This paper attempted to make explicit some of the underlying characteristics of spatial visualisation using the concept of area of composite shapes. By engaging students with metric-free tasks, we identify the type of perceptual and visual/spatial manoeuvres that they deploy in such situations. Interview data collected from three students in Grade 7, 8, and 9 are used to exemplify three key constituents of spatial visualisation: figure-ground perception, global and local perception, and gesturing. An observable discontinuity was discovered in coordinating different pieces of spatial information after disembedding the parts that constitute the whole. This paper concludes with pedagogical implications.