A Transition at the Intersection of Privacy and Publicity: The Window

Abstract

The study focuses mainly on the concept of privacy. Different meanings of the concept have been compiled according to different approaches. Differences in the definition of the concept according to culture and time have also been highlighted. The change in the perception of privacy with the emergence of concepts such as personal space and personal distance was mentioned. The study continues with a discussion of the window as a factor in the physical provision of privacy in interior spaces. The position and importance of this element, whose role as a building element is to help the interior space to receive sufficient air and light, is emphasised with the concept of privacy. The confusion of roles in the relationship between the viewer and the spectator, caused by the change of technologies in photography and film production, is mentioned. Examples from cinema and installation works on the subject are presented. The phenomenon of the window is analysed through the perspectives on privacy of modernist architects such as Le Corbusier and Adolf Loos. The study explores the notion of privacy, personal space and publicity through the relationship between privacy and the window in interior spaces, and the role of the window in controlling privacy in accordance with the inside-outside relationship. With modernity, the transformation of mass media has changed our lifestyles and, inevitably, our production and consumption habits. It is emphasised on which side of the window and how consciously or unconsciously the preference of the observer can be realised. It concludes that the concept of privacy is in a state of flux and can be redefined and reimagined according to conditions. A discussion of the impact of current technologies on our perception of privacy is presented by mentioning the changing relationship between windows and privacy in modern architecture.