Transition Areas

Way too often we create the focal areas in our homes and imagine, it seems, that people will experience one space or another but not those in between.

• Zoning is key for the best transitions from one space to another, and zoning really doesn’t require much power thinking, it is logical. Places to sleep beside places for socializing are not likely to work very well unless everyone will be socializing or sleeping at the same time.  Buffer places for higher and lower energy activities with those for more intermediate ones, which are transition areas.  Doors that close and walls that reach to the structural ceiling and floor (not to dropped ceilings, for instance) can be key to separating spaces for different uses.
• When adjoining spaces will have very different sorts of designs, judicious blending can be handy. If a more formal living room is adjacent to a more casual family room the first views users in one space have of the other can be managed accordingly, so that the initial things that people in the more casual family room see as they look into that living room will not be its most formal, for instance.  However, in some cases, you may want to cue certain behaviours from a distance and you can do that in transition spaces.  For example, a hallway, a classic transition zone, leading toward bedrooms might be painted in calming shades and showcase relaxing photos from family vacations or paintings of nature scenes that will help people decompress, for instance.
• When light levels will be different in spaces connected by transition areas intermediate lighting levels are best and things that need to be seen to be safe should be avoided—while our eyes are adjusting from dark to light conditions or the reverse, steps, edges of rugs that can be tripped on, etc., can be bad news.
• Transition spaces, especially those for entering a home or business, can be important areas for nonverbal signalling, as discussed in this article.
• When you want spaces to blend together, they can share wall colours (exactly the same or similar shades) and design styles/elements. If neither your living room nor your dining room is very large, you may want to minimize the transition between them by visually uniting them so that your entire home seems appropriately spacious, for example.
• When spaces are very open to each other, you can give more users access to daylight and views, but that openness comes with the cost of potential distractions if people are doing different sorts of things in adjoining areas. Sometimes doors inside make good space for neighbours, just as fences outdoors can be great for community “neighbourliness.”
• Providing views into a space before people enter it makes people more comfortable; if doors are necessary, windows in them can make people moving through a space feel more at ease.
• Transitioning from indoors to out can be challenging, particularly in areas where the weather outside can be very warm or cool or both. Warm surface colours make it likely that people feel a little warmer than the air temperature would otherwise cause them to be and the reverse is true for cooler shades; warmer and cooler colours can be used in indoor-outdoor transition zones accordingly. We’re also drawn to warm colours, so using them on the far wall of a transition zone can make it more likely that people move expeditiously across it—we’re similarly drawn to bright lights/daylit windows and will preferentially walk in lighter areas (for example, against the walls of a hallway if there are sconces on those walls).  A front porch can help transition users into a home by sharing clues about what’s important to them (a swing that can be shared by several people signals people who like to spend time together, for instance)—even a simple set of steps can present information to visitors if desired messages can be sent in ways that don’t impede use, such as a pithy saying affixed directly to the front door or via the colour a railing is painted (don’t think colour can “say” too much—consider how many people now know that Ukraine’s flag is blue and yellow).
• Outdoors, sidewalks, plants, etc., can signal where public space ends and private areas begin and knowing where someone else’s territory actually starts makes us much more likely to have upbeat pleasant conversations with them—we like to know what’s whose.