At De Bilt we have strong beliefs in what design is, and what it should do for people. Design should make a person "feel" a certain way. And this feeling is formed via the human senses of sight, sound, and touch, probably in that order. How a house makes one feel will always be impacted mostly through the eyes. Your eyes communicate to you the space that surrounds you. Is the space big, small, confined, expansive, cozy, cold etc. And as you walk through a space, your vision transmits the "flow" of the home, which is terribly important. If the front door opens directly into a big warehouse-like room, with the entry, living room, family room, and kitchen all completely open to each other, your brain will have one sense of flow. However, if the front door opens to a cozy entry space, which then leads to a living room, with views of the office, dining room and backyard just peaking into view, then the mind forms a different sense of flow. You would be eager to explore and find out more.
The human sense of hearing is too often overlooked in both architecture and design. Yet it is such an important sense that it's impact on the mind as to how a space feels should absolutely be considered. Should a home sound like a recording studio, with all extraneous audio reflections being damped out? Or should a home sound like the inside of a cathedral, where a clap of the hands will linger for many seconds? In truth neither answer is 100% correct. However, acoustic qualities leaning more towards soft and damped will usually be interpreted positively. Unfortunately, many of the materials which are fashionable in architecture and design lead to a hard and reflective acoustic space. Glass, metal, tile, these do not damp out or diffuse sounds waves, they just reflect them. This can make a house feel hectic and far from relaxing.
Then there is our sense of touch. And touch is a funny thing, in that it is intimately tied through the human experience to both sight and sound. One can look at a swath of velvet and know how it will feel, soft and luxurious. And of course once we touch it that premonition is borne out. Similarly, walking into a room with tufted padded walls, one would immediately feel a sense of softness. Though it would be transmitted though our hearing, without having to run a hand across any surface.
A beautiful space with high visual impact, but how would it "feel" when inside? Warm and cozy? Or reflective and hard?
Ultimately at De Bilt we focus on balance. Achieving the correct proportions of extremes of the three senses. In this way people can literally be transported by their homes. You come home from a busy day at work after sitting in traffic and just a few minutes after entering your home, you have forgotten everything and are just living in the now. That is a very special feeling.