boom

or gate intervention. However in lieu of a communal

domain in the newly developed districts, the public

penetrates fully into the block up to the very door

step of residences which have been converted into

boutique shops at the ground level. Here, access is

unrestricted at all hours. The threshold conditions

at the access points to Xin Tan Di and Tan Zi Fang

no longer maintain an order like they once did at the

entrance to a neighborhood unit. Instead, they mark

the entrance to a general place or destination – like a

welcoming signifi er to the public.