BAR 210 – INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

LESSON 2 – INTERIOR SPACE & FORM

SEMESTER 2

TUTOR: KAHARE MIANO/VICTOR MAHINDA

2.0 INTRODUCTION

As mentioned in the previous unit on introduction, there is no limit to the type or size of building that falls with the
purview of the Interior Architect, and equally no limit to the range of activities they may design.

This unit on Space and Form will explore the way in which existing building affects the designer’s response to the
Client’s brief and will identify the devices used by the designer in order to achieve the appropriate spatial and
functional experience.

2.1 SPACE & PLACE

This section will seek to understand the sense of place/building reuse.

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Place refers to a particular point in space – one that has either singular or multiple identities , and is often a space
that comprised a particular relationship between architecture and site.

Places are spaces with meaning and that meaning is often constructed through time, so that history is seen to be
necessary in the creation of place. That history may be accessible to a wide audience or it might be intimate and
individual. A sense of place therefore can be both constructed and personal – and these experiences can often
overlap.

Understanding the sense of place engendered in a building and its spatial context is an essential aspect of the
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design process. Very rarely an architect may be involved in developing from a blank slate – tabular rasa (the blank
slate in which design or experience may be written), in the corbusian sense; but the interior architect, never.

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Identity is based on how someone or something communicates, how it ‘speaks’. There are a few main categories of which architectural
identity could be classed under; aesthetics, function, historical & urban context, human impact and representation.
(designstudioarchitects.co.uk)
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an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate.
The interior architect’s role is to transform, to repurpose, to breathe new life into spaces and places that have a
history and existing character but which because of social or economic pressure, fashion, or simply change of
ownership require a new existence and identity. In order to achieve this transformation the designer must
understand the contribution that history has provided and use this to create a design proposal that - as well as
fulfilling the practical and aesthetic requirement of the design brief – understands, respects and engages in
dialogue with the existing building.

Within existing buildings there is always evidence of the forms, materials, craftsmanship and details present at its
construction, as well as the additions and alterations that have accrued over time. These create a richness and
vibrancy with which the designer can work in the creation of the design scheme. The form and proportions of
space, the shape and positioning of windows, the surfaces created by materials and structures contribute to what
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is sometimes referred to as ‘the genus loci ’ – the spirit of the place. It is therefore the interior architect’s
responsibility to recognise that spirit and to use the qualities and opportunities that it offers.

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1. The distinctive atmosphere or pervading spirit of a place.
2. The guardian deity of a place.
Muthaiga Country Club
Muthaiga Golf Club
2.1.1 BUILDING REUSE

Working in existing buildings will almost inevitably involve work on the structure and fabric of that building; to
stabilise it, improve it or prepare it for its new purpose. This work may be categorised in one of four ways;

a. Preservation
Fixing the building in its found state, making no attempt to repair or improve it but ensuring that, so far as
such a thing is possible, it is immune from further decay, e.g. historical buildings such as the PC’s office
opposite the GPO.
b. Restoration
This returns the building to its as built state using period materials and techniques to create the illusion
that it has been untouched by time. It should be said that this is a contentious activity, there being a fine
line between restoring a building and creating a pastiche.
c. Renovation
This renews and updates the building to make it suitable for contemporary life, e.g. kitchen fit out. It
implies there will be no major change in form or function.
d. Remodelling (Adaptive Re-use)
This locates and entirely new function within an existing building, which may be substantially modified to
fit that new function. It used the material and cultural capital intrinsic to the building shell to make
connections between the old and the new.

It is in the renovation and remodelling of buildings that a majority of the Interior Architects will operate. These
categories are however not mutually exclusive and may be used in conjunction with one another, in different parts
of the project.

TERM DEFINITION
Structure The arrangement of the various parts of something and often referred to in architecture as
the assembled or constructed parts of a building.
Fabric The main body of a building – usually the walls, floor and ceiling
Function The practical use or purpose of a design
Façade The exterior planes on the front of a building

‘All over the world, buildings that have been recycled from an earlier function to a new one seem to serve their
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users better today than they ever did....’ Peter Blake

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Sir Peter Thomas Blake, CBE, RDI, RA (born 25 June 1932) is an English pop artist, best known for co-creating the sleeve design for the Beatles'
album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
2.2 ELEMENTS AND COMPOSITION OF INTERIOR SPACE

This section will seek to understand the plane, scale, proportion, vista, movement, transition and accessibility. It
will introduce the elements and the vocabulary used to describe them, key to the creation and understanding of
interior architecture. These elements can be used to express the character and quality of the interior and used
either individually or as a combination, will impart atmosphere and quality.

2.2.1 THE PLANE

The plane is most fundamental element of interior architecture. Essentially a two dimensional form, its serves,
when employed as floors, walls and ceilings, to enclose and define space. Small planar elements contribute doors,
stairs and other interior elements such as shelves and furniture. In addition to enclosing and modulating space, the
plane becomes the carrier of the required material, texture and colour qualities of the interior as well as, by
absorption or reflection, controlling acoustic and lighting values.

The absence of a plane, or the perforation of one, may be used to direct attention to some other part of the site or
interior as well as permitting physical movement and the passage of light, air and sound.

The realities of construction mean that the built planes have thickness. How much of that thickness is visible (or,
indeed, whether is accentuated for aesthetic purposes) is a judgement for the designer to make. In traditional
architecture, the massive materials employed ensured that, where visible, the edge of the plane will have
substantial thickness; but the advent of new materials and processes permits slimmer structure and this slimness is
often used as an expression of modernity.
The Schroder House by Gerrit Rietveld5

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Gerrit Thomas Rietveld; 24 June 1888 – 25 June 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. One of the principal members of the
Dutch artistic movement called De Stijl, Rietveld is famous for his Red and Blue Chair and for the Rietveld Schröder House, which is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
2.2.2 SCALE

The term scale has two meanings for the designer;

a. A method of drawing buildings to reduce their real-life size to fit the size of paper in use for illustration,
e.g. 1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:250, 1:500, 1:1000, etc.
b. The apparent size of something in relation to something else.

Since the interior architect is usually concerned with providing space for human activity, we use the size of a
human as that ‘something else’ and in doing so are able to refer to ;human scale’. If we then perceive a space or an
object as a comfortable fit with our own dimensions, we are able to say that has human scale.
2.2.3 PROPORTION

Where scale describes the size of elements compared to some standard measure, proportion refers to the
dimensional relationship of the design elements – one to another or one to one to the whole.

The human eye recognises the qualities of a space by its proportions in relation to its size. Low-ceilinged spaces of
a large plan will feel oppressive, whereas a smaller space of the same height might feel entirely comfortable. High
ceilings such as found in worship places and important public buildings can generate a sense of awe and elation.

The relationship of plan area to height is also important because it is a determinant of the ability of day light to
penetrate the space. It is frequently the case that the height required for the practical functioning of a space will
not be sufficient to allow day light to illuminate it properly, e.g. large open plan offices where the limited floor to
ceiling height limits day light penetration necessitating the use of artificial lighting.

The importance of scale and proportion has been appreciated for millennia and has been the subject of much
observation and theorising by architects, artists and thinkers, anxious to discover and promote a universal system
that would guarantee visual perfection in artefacts and buildings. These systems have ranged from purely
mathematical e.g. the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden section, a proportioning system used by the Greeks, to
the proposal by Leonardo Da Vinci that the reach and proportions of the human body be taken as a lodestone of
design. In 1947, Le Corbusier proposed a system he titled the Modulor which he incorporated both the
anthropometry and a mathematical proportioning system.

It is difficult to be sure to what extent these systems were used as a part of the creative process and how much
they are the result of a post facto analysis of existing, widely admired, designs focusing on such things as classical
Greek temples, volutes of sea shells, etc. It has to be said that, although interesting, the application of these ideas
is hard to achieve in any complete and consistent way, not least because they are essentially 2 dimensional
constructs in a 3 dimensional world. Of more practical, if prosaic, importance is the work that has been done to
identify and record anthropometric data from contemporary societies. This information is invaluable in creating
spaces, processes and products that are in accord with the proportions and movements of the human body.

THE GOLDEN SECTION

THE FIBONNACI SERIES

THE MODULOR

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Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who was better known as Le Corbusier; October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-French architect,
designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and
became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India, and the Americas.
2.2.4 VISTA

The form and space is not simply defined by the requirements of one individual space. It is often the case that a
number of spaces need to co-exist and that visual (and practical) links need to be incorporated between them and
perhaps with the world outside.

‘vistas’ a term borrowed from the vocabulary of the landscape designer, are devices often used to frame or extend
the outlook from key viewpoints of grand houses and their grounds. The principle remains valid and is viable in
buildings of all sizes and types. Indeed it could be argued that generating the illusion of space by creating a vista is
one of the most valuable acts that a designer can undertake in a crowded urban environment. Such vistas may be
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part of a private internal world e.g. the house of Adolf Loos or offer visual stimulus within a public or semi-public
domain e.g. railway termini and shopping malls. In each case the vista creates in the viewer a sense of possibility; a
possibility that may be illusory of theatrical but which fulfils the desire for visual novelty and expansiveness.

Related to vista is the contemporary interest in linking internal and external spaces. Historically, buildings and their
settings have often had a carefully considered relationship, but one where the building was intended to be seen as
a backdrop to the garden , or the garden seen as a backdrop to the building. In recent years this concept has been
expanded by bringing the garden into the house, the house into the garden; blurring the line between the ending
of one and the beginning of the other and treating the external space as a room in its own right, with hard floors
and semi-permanent furniture. This tendency has been characterised by foldaway walls and innovative use of glass
structures; the latter probably spurred by the extraordinary glazed house extension created by Rick Mather
Architects in 1992 that used glass for both structure and envelope.

Throughout history, designers have used form, proportion and vista to generate practical and delightful spaces,
but there are other tools available to them such as the element of surprise, e.g. the Vladislav Hall, Prague Castle

The house of Adolf Loos

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Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect and influential European
theorist of Modern architecture.
2.2.5 MOVEMENT

While vista is essentially a static promise of a future possibility, real movement through space can be a source of
great delight. Routes within buildings may take many forms, but become especially interesting when they invoke
all three dimensions. Stairs, ramps, escalators and lifts can all play their practical part in moving their users through
space, but they can also simultaneously create possibilities of revelation and intrigue.

Whilst stairs are the most common of the four devices, their physical form offers huge possibilities both as
sculpture and devices for linking or counterpointing forms and materials on consecutive levels. Materials used can
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be a marvel in them e.g. glass staircases by Czech Engineer Eva Jiricna . Le Corbusier claimed that ‘ a stair separates
– a ramp connects’, and it is certainly true that the ramp contains possibilities of flow and gentle transition that the
fundamentally jerky movements (both visually and practically) of the staircase finds difficult to embody. However
for the ramp to be effortless in use, it needs to be shallow, which results in it needing to be lengthy – often difficult
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to accommodate in real-world situations. In the case of Richard Meier , who has used ramps more consistently
than any other contemporary architect; a significant proportion of the building volume is dedicated to ramp access
e.g. the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona and the Museum of Decorative Arts, Frankfurt.
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Frank Lloyd Wright had earlier adopted a different approach when creating the Guggeinheim Museum, New York
by winding the ramp into a spiral around a hollow, cone-shaped void. In doing so, he created a system that was
both a gallery space and access system and which, while presenting problems to exhibition curators ever since,
created an iconic building.

Escalators and lifts work slightly differently. Glass lifts, particularly those climbing the external façade have a
powerful appeal. In many ways the escalator provides a composite of the experience of lift, ramp and stair because
of its self-propelled trajectory; but so often the form and materials of the device itself and the awkward transition
between human and mechanical propulsion at the beginning and end of the journey are less satisfactory. Glass is
however playing an increasing role in diminishing the slab-sided aspect of the traditional installation so that one
hopes that in the near future the sculptural form will achieve the refinement it deserves.

‘I strive for an architecture from which nothing can be taken away.’ Helmut Jahn

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Eva Jiřičná CBE RA (born 3 March 1939 in Zlín) is a Czech architect and designer, active in London and Prague. She
is known for her attention to detail and work of a distinctly modern style, and for her steel and glass staircases.
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Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs
make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed
several iconic buildings including the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
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Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and
educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in
harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater
(1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of
architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period
spanned more than 70 years.
The Stairs of Eva Jiricna
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Museum of Decorative Arts, Frankfurt by
Richard Meier
The Guggeinheim Museum by FLW
2.2.6 TRANSITION

‘All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates
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the persons in that space.’ Philip Johnson

Much, if not all of the day-to-day movement in the buildings we use is from space to space, room to room, inside
to outside. Pragmatically we only need a bit of corridor, or a doorway. But if we stop to consider what might be
achievable, rather than what we need, the possibilities become more interesting. Any space linking two other is a
transitional preparation. This is not a negative space but one capable of supporting its own character- an event in
its own right. By thinking about the form, proportions, lighting and mood of that event we can make it a social
space or an individual one, a portent of spaces to come or a reminder of things to past. To do this we need to make
a number of decisions;

- Direction of travel?
- Size of openings?
- Should the user move directly or obliquely through the space?
- Are doors necessary or could a screened opening achieve a more satisfactory result?
- Does opening a door provide the first, sudden, intimation of what is to come or does a carefully
positioned aperture offer a preparatory hint?
- If a door is necessary, is it something identifiably different from its surround, or is it an adjustable
component of the wall that vanishes when closed and open and becomes an infinitely variable screen at
positions in between?

There are no pre-determined answers to these questions; the potential solutions are answerable only to the
context, the brief and the designers; conceptual approach. It is in the exploration of these ideas that we begin to
identify the difference between the activities of ‘building’ and ‘interior architecture’

‘Architecture is basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the tea cup, but the tea…’
Yoshio Taniguchi

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Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an influential American architect. He is especially
known for his postmodern work from the 1980s and beyond, as well as his collaborations with John Burgee.
2.2.7 ACCESSIBILTY

Until comparatively recently buildings have been unthinkingly designed for that proportion of society which is
strong, mobile and with good vision, completely discounting those – young, elderly and the disabled –for whom
heavy doors, stairs, narrow openings and lack of visual contrast are a real barrier to their use. Interior architects
should take keen responsibility in creating accessibility and usability for all sectors of society.

ASSIGNMENT 2

None