Speaker Free Week

In order to be a successful interior designer, you must be able to meet all of the clients needs. Whether they are straightforward about them or not. We must be able to visually capture our idea in order to sell it and get the job. 

MATERIALISTIC  

Many people think interior design is a materialistic career path, however, interior designers contribute to society in a positive manner though. We influence the people who come into our spaces through color, acoustics, etc. If someone walks into a red cluttered room, chances are they will leave frusterated and unhappy. If someone walks into a light blue simplistic room, they will become calm and happy. The amount of people to be in one space is determined by different people and cultures. One of the worst forms of bad personal space is chairs set back to back and directly beside each other. Most people in American Culture will avoid sitting directly behind or beside a stranger. It is uncomfortable. 

VOCAB

Programming- The basic criteria for what the client wants.  

Historical Preservation- Saves the history within the design.

Remodel- Has not limits or restrictions, not trying to save anything important.

Work Triangle- In a kitchen, the circulation between the oven, sink, fridge.

RAMBLE

Our final reviews are on November 22, and Thanksgiving is on the 25, so we will not have class next week, a good thing, considering the heavy load I have in 171 and English 101. 

Final Thought

Interior designers must have a rational reason for every aspect of their work, it can't just be stylish. 

Mary Beth Robinson Lecture

Human Environment Relationship

*Mary Beth teaches this course here at UT

It is important to evaluate what we, as designers, actually do. We make changes in not only our own lives, but others too. We have to think about others and what they actually need, while designing. We work with textures, acoustics, colors, size, temperature, and space, of course! A perfect example is the Frank Gary Disney Concert Hall. He uses wood to imitate nature on the interior. 

When designing it is important to realize that you and your tastes will not play a large part in design. You have to work with others and what they like and want. Diversity is a big part of being an interior designer. 

Key terms Mary Beth mentioned are fixed-featured space,  semi-fixed featured space, and informal space. She talked about how in Japan, the rooms do not have set names , like dining room and bedroom, but serve a multitude of purposes.

VOCAB

• Proxemics- interrelated observations and theories of peoples use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture.
• Infra cultural- behaviors that are innate in us.
• Per cultural- senses which are shared by all humans used to compare different cultures.
• Sociofugal- fixed spaces, inhibit social connection with people.  makes for easier pathways, is about function and organization.  - spaces that keep people apart.
• Sociopedal- you can move things around.  Social interaction is increased. - spaces that bring people together. 

Barbara Klinkhammer Lecture

Last Monday, the first year interior design students were privileged enough to have a intimate lecture with Barbara Klinkhammer. 


light and color.
Without light there is no color. White light contains all spectrums of color, however, not all light sources do. We call this uneven spectral distribution. It is important for designers to realize and know how to use light. Daylight and Artificial lights have impact on interior colors. For example, when painting a room it is not accurate to just simply look at the paint in the store- because the lighting is different. You must test the paint on the actual destined wall. In order to measure color temperature, CRI (color rendering index) and SPX (spectral power distribution), are terms designers should know. 


Colors with a higher CRI are appear natural. When choosing electrical sources, a higher number will always be a better choice. Or, when choosing colors for a room, stick to whats already present, warm interiors need warm colors. Neutral can have either warm or cool lighting. Overall, this lecture was very effective in teaching us a few fast facts about the use of light and how important it is!

Professor Sachs Lecture

*Avigail Sachs has a doctorate in architectual history and before becoming a professor was a proffessional architect and interior designer.


Mies Van Der Rohe
Mies believes space is something you move through in order to experience. He wants to use art, science, and technology to create design in a manner he believes is acceptable. He was a "less is more" persona to his design work. Everything about his work is logical and explainable. He does not like clutter and believes spaces should only hold the necessities. He is best known for the Farnsworth House and Barcelona Pavilion. 

Robert Venturi
Roberts main idea when designing a space was to make people feel good. He believed in comfort was key to a functional design. He believed in warmer design in comparison to Mies work. He doesn't necessarily believe in there being a reason for design. He likes to blend older styles with new design. He likes to bring people back to their roots and a traditional type design. He is known for the Vanna Venturi House, also his mothers house. 

Different Types of Design Firms

Mr. David Mathews

http://matthej3.squarespace.com/

James Rixner: Residential Design

It would probably be a good idea if planning to specialize in residential design to take child and family psychology.

Yoo: a New York Design Firm

Ior Group: Office Design Firm in UK

Perkins Will: Design for Healthcare

HBA: Hospitality Design Firm

Telesco Associates: Night Club Design Firm

Fanning Howey: School and Church Firm

Gensler is HUGE design firm

Prime Design Custum Cabinatry

Illuminart: lighting specialty

Milliington Associates: Interior Merchandising Design

Museumscapes- Museum Design Firm

Inter-Global Exhibitions: Trade Show Design Firm

Also:
we discussed again the importance of going green, how bad HGTV makes us interior designers look, briefly touched on historic preservation and all that goes into it, and programming which heavily involves figuring out what the clients needs and wants are!


Quote of the Day
"If  you like crafts, get that hot glue gun out and do it!" -Gerren

How the Industry Works

Speaker: Ryann Aoucar


The interior designer works the broker- this is your first contact with the client, its important to befriend them and be knowledgable about their interests, such as golf.


It is also important to befriend the architect, they can help you NETWORK. Networking is key to a successful interior design career. You must be good with people, because not only do you work for them, but you work with them. More than likely you will have a variety of clients, anywhere from chefs to law firms to families. 

"It is not what we do, it is WHY we do it"

It is important to have specializations. It is not good to have a very broad knowledge of interior design... but to have things that you are very knowledgable about and fantastic at. 


First meetings can be formal or at random places, such as horse races, restaurants, or parks. You need to know the building and land lord. There are (AA-A-B-C)  type buildings. Help client picture his spaces based on #'s and standards. For desk Crits you need to know furniture standards. You will deal with furniture dealers and model builders, it is important that you be their friends! During demolition phase you work with either demolitions contractors or general contractors. Create a plan to help the general contractor understand what you would like done.
   Next you work with a Engineer, they control where your light switches, actual lighting, etc go.  When you start working on the ceiling plan you will more than likely work with lighting manufacturers and a lighting designer. 
   Lastly, to finish up the project, we get to the good stuff! We get to work with materials and product designers, also with artists. It is extremely important in this phase to know EVERY material WELL. We get to start the decorating process and choose furniture and accessories- which means working with furniture dealers and makers. It is important to go to furniture shows, such as the one in Las Vegas, to be updated on the latest fashion. Next, you will work with a graphic designer for things like hospitality, in which you would need bathroom, check in, etc signs. And finally, art instillations, which involves going to galleries, and dealing with art dealers and sometimes the actual artist himself. 

Dorothy Draper: Style Icon

Dorothy Draper, one of the most influential interior designers to ever come on the scene

Dorothy Draper-esque Chest 

Dorothy Draper Window Treatments

 The Quitandinah Palace & Casino

Greenbriar

Green Design and Dorothy Draper

   Sustainability, otherwise know as green design, focuses on using products that protect the environment while conserving energy and looking great, for future generations. Solar Panels and EnergyStar Appliances are just a few of the products that can be used to cut down on not only your carbon footprint, but your electric bill. Now, don't be frightened when you see that these things generally cost more initially, because they will pay for themselves in no time. Supposedly global warming will increase by 70% from 2002 until 2030, and then we will all be wishing we would of gotten solar panels and switched out our appliances. We don't want our carbon footprint to be the cause of global warming!
   All this talk of global warming and how to cut down on your carbon footprint may scare you into thinking interior design is not something to be messed with, but thats NOT true. Now, more than ever, interior design is an important almost necessity. Designers are trained to make your house as cost effective, gorgeous, and energy wise as possible. We can help you cut down on your energy bill!
  A major way to do this is by switching all your old lightbulbs with florescent ones. Not only do the florescent bulbs last longer, but they are more energy efficient and cost effective. Our own Art and Architecture building saved 40% when switching to florescent bulbs. Another trick of the trade is to harvest your own lighting. As in use natural daylight, but make sure to use indirect daylight and not direct because when daylight directly flows into your room it can cause damage to furniture over time and cause the room to be hot, making your ac bill go up. It is also smart to get some sort of automatic controls for your light switches, that way you are not wasting energy by lighting a room not being used.
   On a different note, when choosing finishes, it is always nature friendly and cost effective to use stuff from your own region. Instead of vinyl flooring, use linoleum, and always use natural fibers.

"It is just as disastrous to have the wrong accessories in your room as it is to wear sport shoes with a formal dress" Dorothy Draper

Dorothy Draper was the interior design queen of color texture and pattern. She loved to have her masterpieces be decorative, applied, temporary, classic, fashion oriented, stylistic, trivial, feminine, and surface oriented. However, the picture opposing hers was just the opposite, it was architectural, sleek, clean lined, contemporary, inherent, integrated, pertanent, and masculine. It was more like this:

"Ornament is a waste of the energy of labor, and therefore a waste of health... today it also means squandered material and capitol... to the modern person" Loos 

We also touched on wallpaper and its stigma- it is VERY important and can make a room. Along with a themed room in Barcelona, made to feel like you were under water.

Interior Design 101: Week One

    Monday in class we touched on a multitude of different must know things about interior design, and working in the field. It was so exciting to finally focus in on what I want to do! From here on out we will listen to speakers on Monday and Wednesday, blog about it, and then discuss on Fridays.

   We learned about about different liabilities, an unexpected one being RUGS, when furniture is place around them people are more likely to trip and hurt themselves. We briefly touched on sustainability and the importance of going green. An important thing Professor Geren keeps repeating is identifying what you are good at and improving your weaknesses, but playing up your strengths.

   What's more complicated- commercial or residential? Seems like a no brainer- commercial, but we still managed to debate this. We live in residential areas therefore already have a sense for what is acceptable, however, commercial comes with many different requirements that we must understand. Examples would be 24 hour buildings, such as hospitals and hotels. We must learn to design in practical and feasible ways, in order to truly accommodate our clients.

Different Design Specializations:

HEALTH CARE: There are many clinical areas, such as operation rooms, patient rooms, cafeterias. Plus pharmacies, laboratories, ERs, and ICUs. These are perfect examples of 24/7 spaces.
HOSPITALITY: Once again, these are 24/7 places like resorts, hotels, boutique hotels, time shares, model homes, bars, golf clubs, and retail stores. Las Vegas is the mecca of all hospitality design. Restaurants can be a specialization of its own because of the different factors, like formal, moderate, fast food, drive in, and the major part of their design- kitchens!
CORPORATE: law firms, offices, retailers
GOVERNMENT: they buy the lowest cost furniture and mostly use GSA, which stands for general service administration
INSTITUTIONAL: schools, gyms
ECCLESIASTICAL: church's, theater's, museums

Definitions:

ASID- American Society of Interior Designers, established 1975, "a community of people driven by a common love for design and committed to the belief that interior design, as a service to people, is a powerful, multi-faceted profession that can positively change people's lives" www.asid.org
NCIDQ- "non-profit organization, established 1972, involved in examination and certification of interior designers" www.ncidq.org
IDEC- Interior Design Educators Council, established 1963,"The mission of The Interior Design Educators Council, Inc. is the advancement of interior design education, scholarship, and service." www.idec.org
CIDA- Council for Interior Design Accreditation, established over 35 years ago, "this knowledge-driven organization has been passionately committed to the ongoing enrichment of the interior design profession through identifying, developing and promoting quality standards for the education of entry-level interior designers, and then encouraging, accrediting and supporting educational programs to aspire to those standards." http://accredit-id.org
IIDA- International Interior Design Association, established 1994, "strives to create a strong niche for the most talented and visionary Interior Design professionals, to elevate the profession to the level it warrants, and to lead the way for the next generation of Interior Design innovators"  www.iida.org
AIDA- American Institute of Architects, established 1857, "serves as the voice of the architecture profession and the resource for our members in service to society" www.aia.org

Final Thought

    What brings relevance to an Interior Design degree over someone with no degree but good taste? Easy- someone with a degree has been trained to handle all different design specializations, can accommodate any special needs, can create a SAFE space, and is not only focused on making a space "pretty" but can make it functional. My question is this, what are the terms and conditions that make interior designer have to work with an architect overseeing when we have mostly the same training as they do?

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