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PHILOSOPHY ︎︎︎
Envelope is threshold.  
In architecture, the envelope refers to the physical boundary that separates interior from exterior, the public from the private. Depending on its design, this envelope can be an open, welcoming park pavilion or a rigid, impenetrable border wall. The connection between design and the experiences it fosters extends beyond the physical realm, as seen in the digital interfaces we engage with daily and the habits they shape. This echoes Henk Oosterling’s poignant axiom, “Dasein ist Design,” in which he suggests that in a world where everything is aesthetically considered, engineered, marketed, and consumed, existence itself is a form of design or art.

Envelope is mirror.
In metaphysics, the envelope can also be viewed as a wall of sorts. One that defines the boundaries of intersecting ideas. These boundaries form what Peter Sloterdijk, in his book Bubbles, describes as ontological “immune systems.” These “bubbles” of existence—shaped and sustained by the atmospheric conditions of a particular time, place, and community—emerge through the proliferation of ideas and the exchanges that occur on both individual and global scales. Metaphysical envelopes that offer a topological lens through which we can reflect and understand the phenomenological forces driving what is commonly referred to as globalization.

Envelope is biome.
Bruno Latour, the anthropologist behind Actor-Network Theory, drew on elements of Sloterdijk’s ideas to expand his work, particularly in areas of political and ecological studies. For Latour, the envelope became a metaphor for the Biosphere — the thin layer of Earth where all life exists — and the political actors who shape decisions regarding the planet's health. Known for his critique of epistemological traditions, Latour came to adopt the power of art to communicate hybrid concepts and bridge gaps between nature and culture. At the core of his work was his desire to raise concern for the Earth’s “critical zones” — the fragile areas essential for life.