This thesis project explores the urban exterior space as a site for architectural intervention—the space between buildings, often overlooked, yet full of potential. By treating the square of Fittja Centrum not only as a public surface but as a living room, the project shifts the narrative from empty openness to an urban social space: a place to pause, to meet, to inhabit. As part of the research process, a participatory workshop was conducted with local residents and users of the site. 

Through spatial mapping, participants were asked to mark feelings of fear and belonging, revealing how spatial anxiety often arises in in-between spaces lacking clear function or identity—while a sense of belonging tends to emerge in places with strong intention, programming, or architectural presence. These insights have informed both the understanding of the site and the design strategies that follow.

Through interventions such as sightlines, grids, and structural additions to building entrances, the project introduces fragments and nodes that furnish the square and redefine its use. These fragments act as spatial markers that encourage us to inhabit the space between, not merely move through it. Interiors are extended into exteriors, creating interiorities between the volumes that surround the square.

At the core lies the notion of being in-between—between city and individual, between narratives, between physical structures. This state of “där emellan” is not a void, but a condition—a spatial and emotional opportunity. To exist in the in-between is to design for it, to furnish it, and to claim it as a vital part of urban life.