Unit Summary 10

Introduction

With this being my very first interior design class, it was interesting to see many of the underlying motivations in which drive designers to act. My father owned a business refinishing damaged furniture many of my of younger years growing up, and my mother has always been an antique fanatic, collecting various pieces. So moral of the story, I have always had an interest in interior design and the way that we experience it. Given I have been around furniture and different types of finishes most of my young life, I have never really given that much thought into how these different types of characteristics of an environment can drastically alter the way you experience it, and the most fascinating part is many times it is purely unconscious thought.

The conclusion I have drawn over this semester is more or less that design, both interior and exterior, is one of the earliest and most common forms of humans expressing them selves, long before we were able to sit down and write them into ink. Much like Abraham Maslow suggested his hierarchy of needs for mankind, a similar suggestion can be made for the five themes of interior design discussed over the course of this semester: finishes, furnishings, experience, representation, and theories; with each step along the way needing to be satisfied before you move onto the next step. What I mean by this is, furniture within a space is going to simply spell out the story or theme of the space; what its function is, who its for, etc. In turn, the finish on that furnish is going to amplify that story: its texture, color, or mood. Both of these characteristics of place are going to communicate with the person, and communication or story that it tells represents the experience. Moving on, all of these factors, mainly how the person decides to experience the place, come together to form what the space is intending to represent in the first place. Finally, our theories of interior design are merely how we interpret the message or story our ancestors were intending to get across to us, and what their motivations were.

Finishes

I mentioned earlier that furniture in a space 'tells the story' of that space. Well using that analogy, the finishes on that furniture are the words that tell that story. It may seem foolish to refer to design as a 'story within a story,' but it is that kind of layered complexity that makes it unique. For our example, I have provided above a picture of the majesty's throne from the Palace of Versailles in France, and immediately through the design you can start to notice the signs of importance. The evidence from the handcrafted gold on the outer rim of the chair and making up the arm rests and legs, along with the red felt cloth, is proof of the expense and the power at the disposal of the owner. If a low-ranking guest visiting the palace during the reign of the monarchy in France stumbled upon the chambers in which this throne sat, it would be immediately recognizable that he had ventured too far from the public areas of the house, but we will touch on this point later. Overall, the finishings on a piece of furniture is going to be the key indicator in representing the message you are conveying to your guests, whether that id hierarchy status like history tells us, or more personal reasons more likely to be found today.

Furnishings

Moving on with our story analogy and knowing now that we can't convey our message with unfinished pieces of furniture, we move on to how those pieces are arranged throughout the space. My first point about furniture is always that it is going to tell you the function of that space. Like I mentioned in "Putting it Together 1," if you see a bed its a bedroom, toilet its a bathroom, etc. And for our unfortunate guest I mentioned from the Palace of Versailles, he knew he had ventured into the King's private quarters. But aside from that, I would like to talk about how these finished I mentioned above come into play in getting across to its experiencers a certain message or tone. I have above another image from the Palace of Versailles, and this is a depiction of one of the King's private quarters in which he would probably handle certain judicial or executive issues, or thats what I am guessing since that is where his throne sits. The memo that was conveyed to us via the finish on the throne above is amplified through this room, whether it is the lighting, the textiles, or the additional seating. The room clearly indicates where the focal point is, leading the steps up to the throne and everything about this area is handcrafted. This could have been a space in which the King would greet officials from other countries, so naturally he would want this space to show off his country's wealth and power via the textiles and elements of this room. Again, humans expressing their selves through design.

Experience

The beautiful thing about human experience is that there are a million different ways to interpret it. Whether it is a simple painting or a whole floor plan, different people from different cultures may interpret it two completely different ways, and those effects can be either positive or negative. It is famously known about the floor plan to the Palace of Versailles, pictured above, that many of the doorways along the natural route of the house are aligned, making an easy tour route through the grounds. This simple layout is popular even still today with many homes, and it famously starts at the front door and ends at usually a dead end in one of the more important and prestigious rooms in the house. In smaller spaces such as the Chemosphere in Los Angeles this could be the master bedroom, or other places it could be a meeting room and a private space such as a bedroom would be off of the main path into the core of the house. Either way, for the sake of touring a guest through your house, depending on his hierarchy of importance would depend on how deep he would get into the floor plan, allowing him to experience each space along the way. Different rooms will have different furniture depending on whether it is meant to loiter or show, and something such as the finishes in the room will express this said hierarchy of importance. It is fascinating how all of these factors come together to represent many themes, and these themes are often taken for granted and processed unconsciously. 

Putting it Together 3

1. Religion

Since the beginning of the roots in interior design, I would argue that religious reasons are easily the strongest roots of design. A lot of the biggest and best architectural achievements in history can be traced to some religious origin; much like I mentioned in an earlier rationale in “putting it together 2,” these temples were often the epicenter of an ancient civilization, and by result often the biggest as well. Possibly the greatest example of our dedication towards religion, in my opinion are the Great Egyptian Pyramids. These structures were easily the biggest accomplishments of their time, so big that a normal person of that time would have a hard time fathoming the completion and how they would get it done. They have even been recorded as taking thousands of years to complete – that’s dedication to your religion. Another great example of religious motivations at play is the Angkor Wak in Cambodia. This is known as the largest religious temple in the world, measuring over 1 million square meters! It goes to show just how much the average man of that time would place himself so far below the gods in their hierarchy, enough to devote all of their best materials and time to structures representing them.

II. Class & Power

First of all, I originally was going to split class and power into two different themes or sections and touch on both individually, however I came to the conclusion that they have so much in common it would be better off lumping them together; plus I have a much better fifth theme. Interior design, or design in general, contributes a great deal towards the representation of someone’s class, and the beautiful thing about that is sometimes it is not always on purpose; like it is by default. For example in ancient times, and not really just ancient anytime across history, a man or family is obviously only going to build and design as much as their budget will allow, and by default examination of this space can easily be used to determine your class or how much power you have. For example, take the Mercedes-Benz I have provided an image of above. While factors such as reliability, and overall how well made it is, that Mercedes will not necessarily get you from point A to point B any better or more efficient than a Ford Taurus; more or less, the owner did not have to buy the Mercedes for practical purposes. He chose this car because its very hood ornament displays a sign of power and high class.

III. Assimilation/Borrowing

Assimilation and borrowing has been taking place in the world of interior design as far back as civilizations have been being conquered by other city states, either forcing them to adopt their ways, or people moving into that area to adopt the native’s ways. For example, the instance in which the Romans finally took over Greece. Immediately after this event, we see properties of both cultures combining in order to make a diverse state; anything from religion, to food, and design was definitely one of those as well. Perhaps the easiest example to show in this instance is the rapid accommodation of western and eastern worlds. As you can see in this picture, it is an American-version recreation of an every day Japanese bedroom, complete with a quill, a bed low to the ground, natural wallpaper, and a tea set complete with floor seating. Oriental influence became very prevalent in the United States dating all the way back to the Industrial Revolution, when masses of Japanese and Chinese immigrants began to flood to our land. Possibly even more noted, the assimilation grew even more rapidly after the second World War, floods more of oriental background people began to immigrate and bring their designs together.

IV. Genius Loci

Webster’s Dictionary defines genius loci as “the prevailing character or atmosphere of a place,” but the definition can be a little ambiguous to interpret. In my opinion, genius loci can really involve many different principles and themes of design, and all of these incorporate an atmosphere of ‘feel ‘ to a space. If you have ever walked into a space and thought ‘this has a very rustic feel,’ or maybe even ‘this has a classical feel,’ then you know what I am talking about. Some people maybe even sometimes confuse this with representation, and while they are very similar, they are kind of on different levels. In my opinion the representation of all of the items and attributes to a space lead to its overall genius loci, and really give it a mood or feel. For example, I have used a picture of a waterfront pool on someone’s property. The barrier on the pool in set quite low with water almost to the brim, and the idea is to create the perspective of one cannot tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins. This is a great example mainly in the sense that it does such a great job with creating a sense of place, which you are actually out in the sea or could be very easily by just swimming straight out there. It overall gives a very serene feel.

V. Art

Like many other themes I have mentioned previously, art has contributed its fair amount to the evolution of design. In fact, the line between art and actual design has gotten quite blurred since ancient times. I would say that whoever made your furniture, or even finished the inside of your house if you lived in ancient times, was probably an artist. However, some may be wish to called artists, some designers, and yes sometimes maybe even decorators. In my opinion, I would say that it is all a mindset and has a lot to do with the background that you came from. For example, many people have very artistic mindsets about design, and these qualities show in their work; they are usually very meticulous and careful, and put a great deal of pride into it. Others, on the other hand, may approach design as a purely engineering standpoint and thinking how can we make this the most efficient space as possible. Not to say that these people take any less pride, they are just completely different mindsets. The image I have provided is actually a representation of the art nouveau movement, and it shows a time in which design was transitioning back to its very artistic ways of the ancient world.