Today I’m going to talk about doors. Doors, by design, facilitate the movement of bodies from one space to another. They also act as a barrier, fulfilling each space’s need for individual privacy. However, it’s less often that doors are as generous with their benefits to light as they are to people. Light and privacy are often inextricably linked, for without light, there would be nothing to see – the very definition of privacy.

There are ways to transfer light through doors, reaping the benefits of good lighting without transmitting the visual information from beyond the threshold. One methods is through the use of lattices, frequently seen in classical Japanese architecture, that act as a boundary without becoming a barrier. Movement past a lattice yields a series of glimpses that never reveal their true form – maintaining privacy, whilst granting access to light, light that cascades softly in streaks across the floor, and creeps from wall to wall as the day progresses.

We like the delicacy of Japanese architecture, and we like lattices, so we adopted this idea in Flat S. When we looked at this renovation, we noticed that cramped spaces and particularly poor lighting were issues that we desperately had to resolve. Lattices were added to walls and doors to facilitate this sorely-needed introduction of light, but we went one step further. Filling the spaces between the lattices with semitransparent glass increased privacy, whilst coalescing the streaks of light that pass through, further softening it and providing a gentle glow. The result is truly soothing. Have a look at Flat S to see what I mean.