Welcoming and gathering spaces display qualities of openness and connectedness according to different layouts to fit with family needs. Ideally, rooms are interconnected.

More generous rooms are needed, such as the pulaarvik to welcome small or larger groups for all types of activities, including feasts and parties. Simply built cabins have a central pulaarvik to which the other rooms connect.

Thresholds are both vital and symbolic, as they connect inside and outside, house and village. Inuit stress the importance of cold and warm porches, with one entrance for summer and another for winter. In cabins, food preparation often happens in a transitional space between the main living area and outside. Cold porches serve to store equipment and food and to carry out traditional activities (skinning, drying), while warm porches serve as a changing room and secured storage area without taking up space from the house.

These in-between spaces are also used to welcome visitors and see family members on their way to a journey, whether near or far. Shared by two houses, they offer a meeting ground where seasonal activities can take place: skinning, preparing, and sharing meat, cutting stone, doing repairs, etc.