Openness and Enclosure in Architecture
Understanding architectural design principles when you are setting out to build or renovate your own home helps transform an ordinary house into a great one. When you begin to see these qualities in various spaces, you can see how they impact your everyday experiences.
One of the ways we influence that experience is through the use of openness and enclosure in architecture. One creates a sense of light and outwardness, while the other brings privacy and retreat. How the two are balanced can change not only how a space looks, but more importantly, how it feels and functions.
Openness vs Enclosure in Residential Design
Openness is the view, the light, the feeling of being in the open, on the edge, with arms out wide (and as I am a 'hand talker' by nature... insert expansive gestures here...). Glazing, light, smooth surfaces and height help create this feel of expansion. These are often public or shared spaces, full of energy and movement. Light can often be brought in from above or from the side, but you will generally have a feeling of outlook.
Architectural enclosure describes security, warmth, shelter and retreat, protection and privacy. These spaces will feel 'solid', but they are often punctuated by light shafts and selective use of windows, even diffuse illumination. It's a place you curl up with a good book in the evenings by the fire - there is a stillness and a quietness. Often you may find lowered ceiling heights and greater use of mass and (sometimes) rougher textures, all of which can strengthen the sense of enclosure.
The two contrast with each other, yet can be used within corners of the same space, or separated by an intentional transition.
Good residential architecture rarely uses openness without enclosure, or vice versa. Both have a place, and using them in balance with one another can actually amplify the overall effect to create a stronger spatial experience.
Creating Transition Between Open and Enclosed Spaces
There is a dialogue between our bodies and architecture. Architects delight in finding many ways of evoking the different feelings that spaces communicate to our senses and linking them to the intended function of that space.
Transition spaces can be walkways, corridors, stairs, or even an entire room, all helping to bridge the distinct change between openness and spatial enclosure. The effect of the different senses (sight, touch, sound, kinetic movement, even smell) affects how we move through these different spaces. Textured light through screens and filters is often used effectively in these rooms to emphasise rhythm and movement.
These changes in light, material, texture, sound and movement help distinguish one part of the home from another. A hallway that feels more enclosed, for example, can make the open room at the end of it feel even more expansive when you arrive.
Designing a Home Around How You Want It to Feel
A building is not only experienced by the objective dimensions on a floor plan, but by its volume and quality of space. Even if you have to build a compact house due to budget or site constraints, you can achieve a richness of experience and enable it to feel far bigger by the way that you construct the sequence of spaces and materials.
Where you want outlook and connection, where you need privacy, how your family moves through the home and what the site offers can all influence where openness or enclosure makes sense.
When building a new home or renovating, it’s an opportunity to consider your rooms carefully and think about how you want those spaces to not only function, but also feel. You will find the instinctive reaction of most people walking through a crafted home that considers these senses will be one of delight.
At Day Architects, this kind of thinking forms our approach, as you can see in the spaces and projects we’ve created for past clients.
If you’re planning a new home or renovation and want to discuss how these principles could be applied to suit your own home, get in touch with Day Architects.
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