Travel gives us an opportunity to observe many people. Such
people are strangers to us. But by merely observing them we can understand few
things about them. Their dressing, body language reveals many details.
Similarly residences talk about the people residing in it, workplaces talk
about the organisation.
Earlier people had individual residential units. Its layout
and design reflected beliefs of the owner family. Now a days with space
scarcity people live in apartments. Though the internal layout of apartment
blocks is similar, inside space design makes them distinct from each other.
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Living
room displaying being social nature of owners
Image source
http://photos.hgtv.com/photo/cozy-family-room-features-two-seating-areas
|
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Living
room displaying introvert nature of owners
Image source
http://doit-estonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Cozy-Living-
Room-Decorating-Ideas-cozy-apartment-living-room.jpg
|
In case of residential interiors I have observed at many
places that the houses designed by some designers fail to display characteristics
of the owner family. All houses designed by that designer look alike. They are
exhibiting style of that designer than the individual family. Most of the time
the style just follows current trends with minor changes in colour or pattern.
When designer understands needs and personalities of users
well, it gets reflected in the design, the space gets flavour of the user
family and it sets perfect ambience for the activities to be performed there.
This is very important factor in any interior space. The spaces and people
using those become complementary to each other if it’s designed well.
Another important factor is proportions. Proportions are
basically the relationship of the elements used in the space with each other
and with the room space. Let’s see few examples to understand this better.
Sometimes we can just sense that the sofa looks too big in the living space or
a chandelier hanging above looks too heavy for the room or the cushions are
very tiny. These are nothing but the proportions. Thus size of each furniture
piece in the room has to be in relation with the overall size of the space.
Some of you might have heard about the term ‘negative
space’. It plays important role in balancing the proportions of the space.
Negative space is nothing but the remaining space in your room left after space
occupied by furniture pieces. It is the empty space other than solid objects in
the room. Our brain perceives any solid object in comparison with the empty
space around it. And that is why sofa looks bigger in comparison with the empty
space left in the room. Designer has to strike this balance and achieve optimum
proportions.
Sometimes people are not aware about these design principles
and they insist on few designs to be implemented as it is which they have found
interesting at some other place. In such cases, I feel, it is role of the
designer to make them understand and convince them that it may not be suitable
in their case. As getting interiors done is a big investment in terms of time,
efforts and money. Once done it will be used at least for 8 to 10 years.
Thus designing interiors or space design is not only about
selecting furniture, lights, colours, fabrics etc but it is a celebration of
the interactions between the space and the user and the activities going to be
performed in that space. Because every space has its own little story!
Some useful
links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYoF4W6tENE
Note: The writer has no rights on the images used in this article.
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