Additional note, February, 2014:

According to 6.7.2 [intro.object] paragraph 1, an object (i.e., a “region of storage”) is created by one of only three means:

An object is created by a definition (6.2 [basic.def]), by a new-expression (7.6.2.8 [expr.new]) or by the implementation (6.7.7 [class.temporary]) when needed. The properties of an object are determined when the object is created.

This does not allow for obtaining the storage in other ways, such as via malloc, in determining the lifetime of an object with vacuous initialization (6.7.4 [basic.life] paragraph 1).

In addition, 6.7.4 [basic.life] paragraph 1 does not require the storage obtained for an object of type T to be accessed via an lvalue of type T in order to be considered an object of that type. The treatment of “effective type” by C may be helpful here.