J

In search of building types: On visitor centres, thresholds

and the territorialisation of entrances O
Mattias Kärrholm
Department of Architecture and the Built Environment
Lund University
S
S
Pages: 55-70

The Journal of Space Syntax

ISSN: 2044-7507 | Year: 2016 | volume: 7 | issue: 1 | Online Publication Date: 28 December 2016

To cite this article: Kärrholm, M. (2016), ‘In search of building types: On visitor centres, thresholds
and the territorialisation of entrances’. In Journal of Space Syntax, Vol. 7 (1), p.55-70. When
needed, the Journal of Space Syntax accepts references to use the abbreviation JOSS, but
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 In search of building types: On visitor centres, thresholds
J and the territorialisation of entrances
O
S Mattias Kärrholm
S Department of Architecture and the Built Environment
Lund University

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an actantial approach to building type studies through a study of
the visitor centre and its role in contemporary spatial production. The article takes its empirical departure
in the intense urbanisation (from a Swedish perspective) of the Scania region, in the southern part of Swe-
den. Looking at building types in terms of actants implies that different sets of buildings can be abstracted
in different ways (and not just in terms of form or function) depending on the effect they have in a certain
situation. The proliferation of visitor centres in Scania is by no means an innocent development – these
centres have a part to play in the urbanisation process of the region. The article discusses this role as a
kind of threshold actant or type, which is further divided into four different subcategories in order to show
connections with other sorts of spaces in the urban landscape. The discussion is then used both to high-
light the role of visitor centres in recent processes of urbanisation, and to argue for a more open-ended,
relational and pragmatic approach to building type studies, with a focus on the role that building types
play in society and everyday life.

Keywords: building types, visitor centres, thresholds, material semiotics, territoriality

Introduction types as evolutionary and ever changing, rather

Building types play an important role in society than something stable – as matters of concern
and everyday life. They are actors that can affect rather than matters of fact (Latour, 2004) – raises a
the formation and use of urban space on local, number of issues. What is a building type and what
regional and even global levels (Schneekloth and does it do? How can we investigate building types
Franck, 1994; King, 2004; 2010; Guggenheim and as a more fluid phenomenon, i.e. without taking
Söderström, 2010). Despite this, building type their roles, effects or even their conceptualisations
studies have arguably remained a relatively small as predefined or for granted?
and undertheorised field in architectural research, The aim of this article is to contribute to an act-
and even more so in the social sciences at large. antial approach to building type studies (Guggen-
Building types are often discussed as stable and heim, 2010; Kärrholm, 2013; cf. Latour, 2005; Ham-
already categorised entities, but as Koch has mad, 2002; Sandin, 2009; 2015), through a study of
recently shown, they are continuously changing, the visitor centre and its role in contemporary spatial
and the stability assigned to them is often an illu- production and in the processes of urbanisation.
sion (Koch, 2014). In fact, one might perhaps even The actant perspective can be seen as related to
describe them as mutable and mobile abstractions actor network-theory (Latour, 2005) and material
held together only temporarily, and at great cost semiotics (Law, 2009), and the basic assumption
(cf. Latour and Yaneva, 2008). Looking at building is that any entity can take on any number of differ-

© The Authors and the Journal of Space Syntax (JOSS). JOSS is an academic, non-profit, peer-reviewed open access journal, and the
article is free for non-systemic distribution in its published form for non-profit, academic purposes. Other uses require permission from
the authors. Other use of the article as published in JOSS also requires permission from the journal. Any use of the article should include
a clear reference to JOSS as place of original publication. See the full description of rights and permissions on the journal webpage.

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J In search of building types: On visitor centres, thresholds
O and the territorialisation of entrances
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ent actor roles, and that certain effects (in society urbanisation of the Scania region intensified as it
or everyday life) can be described through tracing developed into a polycentric urban landscape, with
the actors associated with these effects. A coffee important new infrastructure projects such as the
break might, for example, be seen as the effect of a bridge to Copenhagen, new motorways, the City
specific cup, table, chair, human, etc., that through Tunnel under central Malmö, and several new rail-
taking on specific roles in a specific situation (the way stations both in the centres and the peripheries
cup takes the role of the coffee cup, the human of the urban landscape. Along with this urbanisation,
takes the role of the coffee drinker, etc.) make the major transformations of public buildings and public
coffee break possible. An actor here is that which spaces have also taken place (Kärrholm, 2015).
brings a difference to a situation and is a role that These transformations involve new buildings as well
can be taken on by people, animals, things, ideas, as the reshaping of old ones, including, for exam-
spatial structures, atmospheres, and so forth. Any ple, university buildings, libraries, public baths and
effect or event is always produced by multiple ac- museums. Indeed, it can be argued that public in-
tors in relation (no one can act totally alone), which stitutions play an important but often neglected role
means that agency (the ability to act) is always seen in the transformation of public space (a discourse
as distributed. Furthermore, an actor that shows that so far has often been preoccupied with outdoor
similar (although not identical) effects in a series of spaces). One of these publicly accessible buildings
different situations and contexts can be called an is the visitor centre, which can be seen as one of the
actor type or an actant (cf. Greimas and Courtes, actors playing a role in the current transformation
1982; Hammad, 2002). A favourite blue cup might of urban landscapes. An interesting and relatively
play the role of coffee cup and is thus an actor in new building type, the visitor centre is also repre-
this situation; the more abstract notion of ‘coffee sentative to some degree of the consumer society
cup’ is, however, a type of actor that recurs in most of our time. In Scania, the type started to develop
coffee breaks and can thus be seen as an act- in the 1990s; as common in cities as in more rural
ant. The relation between actor and actant will be parts of the region, it is a building type that really
discussed in more detail, being of special interest marks a kind of regional urbanisation through the
to building type studies. For now, it will suffice to domestication, touristification and even production
say that the actant perspective can be especially of rural and urban attractions, national parks and
useful in typological investigations when actors and cultural heritage sites.
types are not predefined, but need to be traced, and
where effects are at stake rather than intentions, i.e. Building types and actants
when we are interested in how building types come I would like to suggest that, traditionally, building
to play a role in everyday life. type studies have been problematic in two ways.
The article takes its empirical departure in the Firstly, they have often taken a historical perspective
intense urbanisation (from a Swedish perspec- and focused on uncovering ideas and tasks behind
tive) of the Scania region in the southern part of certain buildings, rather than studying the role they
Sweden over the last 20 years. The urbanisation of play as built and lived spaces in society. This point
Sweden took off during the late nineteenth century is elucidated by Karlsmo and Löfgren (2016) in their
and become more intense during the 1960s and historiography of Swedish building type studies
1970s, which is quite late in comparison with other where they also conclude that:
European countries. From the mid-nineties, the

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The fact that researchers have had an interest defined before rather than after the investigation
in the functional aspects of architecture does – through an actant analysis, where actant can be
not mean that they have surveyed and viewed described as a recurrent type of effect associated
buildings in terms of its final material form or with a specific set of actors (Latour, 2005). This
practical, situated and everyday use (Karlsmo sidestepping should not be seen as a total rejec-
and Löfgren, 2016, p. 24) tion of the former perspectives – the intention is
rather to open up a wider study of building types as
Secondly, building type studies have often moving and never fully known targets (cf. Yaneva,
focused on either form or function (Forty, 2000; 2012, p. 25 ff). Before being named or filed under
Steadman, 2014; Koch, 2014), i.e. on either formal any specific categories (such as form-type or use-
types or use-types (Scheer, 2010, p. 12), on activity type), buildings make a difference in a situation
types or built form types (Steadman 2014, p. 354). and become associated with other buildings that
Some later texts have sought to overcome this have, or have had similar effects. These effects
division, but with varying results. Philip Steadman are always co-produced by a series of different
combines the form and the use approach in his aspects or actors, and are always part of a process
recent book Building Types and Built Forms (2014), of formation as well as of a production of meaning.
but still keeps them firmly separated, giving every If one, for a moment, stops focusing only on form
other chapter to each of the two perspectives, thus and/or function as possible categories for typifica-
confirming the division (both in content and form). tion, one soon realises that the similar effects of a
A more heterogeneous example can be found in certain set of buildings might actually be abstracted
the compilation Elements published in connection and categorised in a number of other ways as well.
to the Venice Biennale in 2014 under the director- An actant perspective thus opens up the field for
ship of Rem Koolhaas (Koolhaas et. al., 2014). The new kinds of building types, new questions, and
investigated elements – including the façade, stairs, might also be a way of showing how building type
corridor, floor, ramp, roof, toilet, ceiling, elevator, studies have an even higher relevance to social sci-
fireplace and balcony – are here used as a way ences (i.e. outside architectural and morphological
of tracing changes in style, use and effect (etc.), research), than hitherto recognised.
through urban and architectural history. Koolhaas’ As noted in an earlier article (Kärrholm, 2013),
dissection of architecture into discrete elements – building types are very much a question of territori-
also followed by Foscari in her extensive analysis alisation and can be seen as part of a territoriology
of Venice (Foscari, 2014) – sets a good example in (Brighenti, 2010). A territory can here be seen as an
the way that it contextualises types in culture, use effect produced by means of a more or less discrete
and history, whilst the typologisation itself seems space and time. Such territories can be produced
quite firmly based in form. It is an investigation strategically, tactically, by means of appropriation or
into how certain form elements are associated and through mere association; they might be more or less
elaborated in different ways and thus echoes the stable, they can and often do overlap, and could in
basic modernist/postmodernist divisions of form short be described as a kind of spatio-temporal ac-
and function, or form and meaning. tor. Public buildings and spaces are often veritable
This article, suggests the possibility of sidestep- palimpsests of overlapping territories, and although
ping these two problems – the focus on origins there might be one or several dominating territorial
rather than effects, and the focus on categories strategies involved, these are always complicated

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and sometimes even resisted by more or less tem- examples, rather than a single feature held in com-
porary territorial appropriations, tactics and associa- mon (Mol and Law, 1994; Law, 2002).
tions. From a territorial perspective a building type If we see building typology from a territorial
can be described as a specific sort of territory, a and semiotic perspective (rather than through the
territorial actant, produced through associations with biological analogies used by Hillier and Hanson,
similar territories at other places. 1984; and Steadman, 2008; 2014) then the relation
Focusing on processes of territorialisation, along between the type and its incarnations can be de-
with the formation of territorial actants rather than scribed as a relation between an actant and an ac-
the forms or functions of certain objects, also af- tor. In Reassembling the Social (2005), Latour writes
fects how we see the relationship between the type that: ‘any thing’ that does modify a state of affairs
and its incarnations. In his description of building by making a difference is an actor – or if it has no
types, Steadman concludes that: ‘Some properties figuration yet, an actant’ (Latour 2005a: p. 71). The
of a type – those by which it is recognizable – are actant is thus regarded as more abstract than the
shared between all instances, and may be referred actor, but we do not learn much more than that. If we
to as essential properties’ (Steadman, 2014, p. 354). go back to an earlier text by Latour, we find another
This idea, that a building type is defined by some description: ‘We use actant to mean anything that
common characteristic or feature present in every acts and actor to mean what is made the source
example of the type, is often repeated in building of an action’ (Latour, 1992, p. 177). In fact, there is
type theory (see, for example, Caniggia and Maffei, a lack of consistent distinction between actor and
2001, p. 50; Sheer, 2010, p. 27) but is not neces- actant across Latour’s many texts, which sometimes
sarily true. If building types are defined by effects treat them as synonymous, and other times clearly
rather than properties, it might be that instead of a state some kind of difference, as above. One way of
single property being necessary per se to define a reaching some clarity is to go back to his predeces-
specific building type, that one out of many need to sors within semiotics. In Semiotics and Language
be present. Hillier’s and Hanson’s biological anal- (1982), Greimas and Courtes quote the French
ogy to the concepts of genotype and phenotype linguist Lucien Tesnière, from whom they have bor-
actually comes somewhat closer to what is meant rowed the term ‘actants’, in stating that ‘actants are
here (Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Hillier, Hanson and beings or things that participate in processes in any
Graham, 1987). They discuss genotypes as an ab- form whatsoever’ (Tesnière in Greimas and Courtes,
stracted commonality and phenotypes as the actual 1982, p. 5). For Greimas and Courtes, actants are
observed properties, without claiming any direct or abstract roles not yet filled with any ideological or
identical relationship between the phenotype and semantic investments (Greimas and Courtes, 1982,
the genotype. A building type, as argued in this arti- p. 5ff; see also Greimas, 1987, p. 106–120; Sandin,
cle, can have a certain set of effects in common, but 2015, p. 92f.). Disregarding the structuralist ambi-
the concrete properties of these effects, as well as tions of Greimasian semiotics, but following this line
their specifics, do not necessarily have to be similar of semiotic discourse in the sense of seeing the
but may vary within the type. The stabilisation of a actant as an analytical concept, reveals it not to be
certain type might be better described as a fluid a concrete actor but an actor type; neither is the act-
stabilisation than a network stabilisation, thus also ant seen as a priori category, but is in fact extracted
implying a family resemblance between different or abstracted from a series of concrete examples
(actors) of the empirical world. A food store is a store

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that sells food and can be seen as an important ers (cf. Karlsmo and Löfgren, 2016). However, the
actant in everyday life. The role of ‘food stores’ can actant perspective opens up at least two other
be played and incarnated by different actors over perspectives: these include typologisations made
time, for example by grocery stores, convenience in ongoing everyday life, such as waiting places,
stores and supermarkets in different parts of the city. places to hang out or favourite spots (and their
A wide variety of places might ultimately be called socio-spatial aspects); and the possibility of looking
‘food stores’, even though they might be attributed for actants not yet categorised at all. This last more
as different form types and/or different use types by speculative approach could include questions such
building type researchers. In short, a similar actor as: where can we find new territorial sorts, what do
role can be played by a series of different places they do, and what can we call them? Here, building
and associated with a specific actor type (an actant) type studies might become a search for analytical
that can be simply called ‘food store’. or even generative tools, and it is this final possibility
Actants, just like actors, denote things that that will be investigated in this article. However, we
modify situations and make a difference, and their will start on a more traditional note by introducing
role is defined together with the associated actors, the visitor centre as a building type and a specific
i.e. the actor is defined by its role in a certain context sort of territory.
of actors, or by what Latour calls the network (Latour,
2005). Even though a building type might be black Visitor centres and the urbanisation of a region
boxed and, for example, symbolised by the school- Visitor centres have been described as ‘clearly
or prison-building alone, it is in fact dependent on labeled buildings where staff provides informa-
actors of different sizes and shapes; everything tion to the public for the purpose of enhancing
from keys, teachers, prisoners, and chairs, to law and managing the visitor experience’ (Pearce &
systems and public transportation. There is no fixed Moscardo, 2007, p. 29f.). The visitor centre (some-
or privileged use, form or scale (Latham and Mc- times related to other conceptualisations, such as
Cormack, 2010), but each effect is the effect of a the information centre, the interpretative centre or
network whose scale, shape and multiplicity need the welcome centre) is a new and multi-functional
to be defined empirically. This means that building building type focusing explicitly on tourists, which
types are produced and transformed not just in became popular in the Anglo-Saxon world, espe-
terms of the work done by different kinds of au- cially the United States, Canada, the United King-
thorities, such as architects, engineers and through dom, Australia and New Zealand. The idea of the
building regulations, but also in terms of the ongo- visitor centre can be traced back to (at least) the
ing practices and power relations of everyday life. beginning of the twentieth century, and has much
One could perhaps distinguish between three to do with tourism, the proliferation of cars and the
different ways of studying building types. As previ- development of new and easier ways to travel. In
ously mentioned, the traditional concept of building North America, so-called ‘welcome centres’ with
type is often defined from a perspective of strategic information for tourists and rest stops for motor
production (trying to pinpoint some common feature tourists had already appeared by 1935 (Pearce,
as defining the type), and building type studies have 2004, p. 8f.). Visitor centres are often associated
been preoccupied with building types as defined with national parks and building heritage sites, and
by their ‘proper’ and established names, such as in Sweden some of the first visitor centres started
schools, shops, row-houses, prisons and skyscrap- as Naturum (‘Nature space’ or ‘Room of nature’),

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1
An interesting prede- a concept trademarked by Naturvårdsverket and Laboratory, in the north-east part of Lund. Some
cessor to Naturum was
the Swedish recreation defined as ‘a visitor centre with activities and ex- of these, like Vattenriket (by White Arkitekter) and
centres (motionscentraler)
built in connection to
hibitions located at several of Sweden’s national Domkyrokoforum (by Carmen Izquierdo) are also
recreational areas and parks and nature reserves’ (Naturvårdsverket 2015). prestigious buildings in terms of their architecture.
national parks, often in
forests, in Sweden during The first Naturum was inaugurated in 1973, taking The latter, for example, received the Kaspar Sahlin
the 1950s and 1960s
(Qviström 2013).
inspiration from the United States and the United award – the most prestigious architectural award in
Kingdom, but was no more than an exhibition in a Sweden – in 2012. Visitor centres, planned but not
couple of caravans. With Hornborgarsjön naturum built (yet), include Uppåkra Archaeological Centre
in 1986, the project became more ambitious and south of Lund and Ale stenar in Kåseberga.
it was stated by Naturvårdsverket that the centres In short, the visitor centre has become a firmly
should be built in a contemporary architectural style established and increasingly popular building type
and be place specific – soon these centres became in Scania over about 25 years, along with other parts
prestigious architectural commissions (Isitt, 2013)1. of Sweden and western Europe at large (see Figures
The proliferation of visitor centres in Scania 1 and 2). A visitor centre can traditionally be seen
parallels both the rapid population growth that has as a kind of use-type, but of course is not a spatial
been taking place in the region since the early machine of homogenous use. As soon as we start
1990s, and the ongoing processes of space-time to look more closely at the building type ‘visitor
compression (Harvey, 1999), whereby commuting centre’, we realise that its name might give us some
time becomes shorter and people increasingly clues about how a certain set of buildings (under
travel across the whole of the region. The number this heading) are related to each other; however, this
of estimated local labour markets in Scania has, also hides a series of other possible associations
for example, decreased from 16 in 1970, to four in and connections. To investigate this we need to ask
2000, and three in 2008 (cf. Levin, 2008). People more open questions: what does a visitor centre do?
travel more and for longer as part of their everyday What kind of actor roles can they take? The defini-
lives, for work, shopping, recreation, and so forth. tion above gives us some ideas. A visitor centre
The visitor centre was introduced in Scania during manages the visitor experience, preparing visitors
the 1990s and built examples of that building type and informing them about the ‘attraction’, and in
include (but are not limited to): Skrylle naturum this sense it stages information much like museum
(1991), Stenshuvud naturum (1993), Glimmingehus spaces. In terms of movement and its relation to the
visitor centre (1996) and Äpplets hus in Kivik (1997). question of urbanisation, we might, however, want
By 2000, the concept (besökscenter in Swedish) to highlight another role: the role of a threshold, or a
was firmly established and new visitor centres kind of territorialised entrance. The visitor centre is
opened, including for example, Söderåsen naturum a threshold preparing the visitor for a new territory.
(2000), the visitor centre for film, Cineteket, in Ystad It implies a boundary becoming a place of its own,
(2006), the Swedish Pomological Science Center in and its actor role is to manage visitors with informa-
Stenestad (2008), Kullaberg naturum (2009), Vatten- tion and directions to the site.
riket naturum in Kristianstad (2009), Domkyrkoforum
in Lund (2011), Malmö airport visitor centre (2011), Some notes on the threshold actant
Absolut Vodka visitor centre (2012), Möllegården In 1896, Trumbull published a book called The
(2015) at Lund Science Village in connection to Threshold Covenant which points to the fundamental
ESS (European Spallation Source) and the Max IV role played by thresholds and threshold rites in hu-

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man culture throughout history (and also as a pos- senses, but at the same time freer (Turner, 1982;
sible beginning for religious rites in general). Some cf. Czarniawska and Mazza, 2003). The visitor
years later (1909), van Gennep, following Trumbull, centre might be an example of a threshold culture,
more famously discussed thresholds as transition strategically managing the entrances to heritage
zones (time-spaces), rather than just boundaries, sites, the city, museums, railway stations, lobbies,
and threshold rites as liminalities. These zones al- scientific venues, and so on. The rites of passage
low for the transformation of one social identity into include ticket sales, waiting for guides and fellow
another (van Gennep, 1960). Thresholds and rites visitors, collecting and dropping off headphones
of passage are perhaps often associated with pre- and maps, toilet visits, the buying of retail goods,
modern societies, but the modern societies are of snacks and coffee, security checks, etc. In this
course also as full of liminality. sense, the visitor centre can be seen as a threshold
The notion of liminal space was further devel- actor: ‘it prepares an entry’, for example by giving
oped by Victor Turner who also suggested that directions, by forcing directions upon the visitor, by
liminal states are beyond a structured social order taking a fee, and so forth. It also represents some
which might make them less powerful in some kind of at least weak liminality, whereby one is found

Figure 1 (left)

Battleship graph (cf.

Steadman 2014: 361 f.)
showing number of men-
tions of “Visitor centre”
in articles in Architect´s
Journal (data from 1903-
2014).

Figure 2 (right)

Battleship graph showing

number of mentions of
“Besökscentrum” (visitor
centre) and “Naturum”
in the Swedish journal
Arkitektur (data from
1901-2014).

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in a state of limbo and with freedom of choice: of a threshold type, or perhaps several sorts of
‘shall I buy a ticket or not?’, ‘what parts should I threshold types? Based on readings and site visits
visit?’, ‘should I take the guided tour or not?’. The to the visitor centres of Scania mentioned above,
architect and researcher, Stavros Stavrides, has four tentative sorts, or actant roles, that the visitor
pointed out that: ‘Thresholds create out of distances centres can take on are suggested. These do,
a nearness without which differences will never be however, also show clear associations with other
able to constitute themselves as mutually “others”’ sets of buildings, thus illustrating how a predefined
(Stavrides, 2010, p. 67). The visitor centre is part of a set of buildings always already points towards new
territorialisation process, as well as of the production possible sets and types.
of an inside and an outside. It is a domestication Firstly, a visitor centre can represent a form of
and a stabilisation of the attraction as a territorial capture. In retail, one sometimes talks of captive
association, thus making the distinction between the markets to describe a situation where the customer
attraction and its surroundings more clear. does not have a lot alternatives in his or her shop-
The concept of threshold has similarities with ping situation, but can only choose whether to buy
the concept of interface (Hillier and Hanson, 1984). or not. Captive markets are often used to describe
Interface was used early on to describe the spatial retail spaces hosted inside other spaces, such as
relationship between inhabitants and strangers airport malls, railway-oriented retail, and museum
(Hiller and Hanson, 1984, p. 17), but has also been shops (Lloyd, 2003). A visitor centre is a captive
used to describe the relation between different market when the centre must be entered in order to
kinds of inhabitants (Hiller et. al., 1984, p. 66), to access the destination. The visitor centre becomes
discuss spatial structures of building types (Markus, an obligatory point of passage located between
1993; Koch, 2013), and lately also to analyse pur- the arrival point and the destination point. In most
view interfaces (Peponis, 2012). The concepts of cases, these points of passage are combined with
threshold and interface are interestingly related, a shop or a café, following the spatio-temporal logic
but it is important to keep them apart. Interface is, of the mall – an in-between time-space of waiting
for example, often used to discuss spatial structure and/or circulation set up before important anchors
with a focus on different kinds of inhabitants and/ and destinations points. As in a mall, you can select
or visitors. Threshold has its focus on meaning your own activity (what to buy and visit) and your
rather than space, and thus might also depend on route, so long as you are kept inside a continuous
more temporal and mobile features rather than just environment of consumption. One example of this
built structures. Thresholds are also associated kind of visitor centre is Äpplets hus in Kivik, which
with territorial transgression and transformation, contains a shop, a restaurant, a museum and a
and therefore do not necessarily include different garden, all mixed together in a place of circulation.
categories of inhabitants, but might, for example, Secondly, the visitor centre can work by way
also include the different states of mind of a single of standardisation and unification. By establishing
person or even the transformation of things. similarly designed spaces as entrance points to
attractions, people recognise them and might also
* feel a certain comfort and sense of security. In this
Although the visitor centre is perhaps a fairly sense, the visitor centre might work like a chain
obvious example, there are of course many other store or franchise retail, or like different kinds of
places that act as thresholds. Could we even talk traffic territories (bus stops, pedestrian crossings),

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Figure 3

Domkyrkoforum, Arken
book store and Lund
Cathedral, as seen from
Kyrko­gatan (photo by
author).

Figure 4

Domkyrkoforum (with its

lantern overlooking the
church towers) and Lund
Cathedral, as seen from
Domkyrko­platsen (photo
by author).

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lowering the threshold to new attractions by stag- tion to the attraction, but across the public plaza just
ing them in a familiar type of way. This ’familiarity south of the Cathedral. Adding more activities to an
by design’ seems, for example, to be an intentional existing city block, it helps to populate the street and
strategy when it comes to the series of new Swedish the plaza; and in direct contrast to the interior world
Naturum (like Vattenriket in Kristianstad), many of produced in malls, the building has a strong focus
which are built by the same architectural firm (White on its surroundings, reaching out both visually and
Arkitekter), and advertised via books, pamphlets through its entrances to the surrounding spaces
and websites (Isitt, 2011; 2013). (see Figures 3 and 4).
Thirdly, the visitor centre can work by over- The fourth way in which a visitor centre can work
lapping edges. The notion that edges are often is through forming a stretch. One obvious example is
preferred areas in which to stay and dwell, was ob- the airport with increasing security checks (whereas
served by the sociologist Derek de Jonge in the late an older example might be the church porch with
1960s – something he referred to as ‘edge effects’ its weapon house). Koolhaas et. al. describe the
(Magnusson, 2016, p. 149 and p. 257). One kind of security spaces of the airport as a specific type –
threshold is established through the production of ‘the stretched door’ – and how a seemingly never-
new overlapping territories between the attraction ending number of separate checks come with an
and its environs. This approach can be associated airport that ‘becomes an endless door stretching out
with pavement cafés, outdoor restaurants or even ahead of travellers’ (Koolhaas et al., 2014, p. 634).
rest stops (and their overlapping spaces of nature The stretch, much like the capture, works through
and traffic infrastructure). A threshold is not just a an obligatory point of passage. In visitor centres,
territorial border but can in fact be composed of this kind of threshold is quite commonly found in
several different and overlapping borders. This popular and commercialised tourist attractions with
threshold actant works by establishing new territo- guided or partly guided tours. The Warner Brothers
rial productions, binding together different spatio- Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter, in Leaves-
temporal claims. The visitor centre at Skrylle is a den outside London is a typical example. The tour
case in point. Here a series of new territorialisations is made up of several stages, first a lobby, then a
overlap the entrance area as well as the forest, waiting space, then a movie, and then a guided
through activities such as outdoor gyms, small exhi- room, before the visitor is allowed to walk more
bition areas, a playground, campfire areas, running freely, and finally exits through the large gift shop.
tracks, a café and an outdoor restaurant. Another This kind of visitor centre is not (yet) so common in
interesting example is Domkyrkoforum (2011), a Scania but there are some minor examples. One
visitor centre for Lund Cathedral that is woven into such is Barsebäck, a closed-down nuclear power
the urban fabric with one entrance opening onto plant, where one must see a movie, pass through
the main street, one entrance and a lantern facing security checks, go through a clothing change
towards the Cathedral and Domkyrkoplatsen (the and so forth before entering the tour. Of course
Cathedral plaza), and another entrance acces- the stretched door is not limited to visitor centres,
sible through a pre-existing book store. The centre but can also be found in museums, underground
contains an atrium, a café, information screens, a stations, airports, railway stations, parking houses,
lecture hall and smaller museum spaces (showing shopping malls, and so on.
pilgrimage routes in Scania, archeological material, The actant perspective not only allows for
etc.). The visitor centre is not built in direct connec- recurrent effects to be traced to other material

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configurations than the building itself, but also for ment thus goes hand in hand with the development
the possibility that any building can take on multiple of the consumer society and the transformation of
actant roles, i.e. can be typified in any number of existing objects and experiences into consumables
ways so long as these types can be associated to (for better and for worse). In this case we are dealing
actual effects in everyday life that recur in different with the categorisation, territorialisation and typolo-
times and spaces. The four different threshold act- gisation of neatly packed time-space. By producing
ants are thus of course just examples, and many neutral and unified entrance spaces at formerly
more can probably be found. Here, the focus has less accessible points in the urban landscape,
been on how visitor centres as a threshold space thresholds are lowered, attractions become clearer
mediate between an inside and an outside. If we and more transparent, territories are stabilised. It
were to change this focus, for example to investigate becomes easier to anticipate and know how to enter
the strategic ways in which the visitor centre stages these spaces, and one can be sure of being given
its attraction, the actant roles would be completely proper information about the attraction and what
different. It should be noted that most visitor centres to expect from the visit: no surprises, no awkward
can take on several, or perhaps even all of the four uncertainties (in this way working like a machine for
actor roles mentioned above (to a greater or lesser easy and predictable movement, much like the cor-
extent), depending on the situation. The point is that ridor, a different kind of threshold, cf. Evans, 1978).
different visitor centres can, depending on the trail Through the concept of the threshold actant, an
of actors that we follow, be associated with other alternative way of categorising visitor centres has
types of buildings and spaces than the one at hand. been suggested in order to better describe their
This kind of enquiry can open up a proliferation of effects in the context of urbanisation.
different typologisations that have bearings on, and Secondly, whilst the threshold actor seems a
can help us investigate, the ways in which our built fruitful way of investigating the role that buildings
environment (and the everyday life that comes with usually referred to as visitor centres play in current
it) is transformed. processes of urbanisation, further enquiry quickly
leads into a subdivision of this territorial sort. Four
In search of building types actant roles have been suggested: the capture,
To conclude, two points can be drawn upon to sum- the unifier, the overlap and the stretch. These roles
marise the discussion. Firstly, it is important to stress show further ways in which different sets of build-
how and why building types can be described as ings might be typified and how they play related, yet
actants. The proliferation of visitor centres in Scania different roles. This illustrates how it might be useful
is by no means an innocent development; these to differentiate and possibly destabilise not just the
centres have a part to play in the urbanisation pro- ‘visitor centre’ type, but also how these roles can be
cess of this region. In short, they have an actor role, used to connect to other built types and produce
and since they are built entities with a recurrent and cross-connections between different building types,
to some extent similar effect, also an actant role. thus also suggesting new actants/types.
The effect relates to an urbanisation of nature and The increase in threshold actants, both in terms
rural attractions, a touristification of different build- of sort and number, can be seen in parallel with a
ings (churches, factories, science institutions, etc.), development described by Frank Lloyd Wright as
where different attractions are made easily acces- a city à la carte (Fishman, 1990). The city à la carte
sible for the circulation of consumers. This develop- makes it possible for (some) individuals to assemble

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a personal city. It thus becomes a less conspicuous allow us to see and to some extent take measure of
variation of the ‘fortress city’ and its gated communi- this difference. The argument here is that the actant
ties, where some can enjoy a ‘neutral’ or ‘frictionless’ perspective could be such a possibility, to study a
mobility through an urban landscape that others find certain type of building and see how this is also full
fragmented or splintered into a mosaic of largely of differences – differences that by necessity also
inaccessible spatio-temporal pieces (Graham and keep producing ever-new similarities. The threshold
Marvin, 2001). However, as Stavrides has noted, actant, or the threshold type, is such an example.
thresholds might also carry the potentiality of eman- It is both more general and more specific than the
cipation; a city of enclaves, or borders, can become visitor centre, and the four suggested threshold act-
a city of thresholds, which allow the transformation ants are alternative ‘species’ that help us see new
of identities, experiences and borders (Stavrides, connections and associations, new synchronised,
2010). The threshold is also a form of condenser, yet trans-spatial power relations produced through
or as Quentin Stevens describes it: the built environment. Although this study started
from a traditional point of view, i.e. focusing on an
A threshold is a point on the boundary be- established and well-known building type such as
tween inside and outside that can be opened the visitor centre, the subsequent work reassembled
[...] The threshold is a constrained site which this type into different actants. One might, however,
gathers people together, channelling their also imagine an even more open search for build-
movement. Focusing their attention and ing types. Some territorial sorts do already exist
forcing them into close contact with others. but have not yet found a more stabilised or built
(Stevens, 2007, p. 153) form, whilst others form interesting but yet name-
less alliances and actant roles together with other
The threshold might also be a potential place sorts. To study building types is not just to redraw
for meetings and transgressions. This is related relations between already existing categories, but
to how the urban landscape is territorialised and also to question old typologisations and search for
divided into different species of spaces. Building new ones.
type studies have, through a kind of classificatory
analogy, been related to biological studies of natural
species (Steadman, 2008, p. 21-30). They have thus Mattias Kärrholm
often been categorised with little overlaps, i.e. each ([email protected])
Mattias Kärrholm is Professor in Architectural Theory, at the De-
species has its own box and its own well-defined partment of Architecture and Built Environment at Lund Univer-
relationship to other species. The elusive concept sity, Sweden. His research deals with territoriality, public space,
urban design, materiality, space and culture, and everyday life.
of species was, however, always a problematic one, He has published articles in international journals such as Urban
even for Darwin, because it seems to hide one of Studies, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Jour-
nal of Architecture, Social and Cultural Geography, Cities, Euro-
the important insights of evolutionary theory: that the pean Planning Studies and Space & Culture. Books include the
world seems to be about the production of differ- edited volume Urban Squares (2015), on Nordic Academy Press.
In 2012, he published the book Retailising Space on Ashgate
ence; life is a difference-machine (Deleuze, 1994). (second printing, Routledge 2016).
Herein lies why material semiotics might be a better
starting point than a classificatory analogy (based Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council For-
in a Linnaean paradigm). To study how new species
mas, through the research project ‘Architecture in the Making’
evolve, we need concepts and perspectives that (grant number 2011-75).

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