Interior Design
Interior design is the planning, layout, and design of the interior spaces within buildings. These physical settings satisfy our basic need for shelter and protection, set the stage for and influence the shape of our activities, nurture our aspirations, express the ideas that accompany our actions, and affect our outlook, mood, and personality. The purpose of interior design, therefore, is the functional improvement, aesthetic enrichment, and psychological enhancement of the quality of life in interior spaces. Increasingly, educational institutions are using the term interior architecture for their programs that focus creative design processes on the needs of people using buildings, rather than on the buildings as objects.
Many projects today involve the interior design of existing buildings, and the design of spatial, technical, cultural, and functional needs from the inside out. When designing new structures, the designer can consider future transformations. Other large concepts, such as sustainability and resiliency, also must be included from the start of the project. This increases the complexity of the interior designer's role, but also creates greater opportunities. Interior designers need to make maximum use of what they already have and build new only what they absolutely require.
Historic preservation has moved to the forefront for many American cities, becoming highly desirable today. Technological advantages unheard of in the past, such as ground-penetrating radar, infrared thermography, and drones with their cameras, open new frontiers for documentation of existing construction. New materials can conserve buildings by sealing masonry and concrete against water penetration, coat active cracks without themselves cracking, and protect iron materials from corrosion. Older buildings can be mathematically modeled in three dimensions to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the repair methods, in opposition to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards, are so extensive as to be irreversible.
Current trends include working with local artisans in developing countries to produce unique furnishings that combine local materials with modern themes. These efforts create employment for artisans as well as helping local people start their own businesses, often with micro-savings programs.
Resiliency is the ability of an organization, a place, or a family to weather a catastrophic event—climate, social unrest, and the crisis in affordable housing, for instance—and to come back better than it was before. A resilient system is one designed to evolve and adapt to changing conditions over time. Experts have suggested that interior designer's contributions to post-disaster shelter design could include culturally appropriate color palettes and geographically appropriate interior finishes, along with layouts and programming that promote social cohesion, which can lead to successful recovery after a disaster. The Perkins + Will report, Weathering the Storm: Mental Health and Resilient Design, identified the following design strategies to address major crisis events:
- Green roofs as outdoor refuge spaces and food production
- On-site renewable energy
- Building elements above a flood plain
- Transportation for building occupants, including public transportation, bicycles, and inflatable rafts
- On-site storage of emergency supplies
- Emergency communications
- Shelter in place
- Training for personnel
- Communications with occupants
Designing for an aging population increases the need for skills in universal design and design for longevity, and notably in renovations, additions, and new construction. Simple and intuitive use is supported by wireless devices, such as thermostats and security systems, home media, lighting systems, baby monitors, and wall ovens. Size and space for approach and use are accommodated by taller kitchen counters for tall residents or lower ones for children's areas. Pocket doors provide more room in tight bathrooms and closets, and oversized showers work for pets, shower chairs, or portable baby tubs. An extra room space is flexible in use over time, as children's play area, an entertainment center, home office, guest room, first floor bedroom, or private room for a live-in home health aide.
Flexible space also works well for multi-generational living. The unique perspectives of members of the millennial generation are reshaping the design and development of interior space. Bigger does not always mean better. Houses designed to age and adapt with the homeowners' changing needs are becoming more and more common. Clients are seeking homes that relate to their natural context as well as the lifestyles of their occupants, and designers are consulting clients on what makes them feel at home.
WeWork, experts on designing for collaborative, empowering office spaces, cite five factors for coworking spaces (Metropolis, June 2016):
- Warm up the lighting with connections to natural light.
- Create a spectrum of sound by providing multiple options in terms of energy level and noise, varying with activity level and mood.
- Feel at home with warm, inviting, and comfortable spaces with a human connection to nature and natural materials.
- Rely on data by using concerted data analysis such as user rating of spaces.
- Pair unexpected activities by designing amenity hubs, such as putting printers and food in one area to keep people moving in and out of the space, encouraging them to stop and chat.
Office spaces are trying to mimic the private and social spaces of residential architecture. Some spaces feel comfortable and cozy, while other are more expansive and provide views. The more minimal the private workspaces are, and the more energy is put into collaborative or unstructured spaces, the more effective the office is. Kitchens can become hearths of offices, as they have become the home away from home. Dining rooms have become workspaces, balanced by low- or no-tech zones for personal interactions.
Research into the impacts of design by sociologists and healthcare experts show us how interior spaces impact productivity and well-being. Interior designers can understand the importance of meeting with the people who will be the users and understanding from their experience how the design will meaningfully support them. Designers can act as liaisons with other professionals to bring a wider range of perspectives to the table.
Healthcare facility design today focuses on patients, with evidence-based design (EBD) linking patient-centered design with improved patient and worker safety, patient outcomes, environmental performance, and operational efficiency.
Today, everything is changing so quickly that designers need to be able to allow for movement or rearrangement, as some design ideas will remain while others will not. The question of how a person can be productive on an individual basis remains open. Acoustical problems become dominant, engendering multiple types of spaces or ways that people can work. Movement from one space to another becomes increasingly important.
The development of architectural forms and environmental systems for any building has implications for the interior designer, just as the information the interior designer collects about the client, the space, and the intended activities has implications for the work of the other members of the design team.
The interior designer may be working as a sole practitioner; collaborating with other designers, architects, and design specialists in a larger design firm; or serving as a consultant to an architectural firm. In any case, the interior designer is likely to have contact with architects, engineers, and other consultants in other firms. In addition, the interior designer will work with client representatives, including facilities managers, administrators, and end users.
The interior designer is often the liaison between the client and the sources for finishes or furnishings. The user (for example, a hotel's housekeeping staff) often sees critical elements that professional designers may miss. During construction, the interior designer is also in contact with contractors and suppliers. All of these members of the design and construction team should strive to maintain an atmosphere of communication, cooperation, and mutual respect. The coordination among design professionals throughout the building design process allows the expertise of each design field to be tapped to produce creative solutions to design problems as they arise.
The need to create spaces that work for today's changes and remain relevant tomorrow makes an interdisciplinary approach that includes designers, architects, engineers, and facility managers increasingly important. It is necessary to look at a building as an interconnected, interactive whole rather than as separate components belonging to a single profession. Complex challenges require technical knowledge from a variety of disciplines, including architecture and interior design, graphic and landscape design, structural, industrial, mechanical, acoustical, electrical and systems engineering, and other fields including psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
At the time of writing this book, architecture is still a male-dominated profession. The diversity of solutions, connections, and ideas we need requires more diversity in the industry's ranks.
The design team includes both in-house talent and specialized consultants, preferably from the beginning of the design process. Unfortunately, this often doesn't happen because of tight timelines and tight budgets. Often, when it does happen, the interior designer may be the one to pull the disciplines together.
Interior designers may be uniquely able to facilitate multidisciplinary collaborations. They are knowledge seekers both within their own profession and with other professions. In practice, interior designers rarely work alone, but rather bring together the people and abilities that deliver success for their clients by devising the best possible solutions.
The awareness of cultural differences can be aided by multidisciplinary teams. This has an obvious role in projects for affluent clients or in other countries, but is also important in the U.S. when designing to combat homelessness. Programs include consideration of human dignities, such as cleanliness, good food, safety, employment, and community for people on the street. From their student days onward, they collaborate face-to-face and online, and graduate ready to contribute to a team. They realize that architecture and interior design work best when considered as one.
Interior designers determine which elements to use and how to arrange them into patterns through the process of design. Although presented as a linear series of steps, the design process is more often a cyclical, iterative one in which a sequence of careful analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of available information, insights, and possible solutions is repeated until a successful fit between what exists and what is desired is achieved.
The design problem is first defined. The ability to define and understand the nature of the design problem is an essential part of the solution. This definition should specify how the design solution should perform and what goals and objectives will be met.
Define Problem
[ ] Identify client needs.
- Who, what, when, where, how, why?
[ ] Set preliminary goals.
- Functional requirements.
- Aesthetic image and style.
- Psychological stimulus and meaning.
Formulate Program
[ ] What exists?
- Collect and analyze relevant information.
- Document physical/cultural context.
- Describe existing elements.
[ ] What is desired?
- Identify user needs and preferences.
- Clarify goals.
- Develop matrices, charts, and adjacency diagrams.
[ ] What is possible?
- What can be altered…what cannot?
- What can be controlled…what cannot?
- What is allowed…what is prohibited?
- Define limits: time, economic, legal, and technical.
An analysis of the problem requires that it be broken down into parts, that issues be clarified, and that values be assigned to the various aspects of the problem. Analysis also involves gathering relevant information that would help us to understand the nature of the problem and develop appropriate responses. From the outset, it is worthwhile to know the limitations that will help shape the design solution. Any givens—what can change and what cannot be altered—should be determined. Any financial, legal, or technical constraints that will impinge on the design solution should be noted.
Through the design process, a clearer understanding of the problem should emerge. New information may develop that could alter our perception of the problem and its solution. The analysis of a problem, therefore, often continues throughout the design process.
From the analysis of the problem and its parts, we can begin to formulate possible solutions. This requires synthesizing—bringing together and integrating—responses to the various issues and aspects of the problem into coherent solutions. Design requires rational thought based on knowledge and arrived at through experience and research. Evidence-based design seeks to create better design outcomes by basing decisions on credible research. Also playing important roles in the design process are intuition and imagination, which add the creative dimension to the otherwise rational design process.
University-sponsored incubators, which are spaces that are high on collaboration and low on structure and intended to spur new ideas, view design as an invitation to connect. These spaces avoid formalizing design so much that people cannot easily connect. This involves 24/7 operating hours, perfectly functioning wireless connectivity, and a fun atmosphere. Finishes and design are kept flexible and functional, able to change with needs. Academic incubators cultivate ideas in a controlled—but not restricted—environment.
There are several approaches one can take to generate ideas and synthesize possible design solutions, including:
- Isolate one or more key issues of value or importance, and develop solutions around them.
- Study analogous situations that could serve as models for developing possible solutions.
- Develop ideal solutions for parts of the problem, which could be integrated into whole solutions and tempered by the reality of what exists.
As described by Rosanne Somerson in the May 2016 issue of Metropolis, students required to sit and draw through free association for more than about 45 minutes tend to become uncomfortable. When instructed to push through this discomfort, they often entered a whole new direction for their work—a surprising response to their boredom. Being creative is often uncomfortable, even painful. For designers and artists, it is often the result of driving an inquiry down a new path and stumbling into the unknown. They discover new ways to conceptualize ideas in expansive, nonlinear forms that go beyond traditional perceptual and cognitive divisions. When an idea fails, the materials and processes can suggest alternate paths. This push can result in a moment of insight that teaches how to sustain and encourage creative breakthroughs.
Develop Concept
[ ] Brainstorm ideas.
- Diagram major functional and spatial relationships.
- Assign values to key issues or elements.
- Search for ways to combine several good ideas into a single better one.
- Manipulate the parts to see how a change might affect the whole.
- Look at the situation from different points of view.
[ ] Draft a concept statement.
- Verbalize the principal design ideas in a concise manner.
[ ] Develop schematic designs.
- Establish major functional and spatial relationships.
- Show relative sizes and shapes of important features.
- Develop several alternatives for comparative study.
Assess Alternatives
[ ] Compare each alternative with design goals.
[ ] Weigh the benefits and strengths of each alternative against the costs and liabilities.
[ ] Rank alternatives in terms of suitability and effectiveness.
Make Design Decisions
[ ] Combine the best design elements into the final design.
- Draw preliminary plans.
- Construct scale drawings.
- Show important interior architectural details (e.g., walls, windows, built-in elements).
- Show furniture if appropriate.
- Computer design software may combine these steps.
[ ] Make preliminary material selections.
- Develop alternative color and finish schemes.
- Collect material samples.
[ ] Make preliminary furniture and lighting selections.
[ ] Prepare a presentation to the client for feedback and preliminary approval.
Design requires a critical view of alternatives and careful weighing of the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal until the best possible fit between problem and solution is achieved. Within a range of possible solutions, each must be evaluated according to the criteria set forth in the problem statement and further clarified in the problem analysis. Successive explorations of the problem and the evaluation of alternative solutions should help narrow the choices for design development. While the initial stages of the design process encourage divergent thinking about the problem, the design development phase requires a convergent focus on a specific design solution.
Once a final decision has been made, the design proposal is developed, refined, and prepared for implementation. This includes the production of construction drawings and specifications and other services related to purchasing, construction, and supervision.
No design process is complete until a design solution that has been implemented is evaluated for its effectiveness in solving a given problem. This critical appraisal of a completed design can build up our knowledge base, sharpen our intuition, and provide valuable lessons that may be applied in future work.
Develop and Refine Design
[ ] Develop plans, elevations, sections, and details.
[ ] Develop three-dimensional computer models of interior spaces, including walk-throughs.
[ ] Develop specifications for interior finish materials, furnishings, and lighting.
Implement Design
[ ] Prepare construction drawings.
[ ] Finalize specifications for interior finish materials, furnishings, and lighting.
Reevaluate Completed Design
[ ] Perform design reviews.
[ ] Coordinate with architect, engineers, and consultants.
[ ] Solicit client feedback.
[ ] Perform post-occupancy evaluation.
One of the idiosyncrasies of the design process is that it does not always lead simply and inevitably to a single, obvious, correct answer. In fact, there is often more than one solution to a design problem. How then can we judge whether a design is good or bad?
A design may be good in the judgment of the designer, the client, or the people who experience and use the design for any of several reasons:
- Because it functions well—it works.
- Because it is affordable—it is economical, efficient, and durable.
- Because it looks good—it is aesthetically pleasing.
- Because it is sustainable and accessible.
- Because it recreates a feeling remembered from another time and place—it carries meaning.
At times, we may judge a design to be good because we feel it follows current design trends or because of the impression it will make on others—it is in fashion, or it enhances our status.
As these reasons suggest, there are several meanings that can be conveyed by a design. Some operate at a level widely understood and accepted by the general public. Others are more readily discerned by specific groups of people. Successful designs usually operate at more than one level of meaning and thus appeal to a wide range of people.
A good design, therefore, should be understandable to its audience. Knowing why something was done helps to make a design comprehensible. If a design does not express an idea, communicate a meaning, or elicit a response, either it will be ignored or it will appear to be a bad design.
In defining and analyzing a design problem, one also develops goals and criteria by which the effectiveness of a solution can be measured. Regardless of the nature of the interior design problem being addressed, there are several criteria with which we should be concerned.
Function and Purpose
First, the design must satisfy its intended function and fulfill its purpose.
Utility, Economy, and Sustainability
Second, a design should exhibit utility, honesty, economy, and sustainability in its selection and use of materials.
Form and Style
Third, the design should be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and our other senses.
Image and Meaning
Fourth, the design should project an image and promote associations that carry meaning for the people who use and experience it. Although technology has made the visual aspect incredibly easy, designers need to focus more on narrative storytelling. As humans, we need contact. An agile workforce can work anywhere not because of the agility of the technology, but because of the needs of creative humans using it.
Buildings use large amounts of materials and energy for their construction and operation. Sustainable design seeks to produce buildings that use energy and natural resources efficiently throughout their lives. Sustainable architecture strives to find architectural solutions that protect both the natural environment and the myriad forms of life on earth. Simply put, sustainable design strategies for building interiors include the following:
Research shows that the presence of plants in the workspace contributes to workers being happier in their jobs. In addition, some plants are able to mitigate indoor pollutants, and some of the most efficient air cleaners are also easy to take care of. The combination of effects makes indoor plants a good choice for a sustainable environment.
Since 1984, research has shown that hospital patients with a view of nature had better hospital healing experiences than those without such views. Influential studies have supported biologist E. O. Wilson's hypothesis in Biophilia that human beings have an innate connection with the natural world. These studies have shown that the presence of water, natural light, and a view to the outdoors can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve cognitive function, and enhance memory. Our often visual connection to the natural world is also auditory, olfactory, and tactile.
After extensively studying the characteristics and behavior of plants and animals, Janine Benyus developed a thesis based on her observations about how life works. Her 1997 book Biomimicry, which included new research as well as material from five field guides she published by 1990, chronicles her search for new ways in which the design community can create innovations that are inspired by nature and put into human-made products. Her approach to problem solving thrives on changes in how people see the natural world.
In 2014, sustainability strategist Bill Browning co-authored 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: Improving Health and Well-Being in the Built Environment, which grouped the 14 patterns into three broad categories:
- Nature in the Space: “the direct, physical, and ephemeral presence of nature in an environment.”
- Natural Analogues: “Nonliving and indirect evocations of nature such as objects, materials, colors, shapes, sequences, and patterns.”
- Nature of the Space: “Spatial configurations in nature.”
German manufacturer Ziehl-Abegg recently introduced a fan blade modeled on the serrated edges of the owl's wing, significantly enhancing its aerodynamic properties and reducing noise and energy use.
Sustainable Design Rating Systems and Standards
In 2000, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—a benchmarking system that has driven the global demand for green buildings. To meet LEED's stringent criteria, the architectural design, engineering, and construction professions have had to learn to work together to deliver buildings with a highly integrated design approach.
Interior designers can support sustainable design in the following ways:
The interior spaces of buildings are designed as places for human movement, activity, and repose. There should be, therefore, a fit between the form and dimensions of interior space and our own body dimensions. This fit can be a static one, as when we sit in a chair, lean against a railing, or nestle within an alcove.
There can also be a dynamic fit, as when we enter a building's foyer, walk up a stairway, or move through the rooms and halls of a building. How a space encourages or inhibits movement has an important influence on the well-being of its users. When we sit, our metabolism decreases, good cholesterol drops, the muscles in the lower half of our bodies turn off, and some of the insulin in our bodies is produced less efficiently, contributing to heart disease and diabetes. It becomes really important to get up every 30 minutes, even for a short time. We sit all day because of the way our environments have been set up for us. Physical activity has been shown to stimulate mental activity, and designing spaces for different functions has both a physical and mental impact. The design of clean, well-lighted stairways as connectors that encourage movement between spaces has become an important feature. Height-adjustable furniture that easily adjusts between sitting and standing levels is increasingly popular.
A third type of fit is the way space accommodates our need to maintain appropriate social distances and to control our personal space.
In addition to these physical and psychological dimensions, space also has tactile, auditory, olfactory, and thermal characteristics that influence how we feel and what we do within it.
Our body dimensions, and the way we move through and perceive space, are prime determinants of architectural and interior design. In the following section, basic human dimensions are illustrated for standing, sitting, and reaching. Dimensional guidelines are also given for group activities, such as dining or conversing.
There is a difference between the structural dimensions of our bodies and those dimensional requirements that result from the way we reach for something on a shelf, sit down at a table, walk down a set of stairs, or interact with other people. These are functional dimensions that vary according to the nature of the activity engaged in and the social situation.
Always exercise caution when you use any set of dimensional tables or illustrations such as those on the following pages. These are based on typical or average measurements that may have to be modified to satisfy specific user needs. Variations from the norm will always exist as a result of the differences between men and women, among various age and genetic groups, and from one individual to the next.
Most people will experience different physical ranges and abilities as they grow and age, and with changes in weight, height, and physical fitness. These changes over time affect how an interior environment will fit or accommodate the user. Bariatric design and design for aging-in-place are two ways that interiors can accommodate these conditions.
Unless otherwise specified, dimensions are in inches, with their metric equivalents in millimeters (shown in parentheses).
Designing for Longevity
By United Nations standards, the populations of Japan, Italy, Germany, Finland, and Greece will be considered super-aged, with over 20 percent of their citizens over 65. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2050 the U.S. population aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million, which is almost double the previously estimated population of 43.1 million in 2012. Approximately one in five adults in the U.S. will be over the age of 65.
As fewer and fewer people move into institutional care, more people with disabilities are living in everyday settings that, in the past, were designed for people with levels of agility and ability that they do not have. States such as Oregon have already passed legislation to encourage voluntary age-friendly design in both new construction and remodeling projects.
Interior designers will need to meet these changes with designs renovations and new construction of quality housing. According to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID):
- Restaurants, hotels, and motels will need to be accessible.
- Offices, retail stores, and other workspaces will need adequate lighting, seating, technology, task areas, and quiet places for older workers.
- There will be an increased need for outpatient and in-home healthcare, and accommodation for caretakers and caregivers.
- Retail stores will need to be accessible and accommodate users of assistive devices.
- There will be a growing demand for multihousing/multiuse livable communities and urban complexes with easy access to healthcare, entertainment, and shopping.
Other trends include looking at how design is about networks, where authorship of a design is less high profile and there is a sense of people working together, reacting to being constantly connected, and exploring things that shape the way we deal with a longer life span. For instance, a move away from digital media to print, or to the spirit of hands-on crafting of interior items, can bring us closer to some of the qualities that define what it is to be human.
Designing for Children's Healthcare
Healthcare facilities have taken the lead in creating playful research-based environments that support, distract, and heal children. These spaces strive to be:
- Empowering, giving patients ownership of their treatment journey
- Familiar, welcoming, and friendly
- Dependable, building trust between patients and the institution
- Shared experiences that unite patients, their families, and staff
Positive patient distraction reduces stress for parents and allows the staff to perform their jobs more effectively.
Space for movement varies from 30–36 (762–914) for a single person to 72–96 (1829–2438) for three people walking abreast.
Human beings share with animals a perception of the appropriate uses of the space around their bodies, which varies between various groups and cultures and among individuals within a group. This is a person's territorial space. Others are allowed to penetrate these areas only for short periods of time. The presence of other people, objects, and the immediate environment can expand or contract our sense of personal space. The invasion of an individual's personal space can affect the person's feelings and reactions to everything around him or her.
Intimate Zone
Allows physical contact; invasion by a stranger can result in discomfort.
Personal Space
Allows friends to come close and possibly penetrate inner limit briefly; conversation at low voice levels is possible.
Social Zone
Appropriate for informal, social, and business transactions; conversation occurs at normal to raised voice levels.
Public Zone
Acceptable for formal behavior and hierarchical relationships; louder voice levels with clearer enunciation are required for communication.
Unless otherwise specified, dimensions are in inches, with their metric equivalents in millimeters (shown in parentheses).
Dining
Unless otherwise specified, dimensions are in inches, with their metric equivalents in millimeters (shown in parentheses).
Kitchen Layouts
Workstations
Workspaces are changing rapidly, with new requirements. Some of the new functions in creative workspaces include:
- Spaces where people can play
- Spaces where people can come together informally
- Spaces where people can find a private space when they need it
Good acoustics can make spaces more versatile and able to accommodate more people. Creative spaces are never about money first; rather they are about what can be done for clients that is creative and unique. The space can allow people to work at an individual scale, but also as part of daily operating units, and of a larger community.
Offices increasingly are being designed with a kitchen, café, or lounge at the center to facilitate collaboration and mobility. These spaces are often designed with strategies from the hospitality industry, and can offer comfortable sofas, overstuffed chairs, banquette seating, or booths, as well as bar-height countertops or communal tables. A rising demand is occurring for amenities like green space, open stairwells, and lactation rooms.
Bathing
Sleeping
Today's workers, including both knowledge workers and digital natives, are looking for authentic experiences at work that feel like a natural part of their lifestyle, their interests, and their life goals—the essence of an authentic workplace, the vital characteristic of which is a combination of space typologies, with space redistributed for different environments, experiences, and postures. Today's workspaces must support all work styles and lifestyles, offering a sense of having a choice in how, when, and where a person does his or her best work. This diversity also promotes a sense of community and collaboration, sparks imagination and creativity, and offers a focus on employee health and happiness.
The programming process begins with trying to understand what is known, then to understand that everything will evolve and change, even in just a few years. Building in efficiencies, economies, and sustainability early allows a project to grow.
There are multiple methods to follow for programming a variety of types of buildings. One process—the functional programming process—is defined in the Facility Guidelines Institute's (FGI) guidelines for hospitals, outpatient, and residential long-term care settings. It begins by gathering management and administration, along with all other disciplines together to discuss the goals of the project. Design professionals must understand an organization's mission and core values in order to evaluate options. Sustainability goals are evaluated through the organization's mission and core values. The selection of a building rating system such as LEED or Green Globes combines building performance with patient/resident and staff outcomes and provides for continual improvement.
Universal (also called inclusive) design needs to be incorporated into a building's program from the beginning. The costs for upgrading an existing building are affected by space and structural constraints, working during off-hours to limit the impact on active spaces, modifications that disturb existing finishes and expose existing hazardous material such as lead paint and asbestos, and the need to update the building to current code requirements.
Both natural and manmade disasters have made resilience a concern for design professionals and others including regulators, government agencies, and liability insurance carriers. Understanding potential climate change impacts on a site should be considered from the beginning. Research into the current emphasis on individual devices that learn personal patterns of behavior may be somewhat misguided. Alternatively, increased quality and discipline around collaboration may pay huge dividends in transforming the way we work.
Basic Principles for Achieving Quality
User Requirements
[ ] Identify users.
- Individuals
- User groups
- User characteristics
- Working parents
- Age groups: older users may be more active than in past
- Digital natives and their need for fast production processes
- Circadian rhythms
[ ] Identify needs.
- Specific individual needs and abilities
- Group needs and abilities
- Universal design
[ ] Establish territorial requirements.
- Personal space
- Privacy
- Interaction
- Digital communications
- Access
- Security
- Blurring boundaries between interior and exterior spaces
[ ] Determine preferences.
- Favored objects
- Favorite colors
- Special places
- Special interests
[ ] Research code requirements.
- Prevailing U.S. building energy codes:
- International Energy Conservation Code (IECC): by International Code Council
- Standard 90.1: by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): fire safety codes, Life Safety Code
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): electrical code standards
[ ] Research environmental concerns.
- Energy efficiency
- Daylight, views, and fresh air
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Water conservation
- Sustainable materials and manufacturing processes
- Non-toxic materials
- Decreased waste
A prime criterion for judging the success of an interior design is whether or not it is functional. Function is the most fundamental level of design. We design to improve the functioning of interior spaces and make the tasks and activities performed within them more convenient, comfortable, and pleasurable. The proper functioning of a design is, of course, directly related to the purposes of those who inhabit and use it, as well as to their physical dimensions and abilities.
To understand, and ultimately to fulfill, the function and purpose of an interior space, it is necessary for the designer to carefully analyze the user and activity requirements for that space. The following outline can help the designer program these requirements, translate these needs into forms and patterns, and integrate them into the spatial context.
Activity Requirements
[ ] Identify primary and secondary activities.
- Name and function of primary activity
- Names and functions of secondary or related activities
[ ] Analyze nature of the activities.
- Active or passive
- Noisy or quiet
- Public, small group, or private
- Compatibility of activities if space is to be used for more than one activity
- Frequency of use
- Times of day or night use
[ ] Determine requirements.
- Privacy and enclosure
- Access
- Accessibility
- Communication
- Flexibility
- Light
- Acoustic quality
- Security
- Maintenance and durability
Furnishing Requirements
[ ] Determine furnishings and equipment for each activity.
Number, type, and style of:
- Seating
- Tables
- Work surfaces
- Storage and display units
- Accessories
[ ] Identify other special equipment required.
- Lighting
- Electrical
- Mechanical
- Plumbing
- Data and communications
- Security
- Fire safety
- Acoustical
[ ] Establish quality requirements of furnishings.
- Comfort
- Safety
- Variety
- Flexibility
- Style
- Durability and maintenance
- Sustainability
[ ] Develop possible arrangements.
- Functional groupings
- Tailored arrangements
- Flexible arrangements
Space Analysis
[ ] Document existing or proposed space.
- Measure and draw base plans, sections, and interior elevations.
- Photograph existing space.
- Laser measure space if applicable.
[ ] Analyze space.
- Orientation and site conditions of space
- Form, scale, and proportion of space
- Doorway locations, points of access, and the circulation paths they suggest
- Windows and the light, views, and ventilation they afford
- Wall, floor, and ceiling materials
- Significant architectural details
- Location of plumbing, electrical, and mechanical fixtures and outlets
- Possible architectural modifications
- Elements for possible reuse, including finishes and furnishings
Dimensional Requirements
[ ] Determine required dimensions for space and furniture groupings.
- Each functional grouping of furniture
- Access to and movement within and between activity areas
- Number of people served
- Appropriate social distances and interaction
Space Planning
The form of a building's structure and enclosure affects the character of the spaces within. Space planning involves the efficient and productive use of these spaces, fitting living patterns to the architectural patterns of the space.
The term “space planning” is often used to refer to the specific task of planning and designing large-scale spaces for commercial and retail businesses. In this narrow sense, space planners program client needs, study user activities, and analyze spatial requirements. The results of such planning are then used in the architectural design of new construction or for negotiating the leasing of existing commercial spaces.
In a broader sense, all interior designers are involved in the planning and layout of interior spaces, whether small or large, residential or commercial. Once a design program has been outlined and developed from an analysis of the client's or users' needs, the design task is to allocate the available or desired interior spaces properly for the various required activities.
Area requirements can be estimated from an analysis of the number of people served, the furnishings and equipment they require, and the nature of the activity that will go on in each space. These area requirements can then be translated into rough blocks of space and related to each other and to the architectural context in a functional and aesthetic manner.
Analysis of User Requirements + Existing or Proposed Spaces…Integration
Desired Qualities
[ ] Determine appropriate spatial qualities compatible with client's or users' needs or wishes.
- Feeling, mood, or atmosphere
- Image and style
- Degree of spatial enclosure
- Comfort and security
- Quality of light
- Focus and orientation of space
- Color and tone
- Textures
- Acoustical environment
- Thermal environment
- Flexibility and projected length of use
- Encouragment of physical movement
Desired Relationships • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ►
[ ] Determine desired relationships between:
- Related activity areas
- Activity areas and space for movement
- Room and adjacent spaces
- Room and the outside
[ ] Determine desired zoning of activities.
- Organization of activities into groups or sets according to compatibility and use
Whether collaborating on the design of a new building or planning the remodeling of an existing structure, the interior designer strives for a proper fit between the demands of activities and the architectural nature of the spaces that house them.
Certain activities may need to be closely related or adjacent to each other, while others may be more distant or isolated for privacy. Some activities may require easy access, while others may need controlled entries and exits. Daylighting, view, and natural ventilation may be priorities for some areas, while others may not need to be located near exterior windows. Some activities may have specific spatial requirements, while others may be more flexible or be able to share a common space.
The architect will begin to develop the shape and form of a new building as interior areas are organized on the basis of considerations developed during programming, along with considerations of the building site and adjacent structures.
Whether a space is situated within an existing structure or is contemplated in a newly designed building, it usually provides clues for the interior designer as to how it can best be utilized. The entries into a space may define a pattern of movement that divides the area into certain zones. Some zones may be more easily accessed than others. Some may be large enough to accommodate group activities, while others are not. Some may have access to exterior windows or skylights for daylighting or ventilation; others may be internally focused. Some may include a natural center of interest, such as a view window or a fireplace.
The zoning of a space may be suggested by the shape of its enclosure or by the architecture. Doorways suggest paths of movement and establish access to certain zones. The daylighting afforded by windows or skylights should influence the placement of activities. An external outlook or an internal focus might suggest how a space could be organized.
From the preceding activity and space analyses, one can begin to match the space requirements of each activity to the characteristics of the available spaces. The design task then shifts to selecting furnishings, finishes, and lighting, and to arranging them into three-dimensional patterns within the given spatial boundaries. These arrangements of shapes and forms in space should respond both to functional and aesthetic criteria.
Function
- Activity-specific grouping of furniture
- Workable dimensions and clearances
- Appropriate social distances
- Suitable visual and acoustical privacy
- Adequate flexibility or adaptability
- Appropriate lighting and other building services
Aesthetics
- Appropriate scale to space function
- Visual grouping: unity with variety
- Figure–ground reading
- Three-dimensional composition: rhythm, harmony, balance
- Appropriate orientation toward light, view, or an internal focus
- Shape, color, texture, and pattern
Tight Fit
Plan arrangements can be generally classified into two broad categories—tight fit and loose fit—according to how each uses the available space. The first exhibits a close correspondence between furniture and equipment. This may be particularly appropriate when space is at a premium or when functional efficiency is important. A tight-fit arrangement must be laid out with great care for its intended use; however, it may not be readily adaptable to other uses.
A tight-fit arrangement usually employs modular or unit furniture components that can be combined in a number of ways to form integrated and often multifunctional assemblies. Such assemblies utilize space efficiently and leave a maximum amount of floor area around them. A tailored arrangement of modular furniture can also be used to define a space within a larger volume for greater privacy or intimacy.
Carried to an extreme, a tight-fit arrangement can be built in place and become a permanent extension of a room's architecture. Like modular and unit arrangements, built-in furniture utilizes space efficiently, conveys an orderly and unified appearance, and mitigates visual clutter in a space.
Tight-fit or tailored arrangements require careful study and analysis of functional relationships.
Loose Fit
A second, more common type of plan arrangement exhibits a looser fit between function and space. Loose-fit arrangements are desirable for the flexibility and diversity they afford.
Most rooms with a loose-fit arrangement can accommodate a variety of uses, especially if the furniture used can be easily moved and rearranged. This inherent flexibility in adapting to changes in use or circumstance makes a loose-fit arrangement the more common method for laying out furniture in a space. It also offers the opportunity for a greater mix of furniture types, sizes, and styles to be selected over time to suit almost any design situation.
Modular furnishings are flexible and utilize space efficiently.
Loose-fit arrangements can reflect changes in use or circumstance.
Designers use drawings in many ways. The presentation drawings executed at the end of a design project are used to persuade the client, peers, or the general public of the merits of a design proposal. Construction or working drawings are required to provide graphic instructions for the production or building of a project. However, designers use both the process and products of drawing in other ways as well. In design, the role of drawing expands to include recording what exists, working out ideas, and speculating and planning for the future. Throughout the design process, we use drawings to guide the development of an idea from concept to proposal to constructed reality.
Whether executed with a pen or pencil on paper or with a computer and graphic or computer-aided design (CAD) software, the graphic representation of design ideas is particularly useful in the early stages of the design process. Drawing a design idea on paper enables us to explore and clarify it in much the same way as we form and order a thought by putting it into words. Making design ideas concrete and visible enables us to act on them. We can analyze them, see them in a new light, combine them in new ways, and transform them into new ideas.
The development of three-dimensional CAD or building information management (BIM) programs that present well-developed images during the design process has aided the visualization of designs. However, impressive images should not deter careful analysis and investigation of alternatives. Many interior designers find that they can concentrate on the synthesis of design ideas more easily with paper and a pen or pencil, without the distraction and restraints of operating the computer software. Loose sketches can evolve into explorations of alternative design schemes. Analyze ideas, synthesize the good ones, and evaluate the results. Then refine them into preliminary designs for further evaluation and development.
The central task of architectural drawing is representing three-dimensional forms, constructions, and spatial environments on a two-dimensional surface. Three distinct types of drawing systems have evolved over time to accomplish this mission: multiview, paraline, and perspective drawings. These visual systems of representation constitute a formal graphic language that is governed by a consistent set of principles.
Multiview drawings comprise the drawing types we know as plans, elevations, and sections. Each is an orthographic projection of a particular aspect of an object or construction. In orthographic projection, parallel projectors meet the picture plane at right angles. Therefore, the orthographic projection of any feature or element that is parallel to the picture plane remains true in size, shape, and configuration. This gives rise to the principal advantage of multiview drawings—the ability to locate points precisely, gauge the length and slope of lines, and describe the shape and extent of planes.
A single multiview drawing can reveal only partial information about an object or construction. There is an inherent ambiguity of depth because the third dimension is flattened onto the picture plane. Whatever depth we read in a solitary plan, section, or elevation must be inferred from such graphic depth cues as hierarchical line weights and contrasting tonal values. Although a sense of depth can be inferred, it can be known with certainty only by looking at additional views. We, therefore, require a series of distinct but related views to describe fully the three-dimensional nature of a form or composition—hence the term “multiview.”
A floor plan represents a section through a building or portion of a building after a horizontal slice is made, usually at about 4 feet (about 1.2 m) above the floor, and the upper part is removed.
- Profile the thicknesses of walls and columns that are cut through.
- Note the locations and sizes of doors and windows.
A section is an orthographic projection of an object or structure as it would appear if cut through by a vertical plane to show its internal configuration.
A building section shows the relationship of the floors, walls, and roof structure of a building and reveals the vertical dimensions, shape, and scale of the spaces defined by these elements.
- Profile the floor, wall, and ceiling elements that are cut through in a section drawing.
- Draw the elevations of elements seen beyond the plane of the section cut.
- Draw people, to help establish the scale of the space.
Interior elevations are orthographic projections of the significant interior walls of a building. While normally included in the drawing of building sections, they may stand alone to study and present highly detailed spaces, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and stairways. In this case, instead of profiling the section cut, we emphasize the boundary line of the interior wall surfaces.
Paraline drawings convey the three-dimensional nature of a form or construction in a single pictorial view. They include axonometric projections—a subset of orthographic projections, the most common of which is isometric projection—as well as the entire class of oblique projections.
In all paraline drawings—both axonometrics and obliques:
- Parallel lines in the subject remain parallel in the drawn view.
- All dimensions parallel to any of the three principal axes can be measured and drawn to scale.
Isometrics are axonometric projections of objects or structures inclined to the picture plane in such a way that the three principal axes are equally foreshortened.
Plan obliques orient the horizontal planes of the subject parallel to the picture plane. These horizontal planes therefore reveal their true size and shape, while the two prime sets of vertical planes are foreshortened.
- An advantage in constructing plan obliques is the ability to use floor plans as base drawings.
- Rotating the plan drawing offers a wide array of possible views in which the two principal sets of vertical planes can receive different degrees of emphasis.
- Plan obliques present a higher point of view into an interior space than do isometrics.
Perspective projection portrays a three-dimensional form or construction by projecting all of its points to a picture plane (PP) through the use of straight lines that converge at a fixed point representing a single eye of the observer. While we normally see through both eyes in what is termed binocular vision, perspective projection assumes that we view a three-dimensional subject or scene through a single eye, which we call the station point (SP).
Multiview and paraline drawings utilize parallel projectors, and the projected size of an element remains the same regardless of its distance from the picture plane. The converging projectors or sightlines in a perspective drawing, however, alter the apparent size of a line or plane according to its distance from the picture plane and the observer. In other words, converging sightlines reduce the size of distant objects.
The primary use of perspective drawings in design is to convey an experiential view of space and spatial relationships.
3D computer modeling programs, while following the mathematical principles of perspective, can easily create distorted perspective views. Keeping the central portion of a subject or scene within a reasonable 60° cone of vision avoids such distortion. This problem can be resolved in Autodesk Revit by manipulating the focal length.
If we view a cube with our central axis of vision (CAV) perpendicular to one of its faces, all of the cube's vertical lines are parallel with the picture plane and remain vertical. Horizontal lines that are parallel to the PP and perpendicular to the CAV remain horizontal. Lines parallel to the CAV, however, will appear to converge at a single point on the horizon line (HL), the center of vision (C).
One-point perspectives are particularly effective in depicting interior spaces because the display of three bounding faces provides a clear sense of enclosure. The converging lines parallel to the CAV provide a sense of depth. By moving the CAV left or right, attention can be drawn to the vertical walls on either side.
If we shift our view of a cube so that we view it obliquely, but keep our CAV horizontal, then the cube's vertical lines will remain vertical. The two sets of horizontal lines, however, are now oblique to the PP and will appear to converge, one set to a left vanishing point (VPL) and the other to a right vanishing point (VPR). These are the two points referred to in two-point perspective.
The pictorial effect of a two-point perspective varies with the observer's angle of view. In depicting interior spaces, a two-point perspective is most effective when the angle of view approaches that of a one-point perspective. Any perspective view that displays three bounding faces of a spatial volume provides the clear sense of enclosure inherent in interior spaces.
Three-Dimensional Printing
The advent of three-dimensional printing may revolutionize the work of interior designers and students by saving time with the production of models and materials at at accelerated rate, while reducing the output of scraps. The growth of available materials that can be used with a 3D printer and of the number of students familiar with rapid prototyping joining the design professions will probably lead to many future innovations.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) technology continues to become more usable, accessible, and ubiquitous. It is already a common and valuable tool for designing, marketing, and collaborating with clients from the beginning of the design process. VR is changing the way architects and designers go about projects with their clients, transforming design practice. Today VR helps in making key decisions, and in understanding a design proposal in three dimensions. VR gives clients a comfort level they may not have had before. Consensus is growing that the best way to use VR in the design process is in managing client communications and expectations.
The use of virtual reality is spreading, especially in larger architectural firms, and will undoubtedly continue to spread as the technology improves. VR enables clients to experience a design intuitively, rather than in the abstract, expressing scale better than even the best renderings. Architects around the world are beginning to be able to meet virtually, standing together inside models of projects they are designing. In the near future, avatars will use real-time data and track the movements of actual building users. Eventually, VR technology may create the true melding of virtual and physical space.
Despite advances in digital imaging technology that make it possible to sketch designs with a computer, for many people drawing with a free hand holding a pen or pencil remains the most intuitive means we have for graphically recording observations, thoughts, and experiences. Many things cannot be readily discovered by mere looking. The tactile, kinesthetic response to sensory phenomena that drawing requires sharpens our awareness in the present and enables us to collect memories of the past. Sketching in this manner also allows us to initiate and freely work through ideas of a possible future that we imagine in the mind's eye.
- The process for drawing from observation is to look, respond, and record.
- Freehand sketches may consist purely of lines or be a combination of lines and tones.
- Freehand drawing of diagrams during the design process allows us to explore these ideas further and develop them into workable concepts.
- Digital diagramming technology generally accepts and processes information in a precise and accurate manner. We should not allow this capacity for precision to limit our exploration in the early stages of the design process. As more intuitive CAD systems are developed, our ability to freely visualize with them should continue to improve.
- Freehand drawing of places and objects allows one to look closely, to think visually, and to investigate what works and what could work better.
- One can feel free to alter details, colors, and volumes while drawing, and to return to earlier sketches repeatedly.
In her advice to young designers in the July/August 2016 edition of Metropolis, the Los Angeles–based designer Geere Kavanaugh says: “Looking and reading open the doors of imagination. You never know where your next idea is going to come from.... Also, please use a real wood pencil to draw on a big sheet of paper. It's magic.”