Interior Design Studio –Module 1

SPACE
• Space is a prime ingredient in the designer’s palette and the quintessential element in interior design.
• Through the volume of space we not only move; we see forms, hear sounds, feel gentle breezes and the
warmth of the sun, and smell the fragrances of flowers in bloom.
• Space inherits the sensual and aesthetic characteristics of the elements in its field.
• Space is not a material substance like stone and wood. It is inherently formless and diffuse.
• Universal space has no defining borders.
• Once an element is placed in its field, however, a visual relationship is established. Space is formed by
our perception of these relationships.
 ARCHITECTURAL SPACE
• The geometric elements—point, line, plane, and
volume—can be arranged to articulate and define
space. In architecture, these fundamental elements
become linear columns and beams, planar walls, floors,
and roofs.
• A column marks a point in space and makes it visible in
three dimensions.
• Two columns define a spatial membrane through which
we can pass.
• When supporting a beam, the columns delineate the
edges of a transparent plane.
• A wall, an opaque plane, marks off a portion of
amorphous space and separates here from there.
• A floor defines a field of space with territorial
boundaries.
• A roof provides shelter for the volume of space beneath
it.
• In architectural design, these elements are organized to
give a building form, differentiate between inside and
outside, and define the boundaries of interior space.
EXTERIOR SPACE
• A building’s form, scale, and spatial organization are the designer’s response to a number of conditions—
functional planning requirements, technical aspects of structure and construction, economic realities, and
expressive qualities of image and style.
• In addition, the architecture of a building should address the physical context of its site and the exterior space. A
building can be related to its site in several ways. It can merge with its setting or dominate it. It can surround and
capture a portion of exterior space. One of its faces can be made to address a feature of its site or define an edge
of exterior space.
• In each case, due consideration should be given to the potential relationship between interior and exterior
space, as defined by the nature of a building’s exterior walls.

Selecting and developing sites to reduce site

disturbance, storm water runoff, heat island
effects, and light pollution contribute to
sustainable design.
 INTERIOR SPACE
• Upon entering a building, we sense shelter and enclosure.
• This perception is due to the bounding floor, wall, and ceiling planes of interior space.
• These are the architectural elements that define the physical limits of rooms.
• They enclose space, articulate its boundaries, and separate it from adjoining interior spaces and the out
side.
• Floors, walls, and ceilings do more than mark off a simple quantity of space. Their form, configuration,
and pattern of window and door openings also imbue the defined space with certain spatial or
architectural qualities.
• We use terms such as grand hall, loft space, sun room, and alcove not simply to describe how large or
small a space is, but also to characterize its scale and proportion, its quality of light, the nature of its
enclosing surfaces, and the way it relates to adjacent spaces.

Spatial Qualities
Form
Scale
Light
Outlook
 SPATIAL QUALITIES-FORM
• The design of interior spaces requires an understanding of how they are formed by the building systems
of structure and enclosure.
• With this understanding, the interior designer can effectively elect to work with, continue, or even offer
a counterpoint to the essential qualities of an architectural space.
 STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
• A building’s structural system is formed according to
the geometry of its materials and the way they
react to the forces applied to them.
• This structural form and geometry, in turn, influence
the dimensions, proportion, and arrangement of the
interior spaces within the building volume.
 STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS

• superstructure is the vertical extension of the

foundation system and consists of the columns,
beams, and load-bearing walls that support the
floor and roof structures.
• The foundation system is the substructure that
forms the base of a building, anchors it firmly to the
ground, and supports the building elements and
spaces above.

Types:
• Linear Structural Systems
• Planar Structural Systems
• Volumetric Structural Systems
 STRUCTURING SPACE
Enclosure System
• The building envelope consists
of exterior walls, windows, doors, and roof,
which protect and shelter interior spaces
from the exterior environment.
Interior walls, partitions, and
ceilings subdivide and define interior space.
Many of these components are
nonstructural in nature and carry no loads
other than their own weight.
 SHAPING INTERIOR SPACE WITH INTERIOR
DESIGN ELEMNETS
• Although a building’s structural system
sets up the basic form and pattern of its
interior spaces, these spaces are
ultimately structured by the elements of
interior design.
• The term ‘structure’‖ is not used here in
the sense of physical support. It refers
to the selection and arrangement of
interior elements such that their visual
relationships define and organize the
interior space of a room.
• Non-load-bearing partitions and
suspended ceilings are often used to
define or modify space within the
structural framework or shell of a
building.
• The color, texture, and pattern of wall,
floor, and ceiling surfaces affect our
perception of their relative positions in
space and our awareness of the room’s
dimensions, scale, and proportion.
 Structuring Space with
Interior Design Elements
SHAPING INTERIOR SPACE
• Within a large space, the form and
arrangement of furnishings can divide areas,
provide a sense of enclosure, and define spatial
patterns.
• Lighting, and the light and dark patterns it
creates, can call our attention to one area of a
room, deemphasize others, and thereby create
divisions of space.
• Even the acoustic nature of a room’s surfaces
can affect the apparent boundaries of a space.
Soft, absorbent surfaces muffle sounds and can
diminish our awareness of the physical
dimensions of a room.
• Hard surfaces that reflect sounds within a room
help to define its physical boundaries. Echoes
can suggest a large volume.
• Finally, space is structured by the way we use
it. The nature of our activities and the rituals
we develop in performing them influence how
we plan, arrange, and organize interior space.
 SPATIAL FORM
• Interior spaces are formed first by a building’s
structural system, further defined by wall and ceiling
planes, and related to other spaces by windows and
doorways.
• Every building has a recognizable pattern of these
elements and systems.
• Each pattern has an inherent geometry that molds or
carves out a volume of space into its likeness.
• It is useful to be able to read this figure-ground
relationship between the form of space-defining
elements and that of the space defined.
• Either the structure or the space can dominate this
relationship.
• Whichever appears to dominate, we should be able
to perceive the other as an equal partner in the
relationship.
• It is equally useful to see the alternating figure
ground dominance occurring as interior design
elements, such as tables and chairs, are introduced
and arranged within an interior space.
• When a chair is placed in a room, it not only
occupies space, it also creates a spatial relationship
between itself and the surrounding enclosure.
• We should see more than the form of the chair. We
should also recognize the form of the space
surrounding the chair after it has filled some of the
void.
• As more elements are introduced into the pattern,
the spatial relationships multiply.
• The elements begin to organize into sets or groups,
each of which not only occupies space but also
defines and articulates the spatial form.
SPATIAL
DIMENSIONS-Scale
• The dimensions of interior space, like spatial form,
are directly related to the nature of a building’s
structural system—the strength of its materials and
the size and spacing of its members. The
dimensions of a space, in turn, determine a room’s
proportion and scale and influence the way it is
used.
• One horizontal dimension of space, its width, has
traditionally been limited by the materials and
techniques used to span it.
• Today, given the necessary economic resources,
almost any architectural structure is technically
possible.
• Wood or steel beams and concrete slabs can span
up to 30 feet (9 m).
• Wood or steel trusses can span even farther, up
to100 feet (30 m) or more.
SQUARE SPACES
• The other horizontal dimension of space, its
length, is limited by desire and circumstance.
Together with width, the length of a space
determines the proportion of a room’s plan
shape.
• A square room, where the length of the
space equals its width, is static in quality and
often formal in character.
• The equality of the four sides focuses our
attention in on the room’s center.
• This centrality can be enhanced or
emphasized by covering the space with a
pyramidal or dome structure.
• To deemphasize the centrality of a square
room, the form of the ceiling can be made
asymmetrical, or one or more of the wall
planes can be treated differently from the
others.
• The placement of architectural elements,
such as windows and stairways, can
deemphasize the centrality of square spaces.
• Square rooms are rare and distinctive.
More often, a room will have a length
Rectangular space
greater than its width.
• A rectangular space, normally spanned
across its width, is eminently flexible.
• Its character and usefulness are
determined not only by Its proportion of
width to length, but also by the
configuration of its ceiling, the pattern
of its windows and doorways, and its
relationship to adjacent spaces.
• When the length of a space is greater
than twice its width, it tends to
dominate and control the room’s layout
and use.
• Given sufficient width, the space can be
divided into a number of separate but
related areas.
• A space whose length greatly exceeds
its width encourages movement along
its long dimension.
• This characteristic of linear spaces
makes them suitable for use as gallery
spaces or as connectors of other spaces.
• Both square and
rectangular spaces can be
altered by addition or
subtraction, or by merging
with adjacent spaces.
These modifications can be
used to create an alcove
space or to reflect an
adjoining element or site
feature.
• The nature of building materials and
the techniques used to assemble Curvilinear spaces
them have established rectangular
spaces as the norm.
• Curvilinear spaces are exceptional
and usually reserved for special
circumstances.
• The simplest curvilinear space is a
circular one. It is compact and self-
centering.
• Although it creates a focus on its
center, a circular space also relates
to the surrounding space in all
directions.
• It has no front, back, or sides, unless
these are defined by other elements.
• An elliptical space is more dynamic,
having two centers and unequal
axes.
• Other curvilinear spaces can be seen
as transformations of circular or
elliptical spaces that have been
combined in an overlapping manner.
• The use of three-dimensional
computer modeling is increasing the
ease of designing complex curves.
THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF
SPACE(HEIGHT OF SPACE)

• The third dimension of interior

space, its height, is established by
the ceiling plane.
• This vertical dimension is as
influential as the horizontal
dimensions of a space in forming
the spatial quality of a room.
• While our perception of a room’s
horizontal dimensions is often
distorted by the fore shortening
of perspective, we can more
accurately sense the relationship
between the height of a space
and our own body height.
• A measurable change in the
height of a ceiling seems to have a
greater effect on our impression
of a space than a similar change in
its width or length.
 CEILINGS
• High ceilings are often associated with feelings of
loftiness or grandeur. Low ceilings may connote cave like
coziness and intimacy.
• However, our perception of the scale of a space is
affected not by the height of the ceiling alone, but by its
relationship to the width and length of the space as well.
• A ceiling defined by the floor plane of the room above it
is typically flat.
• Shed, gable, and vaulted ceiling forms give direction to
space, while domed and pyramidal ceilings emphasize
the center of a space.
• Lowering part of a ceiling can foster intimacy, modify
acoustics, or add visual texture.
 SPATIAL TRANSITIONS
• How interior spaces are related to one
another is determined not only by their
relative position in a building’s spatial
pattern, but also by the nature of the
spaces that connect them and the
boundaries they have in common.
• Floor, wall, and ceiling planes serve to
define and isolate a portion of space. Of
these, the wall plane, being
perpendicular to our normal line of
sight, has the greatest effect as a spatial
boundary.
• It limits our visual field and serves as a
barrier to our movement.
• Openings created within the wall plane
for windows and doorways reestablish
contact with the surrounding spaces
from which the room was originally cut.
 DOORWAYS
• Doorways provide physical access from one space to
another. When closed, they shut a room off from
adjacent spaces.
• When open, they establish visual, spatial, and acoustical
links between spaces.
• Large open door ways erode the integrity of a room’s
enclosure and strengthen its connection with adjacent
spaces or the outdoors.
• The thickness of the wall separating two spaces is
exposed at a doorway.
• This depth determines the degree of separation we sense
as we pass through the doorway from one space to
another.
• The scale and treatment of the doorway itself can also
provide visual clues to the nature of the space being
entered.
• The number and location of doorways along a room’s
perimeter affect our pattern of movement within the
space, and the ways we may arrange its furnishings and
organize our activities.
• The widths of door openings affect the ease of
movement
 WINDOWS
• Windows let light and air into the interior spaces of
buildings and provide views of the outdoors, or from
one space to another.
• Their size and placement, relative to the wall plane in
which they occur, also affect the degree of separation
between an interior space and the exterior
environment.
• Views to the outside and natural ventilation are
important elements in sustainable design.
• Large windows and glass walls attempt, atleast
visually, to merge indoor and outdoor space.
 STAIRWAYS
• The manner in which they perform this function
shapes our movement in space—how we
approach a stairway, the pace and style of our
ascent and descent, and what we have an
opportunity to do along the way.
• Wide, shallow steps can serve as an invitation,
while a narrow, steep stairway may lead to
more private places.
• Landings that interrupt a flight of steps can
allow a stairway to change direction and give us
room for pause, rest, and outlook.
• The space a stairway occupies can be
considerable, but its form can be fit into an
interior in several ways.
• It can fill and provide a focus for a space, run
along one of its edges, or wrap around a room.
Thank You