Post 05



Rengel's Chapter 5 Summary

When designing for an interior project, interior designers mostly design a collection of rooms or spaces. Plus, if the professional is just designing a room, he needs to take in consideration the rooms beside it to have some sort of harmony going on. Indeed, the design goes beyond the room.

In order to have cohesion in the relationships between the spaces and to respond to the needs of the client we have to decide which rooms join together and how we separate them visually, without necessarily using walls, to still maintain a sense of connection.

The shelves create a sense of separation between the desks in a workplace, without using walls.

In fact, this is the case for the " Large Single Spaces", such as the lobby of an hotel, where instead of walls, we use furniture to separate and define the different spaces that can occur in a lobby like seating areas, a bar and a front desk. These spaces are autonomous but need to be connected to each other, by designing a space for circulation so that there is a nice flow within the spaces.

When designing a collection of rooms, we also realize that some rooms are likely to be joined together or need to be together due to a similar function that they share. They are called " spatial affinities". If the interior designer takes in consideration that factor, the flow between the rooms will be more noticeable. Also when spaces have a strong affinity with each other, there is a space that has more importance, because it is the main space. So that room needs to be bigger and have easy access with the adjacent rooms. The interior designer needs to examine the position of that room, by maybe deciding that room should be in the center.

The dining space is adjacent to the living room and the open kitchen, which creates a nice flow between them due to their different type of furniture and the same material types and colors in each of the spaces.

We also need to take in consideration how to join two enclosed rooms, so that the client does not feel trapped in these spaces. There needs to be a balance between open and close rooms.





Nussbaumer's Chapter 5 Summary

Architects and Interior designers need to take in consideration the diversity that we have in humanity. Each one of us, in this world is unique and different, even if we do share some strong similarities with some people. Architecture and Interior design is for everyone, so we need to include everyone when designing a space or a building and that makes it more challengeable for the professionals.

Human diversity takes in consideration, the cultural aspect, gender, religion ( the "spiritual dimension"), race, age, the social aspect ( income, education, communication style), the mental and physical abilities.

Of course there is a difference between the male and the female sexes whether it is physically or mentally. But we also have differences in the gender itself. Indeed, "people differ in shape and size". And sometimes it is related to how we age. So to accommodate a lot of people in one space we have to make sure there is space for example in a hallway, pathway, an elevator so that the flow in the circulation of people is nice and not slow.
On my last post, we have talked about the ones with disabilities, which we need to include them by inserting facilities for them to use and be comfortable too.

Cultural differences goes beyond speaking another language or living in a different country or state. The way of thinking is also different and the way of doing things too. We, as professionals need to respect that.

There is also a visible difference between the religious practices when it comes to architecture and the way people worship and connect with a higher power.

The House of prayer in Berlin has three religions under one roof.