DEPTH: ARCHITECTURE REVEALED IN LAYERS

How buildings hold something back—and why that matters in a home.

By Roy Rostami  ·  Principal, Shiraz

IN SHORT  Depth in architecture is how a building reveals itself over time. It is created through layers of arrival, light, time and privacy—so a place is understood by moving through it, not in a single glance.

You are still outside, but the temperature has changed

That is often the first sign of a deep building. Before the door, the body already knows it has crossed a line: a wall has taken the wind, a roof has softened the glare, or the ground has begun to fall away underfoot.

Something has been withheld. Something has been given. The building has not yet fully begun.

A shallow building gives everything to the street. A deep one keeps something in reserve and hands it over in sequence. Its depth is not measured only in metres; it is measured in the number and quality of transitions between where you start and where you finally arrive. Within Discover the Taste of Architecture, Depth is the first act of discovery: architecture gives experience time to unfold.

Depth is not size. It is discovery organised through space and time.

Four kinds of layer

Figure 1. The four layers are a reading tool, not a formula. Strong buildings often combine several at once.

We repeatedly find four useful forms of depth: arrival creates distance between outside and in; light changes the emotional pace of a route; time makes the past perceptible; and privacy turns spatial depth into a way of living.

01 · Layers of arrival

Therme Vals, Switzerland · Peter Zumthor · Gunnar Klack, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source / licence

At Therme Vals, arrival begins through the hotel and into the mountainside. Darker passages and changing rooms precede the main bathing hall. The local quartzite—used in tens of thousands of thin slabs—surrounds the visitor before water becomes the centre of attention.

The sequence matters more than any single room. Light softens, sound changes and walking slows. By the time the water is reached, the body has already adjusted to a different rhythm.

Kerstin Thompson Architects creates a related effect at the TarraWarra Estate Cellar Door in Victoria. A circular stone forecourt frames views across the Yarra Valley, while the tasting room extends an existing subterranean tunnel and reconnects to the winemaking spaces. Landscape is not merely viewed; it is temporarily withheld and then returned.

Figure 2. Analytical section after TarraWarra: forecourt, threshold, descent, subterranean room and the valley returned. Diagram for explanation only.

TRY THIS AT HOME  Stand at the front boundary. Can you see directly into the main living room? A sheltered pause, a turn, planting or a change in light can give arrival both dignity and privacy.

02 · Layers of light

Light can create spatial depth with relatively little material, but it is not free. Courtyards, roof openings, glazing, shading and waterproofing still have construction and energy consequences. The useful principle is not “more daylight”; it is contrast, timing and control.

Tadao Ando's Row House in Sumiyoshi places an open courtyard between two enclosed parts of a narrow urban house. Moving between rooms means crossing outdoor space. The courtyard brings sky, rain, changing brightness and seasonal air into the centre of daily life.

Figure 3. Analytical plan after the Row House in Sumiyoshi: enclosed rooms are separated by a courtyard open to the sky.

The lesson is not to copy its inconvenience. It is to notice how brightness can fall, rise and fall again along a route. A shadowed entry before a north-facing living room, a skylight marking a stair, or a window held at the end of a passage can make even a compact house feel layered.

TRY THIS AT HOME  Describe the light at 7 am in July, 3 pm in January and on an overcast afternoon. Depth comes from how those conditions change along the journey—not from a single dramatic window.

03 · Layers of time

Kolumba Museum in Cologne is built around the surviving fragments of St Kolumba's church and the long history beneath it. Peter Zumthor's new brickwork does not reconstruct the lost building or erase the ruins. Visitors move above archaeological remains while daylight and city sound filter through the new enclosure.

Figure 4. Analytical section after Kolumba: a contemporary route held above accumulated foundations and fragments.

Time can also be carried by material. At Vals, thin horizontal courses of quartzite read like sediment. A new building begins to feel less like an object placed on the landscape and more like something formed from it.

A new Canberra house may have no ruins, but every block has a previous life: a mature tree, a fall in the ground, an established garden, a view between neighbouring roofs or stone uncovered during excavation. Keeping one real trace can give a new home more depth than applying a nostalgic style.

TRY THIS AT HOME  Before clearing the block, identify one existing condition worth designing around. Retention should be purposeful—not sentimental—and tested against safety, planning, cost and long-term use.

04 · Layers of privacy

Privacy is what turns depth from a museum experience into a domestic one. Every house has a gradient of permission: the delivery driver, a visitor, a close friend and a family member do not need the same access or the same view.

Figure 5. A conceptual Canberra privacy gradient: street, sheltered entry, turning hall, living space, courtyard and bedrooms.

In a shallow plan, the front door may open directly onto the life of the house. In a deeper plan, a visitor can wait under cover, be seen before entering, pass through a hall that turns, and arrive in a living room whose garden remains invisible from the street. Bedrooms sit one layer further back, signalled by a narrower passage, a quieter material or a small shift in level.

This is not about making a house defensive. It is about choice. A well-layered home can feel open to the people inside while remaining composed toward the street.

The deepest room is not necessarily the furthest away. It is the room reached through the clearest change of permission.

How depth becomes a Canberra home

The four layers become useful when they change ordinary design decisions. They do not require a large house or a theatrical route; they require a sequence in which each transition has a reason.

SHELTER THE FIRST PAUSE

Use a wall, canopy or planting to take wind and glare before the front door.

Arrival + Privacy

TURN BEFORE REVEALING

Avoid displaying the entire living space from the threshold. A short turn can protect privacy and build anticipation.

Arrival

DESIGN LIGHT AS A GRADIENT

Move between shade, controlled daylight and a brighter north-facing room instead of making every space equally bright.

Light

KEEP A TRACE OF THE SITE

Retain a mature tree, landform or useful material when it can genuinely organise the design.

Time

PLACE PRIVACY IN LAYERS

Let public, shared and private rooms become progressively quieter and less exposed.

Privacy

TEST THE WHOLE JOURNEY

Draw the route from footpath to the most private room in plan and section—not only the facade.

All four

What depth does—and does not—cost

Some forms of depth are inexpensive: a changed sightline, a turn, a framed view or a thoughtful privacy gradient. Others—courtyards, split levels, large openings, retaining walls and complex roof lights—can add structure, waterproofing, drainage, thermal and accessibility costs. The principle is economical when it is established early and tested against the whole project.

The goal is not a longer corridor. It is a richer journey.

Four buildings, four lessons

BUILDING

ARCHITECT

LAYER

WHAT TO NOTICE

Therme Vals

Peter Zumthor

Arrival + material time

The body is slowed before the main space is understood.

TarraWarra Cellar Door

Kerstin Thompson Architects

Arrival + landscape

The valley is withheld, entered beneath, and returned.

Row House in Sumiyoshi

Tadao Ando

Light + weather

A small house gains depth by placing open sky between rooms.

Kolumba Museum

Peter Zumthor

Time + memory

New construction lets multiple histories remain perceptible.

Depth is not complexity

A complicated plan can still be shallow if its spaces are experienced all at once. A simple plan can be deep if it controls approach, light, time and privacy with precision. Depth is not a visual effect added at the end; it is the organisation of attention from the first drawing.

Some buildings are seen. Others are slowly discovered. Discovery is what happens when architecture gives experience time to unfold. In the Shiraz philosophy, that unfolding is the beginning of taste.

RETURN TO THE HUB  →  Discover the Taste of Architecture

NEXT ESSAY  →  Voice: What a Building's Materials Say

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Frequently asked questions

What does depth mean in architecture?

Depth is how a building reveals itself over time rather than all at once. It is created through thresholds, changes in light, traces of time and a sequence from public to private space.

How can a small house feel deep?

By adding layers rather than unnecessary area: a sheltered entry, a turning hall, a courtyard, a controlled change in light or a framed view can lengthen the experience without greatly increasing floor area.

Is spatial depth expensive?

Not necessarily. Sightlines, sequence and privacy can be improved through planning. Courtyards, split levels, retaining walls and roof openings may add cost and must be tested project by project.

How does depth improve privacy?

It creates a gradual transition from street to shared and private rooms, allowing residents to control what a visitor sees and how far each person is invited into the home.