---
title: "Building Edge (160)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 160
pattern_name: "Building Edge"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Building%20Edge%20%28160%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Light on Two Sides of Every Room (159)"
  - "Wings of Light (107)"
  - "Positive Outdoor Space (106)"
  - "Arcades (119)"
  - "Outdoor Room (163)"
  - "Gallery Surround (166)"
  - "Six-Foot Balcony (167)"
  - "Connection to the Earth (168)"
  - "Sunny Place (161)"
  - "North Face (162)"
  - "Stair Seats (125)"
  - "Street Windows (164)"
  - "Seat Spots (241)"
  - "Front Door Bench (242)"
---

# Building Edge (160)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>A building is most often thought of as something which turns inward—toward its rooms. People do not often think of a building as something which must also be oriented toward the outside.

### Solution
>Make sure that you treat the edge of the building as a "thing", a "place", a zone with volume to it, not a line or interface which has no thickness. Crenelate the edge of buildings with places that invite people to stop. Make places that have depth and a covering, places to sit, lean, and walk, especially at those points along the perimeter which look onto interesting outdoor life.

### Related Patterns
... assume that the position of the building edge is fixed - most recently by [[Light on Two Sides of Every Room (159)]] - and before that by the position of the building wings and their interior spaces and by the courts and gardens and streets between the buildings - [[Wings of Light (107)]], [[Positive Outdoor Space (106)]]. This pattern now sets the stage for the development of the zone between the indoors and the outdoors. Often this "zone" is thought of as an edge, a line on paper without thickness, a wall. But this is altogether wrong ...

Do it with arcades, galleries, porches, and terraces [[Arcades (119)]], [[Outdoor Room (163)]] , [[Gallery Surround (166)]], [[Six-Foot Balcony (167)]], [[Connection to the Earth (168)]]; take special account of the sun - [[Sunny Place (161)]], [[North Face (162)]]; and put in seats and windows which complete the feeling of connection - [[Stair Seats (125)]], [[Street Windows (164)]], [[Seat Spots (241)]], [[Front Door Bench (242)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 752.
> #APL/confidence/high
>
> #APL/Building-Patterns/Liminal-Space