THE ART OF TRANSITION
Updated: 3 days ago
How separate spaces become one continuous experience.
Some of the most interesting transformations begin not with what we add, but with the boundaries we question. At Wilhelminian Heritage, the existing spatial structure was shaped by another time and another way of living. Rooms were fragmented, relationships between functions were not always intuitive, and some of the building’s inherent architectural qualities had become obscured over time. The architecture had character. But the way the house was organised no longer reflected the way it was meant to be lived in today. Our starting point was therefore not decoration. It was the floor plan. The spatial organisation of the house was fundamentally reconsidered across every floor. Rather than describing each intervention individually, the ground floor perhaps shows most clearly how profoundly a new plan can change the way a home is experienced.
From Many Rooms to One
The ground floor was completely reorganised. A fragmented sequence of smaller rooms was transformed into one continuous spatial composition, bringing cooking, dining and living together while concentrating the supporting functions around the existing core and creating a direct relationship with the terrace and courtyard. But opening the plan was only part of the transformation. An awkward triangular extension at the rear, added at a later stage in the building’s history, was removed. A new wall establishes a clear right angle in relation to the front of the house, replacing the previously acute geometry with a calmer, more balanced spatial structure. This seemingly simple intervention fundamentally changes the way the ground floor is perceived. Good proportions create a sense of ease that we often feel before we understand why. Orthogonal spaces provide clarity and orientation. Walls relate naturally to one another, furniture can sit comfortably within the architecture, and the eye is no longer drawn towards an unresolved corner. Together with the newly opened plan, the clearer geometry gives the ground floor a sense of calm and generosity that its actual dimensions alone would never suggest. But openness alone was never the objective. A home still needs all the practical functions that support everyday life: kitchen, utility room, wardrobe, guest bathroom, storage and access to the terrace and courtyard. The challenge was to integrate all of these requirements without allowing them to fragment the architecture again.
One space. many functions.
Cooking and dining become part of the social heart of the house. More functional areas are positioned where they are needed, but remain visually quieter. Movement through the ground floor becomes intuitive, while the connection to the terrace and courtyard extends the sequence beyond the interior. What had once been a collection of separate rooms becomes a continuous experience.
Revealing the Height
The transformation was not only horizontal. The house had another remarkable quality that had almost disappeared: ceiling heights of approximately four metres. Within the original sequence of small rooms, this generous vertical dimension could hardly unfold its effect. In addition, ceilings had been suspended to significantly lower levels throughout much of the ground floor, concealing one of the building’s greatest spatial qualities.
By opening up the plan and restoring the full height, the proportions changed completely. Suddenly, the four-metre ceilings could be experienced across a larger, continuous volume. What had previously felt fragmented became expansive; what had been hidden became one of the defining characteristics of the house. The space gained generosity while actually losing almost ten square metres. By removing the later extension, the ground floor became slightly smaller in terms of actual floor area. Yet spatially, the opposite happened. The clearer geometry, the open sequence of spaces and the restored four-metre ceiling height make it feel considerably larger, calmer and more generous than before. A reminder that spatial quality is not measured in square metres alone. There is something almost uplifting about this verticality. It gives the open ground floor a sense of calm and presence while allowing the historic proportions of the house to become perceptible again.
"Sometimes transformation is not about adding something new. It is about revealing a quality that was there all along."
Open, but Not Undivided
For us, creating openness does not mean removing every distinction. Quite the opposite. The more open a plan becomes, the more important subtle transitions become. Architecture has to create different atmospheres without relying on a wall and a door each time the function changes. A change in material can define an area. Furniture can create orientation. Lighting can establish intimacy. Joinery can separate practical functions from social ones. A sightline can connect spaces that still retain their own character. The boundaries become softer, but they do not disappear. This allows kitchen, dining and living to belong together without becoming one anonymous open-plan room.
Movement as Architecture
A floor plan is not something we experience from above. We experience it by moving through it. This is why the relationships between entrance, wardrobe, guest bathroom, utility functions, kitchen, dining area and the outdoor spaces were as important as the individual areas themselves. Where do we arrive? What do we see first? Where do we put things down? How naturally do we move towards the kitchen? Where does the view lead us? How do we reach the terrace and courtyard? These everyday movements become part of the architecture. A successful plan should not constantly tell us where to go. It should make movement feel natural.
Old Structure, New Way of Living
All of this happens within a house with history. The aim was not to erase its Wilhelminian character in order to create a contemporary open-plan interior. Nor was it to preserve a historical room structure simply because it had once existed. Instead, we looked at the qualities worth carrying forward — proportion, architectural rhythm, materiality and a sense of permanence — and translated them into a home for contemporary life.
"The new should not imitate the old. It should understand it."
Classical references can coexist with contemporary furniture. Existing character can meet new interventions. Historical depth can remain perceptible even when the way the house is organised has fundamentally changed. The result should belong neither entirely to the past nor exclusively to the present should feel timeless.
Where Materials Meet
The same thinking continues at a smaller scale. Once spaces begin to flow into one another, every material transition becomes more visible — and more important. Wood meets stone. Joinery meets architecture. Existing elements encounter new surfaces. We don’t choose these materials as isolated objects.
"The question is not only which materials we choose. It is what happens when they meet."
Colour, texture, direction, level and edge determine whether one area feels disconnected from the next or whether different materials become part of one continuous composition. Sometimes continuity means similarity. Sometimes a deliberate contrast creates exactly the relationship we are looking for. Transition does not mean making everything the same. It means making different things belong together.
Inside Becomes Outside
The reorganisation of the ground floor also changes its relationship with the exterior. The terrace and courtyard are no longer simply destinations reached from somewhere within the house. They become part of the spatial sequence. Views lead outward. Movement continues naturally towards the exterior. Interior and outdoor life begin to relate to one another. The boundary remains physically present, but its importance diminishes. The house begins to extend beyond its walls.
The Art of Transition
At Wilhelminian Heritage, transformation did not mean replacing one architectural language with another. It meant creating new relationships. Between rooms that had once been separate. Between horizontal openness and the extraordinary verticality of the original architecture. Between cooking, dining and living. Between social spaces and the practical functions that support them. Between interior and courtyard. Between historic character and contemporary life. Some of these transitions happen at the scale of an entire floor plan. Others occur within a few millimetres. But they all follow the same idea. Because we don’t experience a home as a floor plan, a collection of rooms or a series of individual details. We experience it through movement, proportion, light and atmosphere. One space leading naturally to the next — until the individual decisions recede and the house is experienced as a whole.
