Understanding building structures

Besides familiarising yourself with the plan form of the space, you should try to make yourself aware of the methods used in the construction of the building. Understanding construction is not simply an academic exercise; knowing how a building is put together is a lesson in possibilities. Once you have a good idea of the structure you will find it easier to make decisions relating to the implementation and practicality of your design work, especially when looked at it in conjunction with the constraints incumbent upon the project, be they time, budget, legal or technical.

A study of building construction will oft en change the way you look at buildings that you use on a daily basis, and an enquiring eye is a very useful skill to develop. The knowledge that you gain by looking at structures will add greatly to your projects and, just as importantly, being able to speak with a degree of confidence about structure will give you credibility with contractors and clients alike. Unfortunately, details of the building structure are oft en hidden away underneath surface finishes and detailing. In the absence of definite information regarding its construction, experience will help you make some reasonable assumptions or deductions about the building.

Building construction principles

As previously described, all buildings are subject to various forces that must be resisted if the building is not to collapse. Although the first structures in history were built through intuition rather than any theoretical understanding, they used many of the same principles that underpin building construction today.


Essentially, the structure of almost every building can be described in one of two ways; they are either frame or load-bearing. These two terms describe how the loads that the building experiences are transmitted to the foundations.

Framed structures

Framed structures are essentially a collection of horizontal beams (forming each floor level) that transmit forces to vertical columns. These columns in turn provide a pathway through which the forces can travel downwards to the foundations and from there into the ground. The vertical columns may form the walls at the perimeter of the building, or they may be distributed throughout the space. Where they are part of a wall structure, they will be covered with suitable materials to create the finished walls. When positioned within the space, two or more columns may be joined to create internal divisions, or they may be left as discrete columns. The great benefit of this multi-level framework is that, because the columns are transmitting the loads vertically, solid-wall structures are not needed to support the floors above, and can therefore be omitted (creating large open-plan spaces punctuated by the supporting columns), or walls can be created using nonstructural materials such as glass. Framed structures allow us to build high-rise buildings that are oft en characterised by facades apparently composed entirely of glass, though the materials used for these curtain walls (that are mechanically suspended off the frame) can be practically anything. Radical architects of the Bauhaus movement in Germany in the 1920s first conceived the use of glass in this innovative way. Because of the strength of frames, buildings can be made very tall. It was the development of framed structures in the latter part of the nineteenth century that lead to the first high-rise buildings.

If the internal divisions are not carrying any load (other than their own weight), they can be moved or altered without the need for any significant interventions to the surrounding structure in order to maintain its integrity. For the designer, therefore, framed structures can give a lot of freedom in planning spaces.

Framed structures do not need to be large scale. The principle can just as easily be applied to houses as it can to skyscrapers. Lightweight timber frames are a common method of construction in many regions of the world, though the frame is usually invisible under a skin or veneer of other materials such as timber weatherboarding or brick. Frames of this type will usually be braced to prevent twisting by the addition of a plywood skin to the outside of the frame. Timber framing of residential developments allows fast and accurate construction by a relatively low-skilled workforce, as it is an easy material to work with. Sections of the frame are oft en pre-fabricated off site under good working conditions, then brought to the site for rapid assembly.

Timber frames are also an environmentally acceptable construction method, assuming that the timber used is from a sustainable source. Highly energy-efficient buildings can be made by inserting insulation between the vertical and horizontal timbers, creating buildings that perform extremely well in some of the most extreme climates, such as the northern hemisphere winters of Canada and Scandinavia. Light frames can also be made from thin section steel, galvanised to prevent corrosion. The internal face of the frame can be very easily covered in plasterboard or other materials to provide a surface suitable to receive decorative finishes.

The framed structure of The Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe in Plano, USA, is clearly evident and is a major visual feature of this iconic design. It is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful buildings ever designed.

Load-bearing structures

In a load-bearing structure, it is the masonry construction of the walls themselves that takes the weight of the floors and other walls above. The walls therefore provide the pathways through which forces travel down the structure to the foundations. There is no separate constructional element of the building to do this, as with the frame in a framed structure. The implication of this is that care must be taken when adapting existing load-bearing elements of a structure, if the integrity is not to be compromised. If changes are made to the structure without adequate precautions being made, then the structure will at best be weakened, and at worst collapse.

If it is desired to move door or window positions, or make new openings in a wall for whatever reason, then the loads that are being supported by the wall must be diverted to the sides of the opening to prevent collapse. This is usually achieved by the insertion of a beam or lintel at the top of the opening. This lintel will carry the loads travelling through the wall into the structure at the side of the opening, from where they will travel downwards and so maintain the integrity of the structure. The beam or lintel itself will need to be adequately supported at both ends within the remaining structure. A lintel is a single, monolithic, component and can be manufactured from any suitable material; timber, stone, concrete (either reinforced or pre-stressed) or steel are the most common. Pre-stressed concrete lintels can span considerable distances, as can rolled steel joists (RSJs), which are oft en used in renovation work to allow the removal of internal walls by supporting of the structure above.
If greater distances need to be spanned, it may be more appropriate to construct an arch rather than use a lintel, and this was certainly true before new technologies allowed the use of steel and concrete. Because of their superior mechanical properties, arches can generally support greater loads than lintels. An arch is considered as a single unit, but unlike a lintel it can be composed of a number of shaped components (usually stone or brick, called voussoirs), though it too can be monolithic, like a lintel. Once the individual elements of the arch are in place, the compressive forces (weight) of the building materials above hold them together. The simplest shape of arch is the round or semicircular arch, but there are many variations of form, even fl at arches (sometimes called jack arches). Arch construction is a very practical engineering solution to the problem of spanning openings that are oft en treated as decorative elements of a building’s facade.

Renovation of this load-bearing structure (a traditional Victorian terraced house in London) required the introduction of supporting rolled steel joints (RSJs) in order to allow the removal of internal load-bearing walls. Here the steel beams are being brought into the house through the front window.

Variations

Although the principles outlined above are relatively simple, experience will soon show that there are many variations on these themes that are used throughout construction. Manufacturers develop new methods and interpretations of existing solutions and the desire of architects to challenge existing ideas of what a building is mean that these techniques soon become feasible. Changes to building regulations and codes for reasons of fire safety, tougher acoustic performance, reduced environmental impact and so on, all mean that there is a need for new building practice. Details change but the principles remain the same. With experience, it becomes easier to discern the theory behind the construction, but it is worth bearing these complexities in mind when looking at building structure.

In the same London house, the RSJ (painted red) can be seen during its installation into the floor space. This has necessitated the trimming and re-attachment of several floor joists. A structurally simpler, but aesthetically less pure, solution would have involved fitting the RSJ below the existing floor joists.

The section

The section works in the vertical plane as does the elevation, but with one important difference. A section can be placed at any distance away from the wall that is the subject of the drawing, thus including or excluding features at will. In fact, the cut does not even need to be a single planar cut through the space; it can jump from plane to plane, varying in distance from the subject wall, but remaining parallel to it. Like the elevation, there should be no perspective, but unlike the elevation, the structure enclosing the space is shown at the point where the section cut dissects it, so wall thicknesses and so on are indicated.

Shown here is a quick section sketch by Emily Pitt for the design of a house in Notting Hill, England. Colour has been used to show use: green for guest areas and blue for occupant areas.

The plan

Plans are simply maps, a vertical bird’s-eye view of a space. As described earlier, they are drawn to scale and therefore show a proportionally accurate representation of the space and associated walls without the linear perspective that we usually experience when viewing an object. Plans generally try to show no more than the extent of one floor or level within a building, and may only show a single room. Separate plans will show other floors or levels. They show detail within the room that can be easily drawn at scale, and many details are coded into symbols that should be easily recognisable to anyone with a little experience of reading plans. The convention is to show on plan all detail that would be visible if the space was cut horizontally at one meter above the floor level, with the top section removed. All structure and objects that are wholly or partially below this level are shown on the plan drawing in their entirety. For example, a two-meter-high cabinet that sits on the floor is drawn as if viewed whole from above, and not as if it has been cut in half horizontally by the one-meter cut. Objects that are wholly above one-meter level may be shown on the plan, but will be delineated in a different style of line to objects below the one-meter level to aid the legibility of the drawing (usually a broken or ‘dashed’ line).

The one-meter cut is not, however, absolute; common sense should prevail when deciding what is and what is not shown in the plan. For example, it would be unreasonable and misleading to omit windows from a plan just because the windowsill was at a height of 1100 mm (1.1 m) above floor level. It would be just as inappropriate, though, to include clerestory-style windows that were, for example, 600 mm (0.6 m) tall, and which were positioned directly below ceiling level. You should take care to show everything that you think appropriate; however, you shouldn’t expect that the plan by itself can tell the whole story. When two-dimensional drawings are used to describe three-dimensional space, a combination of plan (representing the horizontal plane) and elevations and/or sections (representing the vertical plane) will be used to portray all the features of that space, and they must always be read concurrently.

Drafting (the process of drawing) can employ different conventions of line weight and style to try and convey information; wider lines can be used to delineate structure, and lines can be softened by freehand drawing to represent upholstered furniture, for example. Annotations can also be added to drawings to highlight features that would not otherwise be entirely clear. North points are shown to aid orientation and drawings are carefully titled (for example, plan or east elevation) to instantly identify them. These small points are important; carefully crafted and easily legible drawings promote confidence and convey a sense of professionalism to your colleagues and clients.

Plans have an important role to play in architecture and interior design in that they are usually the first tool used during space planning. However, in the same way that plans should not be read in isolation, the planning process must work in the vertical as well as the horizontal. A study of plans that show furniture layouts and structural elements will soon show that plans in themselves can be drawn entirely correctly but can still be misleading in their representation of space. The process of space planning must consider the impact of the vertical almost as soon as work on the horizontal plan is begun, and for that it is necessary to draw elevations and / or sections.

This survey drawing for a flat in London shows a floor plan and an elevation of one of the walls. Note the title block, showing all the relevant information such as scale and date of drafting.

This elevation drawing shows part of the bar area of a hotel in Bangalore, India. The rendering shows material finishes and proposed lighting effects, and figures have been added to animate the drawing of what should in real life be a bustling and lively space.

A typology of technical drawing

Before discussing some of the most common forms of technical drawing in interior design, it is worth emphasising that technical drawing is used throughout the design process. It is simply because this is the first point in the design process at which technical drawing is encountered that the following exposition of drawing is placed here. It could equally well have come at other points of this book, and indeed drawing is referenced in Chapter 8, when presentation drawings are examined in more detail.

The three most basic technical drawings that we might use are plans, elevations and sections. All three are scale drawings, and are therefore accurate representations of the proportions of spaces in either the horizontal or the vertical plane.

Only occasionally do we draw the subject of a technical drawing at its full size. For interior designers this might be feasible when showing details of part of a scheme (for example, how two different materials are treated at their junction), but clearly it will never be possible to show a complete interior at full size. Most drawings, therefore, represent their subject at some fraction of their true size. The ‘scale’ of the drawing indicates the ratio between a single unit of length on the drawing and the equivalent ‘real-life’ measurement. It is most usually expressed on the drawing as that ratio – for example, 1 : 25, where one centimeter on the drawing represents 25 cm in the actual space. Less commonly it might be expressed as a fraction – 1/ 25, where each unit of measurement on the drawing is shown at one twenty-fifth of its actual size (though essentially these are two different ways of saying the same thing). Scale is sometimes represented graphically on the drawing as a ‘scale bar’. Because it is so easy to casually photocopy drawings and either reduce or enlarge them in size at the same time (and therefore change the scale), the scale bar can be very useful as there is always a visual representation of the scale on the paper.

Scale rules are used to facilitate accurate plotting and measuring at scale. The rule comes ready marked with a linear representation of distance at various scales, so no calculations need to be made to change real-life size to paper size, or vice versa.

Rules can be marked in metric units (millimetres or metres, as appropriate), or in feet and inches. In this latter case the scale ratio will be expressed as ‘x inches to the foot’ (for example ½” = 1’ 0”, which is a ratio of 1 : 24).

There is no right or wrong scale to use for a drawing. The aim is to show the maximum amount of detail possible in the space, and therefore the most appropriate scale will usually be the one that neatly fills the space available on the drawing paper that is being used. A quick comparison of the overall dimensions of the space at typical scales will show which scale is the most appropriate for a particular drawing. When drawing manually, the scale needs to be decided before drafting begins. When drafting with CAD, the drawing scale can usually be changed prior to printing the finished drawing on to paper. Whatever scale is ultimately chosen, it should be clearly stated on the drawing, and because of the possibility of uncontrolled enlargements or reductions being made outside of the drawing office, it is good practice to state paper size in addition to the scale, for example 1 : 25 at A3.

This list shows some metric and inch / foot scales used for interior design drawings. It is clear that common inch / foot scales are similar to, but not precisely the same as, common metric scales.

The largest scale shown (1 : 10 ) might be used for showing construction details or similar. The other scales could all be used for drawing plans, elevations and sections to describe spaces from small rooms to entire floors of large buildings.

When it is necessary to show construction details for bespoke work, it might be appropriate to draw at full size, or a scale of 1 : 1. In some instances, details might be enlarged to show clearly how they are to be constructed. A scale of twice full size would be written as 2 : 1.

Understanding through models

Models are a three-dimensional method of visualising a three-dimensional space. The word ‘model’ implies a carefully constructed scale representation of a space. Some models do fit this description but others can be very simple ‘sketch’ models constructed from thick paper or other craft materials and adhesive tape in a matter of minutes. It doesn’t matter how well finished the model is, it ’s more important that it captures the essence and spirit of a space and helps you to visualise the three-dimensional reality that you are trying to understand. Models can be made to a very high standard, but this is generally only for presentation purposes.

Like drawings, models can be amended over time to represent changes to the design, and the process of constructing a model, however rough it may be, will help you to understand how the space works, and how the different planes and surfaces meet and interact. Sketch models are almost infinitely adaptable. Openings can very quickly be cut that represent new windows, doors or staircases. Pieces of paper can be taped in place to suggest new ways of dividing paces. The sketch model should be treated like a sketchbook; it is a physical way to get ideas out of your head and into some sort of reality where they can be more readily assessed, compared and shared. This is a very important technique, and one that designers should make use of as much as possible. As with sketching, you do not need to be embarrassed about your abilities with paper, scissors, craft knife and tape; it is much more important that you simply use the technique. The use of basic materials and fixing methods such as drafting tape or pins adds to the spontaneity of the process, and helps in the ready appreciation of structural changes and interventions. The process of manufacture tells you as much about the space as subsequent study of the model.

Sketch models can be made very simply to help our understanding of the space and its possibilities. They can easily be viewed from any angle, and can be photographed to simulate specific views. They do not need to have realistic finishes in order to be useful.

This is another model that does not attempt to realistically portray the decorative finishes. Instead, the uniform appearance of the card from which it has been made focuses attention on the space. This in itself can be a very useful feature of a model

Case study : Construction drawings in action

These drawings show a bathroom created by Studio DAR. They are construction drawings, showing information that will allow the contractors to implement the design.

This drawing includes a plan, a‘reflected ceiling plan’ showing light fittings and ceiling detail, construction drawings for a stone bench within the shower enclosure, and a section through the bespoke basin.

Here, elevations for each of the four walls are shown. They expand on information shown in the plan. Also included for the contractor’s reference are manufacturer ’s drawings of the taps and shower fittings.

A perspective sketch has been produced that the designer intends to be used alongside the plans and elevations to help visualise the space. This is useful for the designer and contractor alike.

The installed bathroom. Details of the bespoke cabinetry and the lighting detail in the ceiling can be related to the perspective sketch, the elevations and the plan.

Understanding spatial relationships

Even when you are fortunate enough to have experienced a project space first hand, it is unlikely that you will have had enough time to get to know it intimately. When working in a studio environment with no physical experience of the space, you need a methodology that allows you to connect in an intellectual sense with the space. Universally, designers draw and create models to give them this experience of a building.

Before embarking on design work, the designer must fully understand how the spaces ‘fit together’ and the way in which these spaces are affected by light throughout the day. When it is not possible to gain this intimate knowledge of a space through first-hand experience, designers resort to drawings and models to help them. This interior by Jonathan Tuckey Design shows skilled handling of building elements and natural light

Understanding through technical drawings

The drawings that designers most often use to help them understand a space are technical drawings, rather than illustrative ones. That is, they are drawings that form a meticulous and accurate record of the relationships between widths, depths and heights. As a result, they clearly indicate the proportions of the elements of an interior space, but they are not drawings that show spaces as we are used to seeing them. Because of this they can appear cold, unnatural and somewhat daunting to the uninitiated, but through practice most people will become comfortable with reading them and will appreciate them for the information that they contain and communicate. Variations in the presentation of technical drawings do occur, but they also share certain standard conventions that allow anyone familiar with them to read drawings created by others.

Drawings will be amended and added to over time to reflect the development of a design, but initially they will be used to give a feeling for the space. It is important to realise that although reading a drawing which already exists will go a long way to informing you about the space, the most immersive experience comes when the drawing is actually created by you, the designer. And the experience will be stronger still if you have undertaken the measured survey that precedes the act of drawing. It is only this hands-on approach that gives us the most complete knowledge of the space. The process of drawing, where each measurement and the placement of each line is carefully considered, intensifies the relationship that the designer has with the space, and gives an even more intimate understanding of a building. The act of drawing also gives time for reflection, which leads to an understanding of the possibilities that the building possesses, too.

Accurate technical drawings are based on careful measured surveys. All relevant dimensions are taken in situ and noted in sketch form. These survey notes are then used in studio to create the scale drawings. Ultimately, the detail shown in the drawings will be partly dictated by the scale at which they are drawn, but the survey should account for every possible dimension that might be needed to produce the drawings. Photographic references of details are very helpful. Undertaking a survey also gives a great insight into the intricacies of a space. Although it is often a task that designers contract out, performing the survey and drawing up the first set of survey drawings is a worthwhile task to undertake.

Case study - Presenting ideas

Design student Daniela La Cava has put forward proposals for the redesign of a gallery at the V & A Museum in London. She has used a concept based on the idea of ‘movement, tunnels and routes’ to help develop her design. It has been crystallised around the occurrence in some parts of the London Underground of walkways that partially intersect, giving people on station platforms incomplete glimpses of other walkways, and the people using them. This idea was one that intrigued and fascinated Daniela, and it proved strong enough to give rise to the concept. In turn, the concept has informed, for example, the structure, traffic flows, decorative scheme and material choices of the finished museum scheme. Daniela has generated sketches, collages, scale models and formal drawings to develop, refine and resolve her ideas. These have all been used to produce material that has helped to present the conceptual design of the space to the audience.

Note that when presenting a project, it is not always necessary to produce highly sophisticated visual material. Simple techniques such as sketching, collage and photocopier work leave their own traces of rawness on the images which are not ‘perfect’, yet this hand-crafted look is often very helpful in presentations, simply because it looks natural and real. It is very engaging and appealing, and there is something about these qualities that encourages discussion with the client. In contrast, overly finished visuals can appear somewhat dictatorial, as if you are not allowing the client any room for manoeuvre within your proposals, which the client could negatively interpret.

You don’t need to be a great artist to be a designer, but you do need to be confident about communicating your ideas visually, whatever technique you use. This will come as you practise the different techniques, and this confidence in your presentation work will, in turn, give clients confidence in your abilities as a designer.

For the title sequence of her presentation document, Daniela used two pages of tracing paper over a graphic copy of a photograph. The three pages layered interconnections, movement and excitement, engaging the reader from the start.

A quick sketch overlaid with trace is a simple way to explain the concept.

As part of the analysis of the space, photo collages were created to help understanding of the gallery and its approaches.

Photo research was used in combination with numerous rough sketches to define and develop design details. Sketches allow ideas to be generated quickly and visualised so that they can be easily evaluated.

Sketch-style scale models were built out of card, which were then photographed. Lighting effects were replicated during the photography. Subsequently, the images were manipulated to include cut-out human figures. These add life to the images and give an instant indication of scale. Some aspects of the decorative scheme were also added to the images.

Accurate scale drawings were produced. In the initial stages of the project, they would have helped to identify and resolve issues connected with the design. Then the drawings were finished to presentation standard. Colour and the human figure are added to make them easier to read. Representation of the human figure is an excellent aid to understanding drawings; try covering up the figures to see what effect it has on your interpretation of them.

Researching concepts

Concepts can take many forms; they may be visual or literary and may be found or created. A concept can be embodied in a story, a photo torn from a newspaper, a collage of images, a poem, a pattern shown on a fragment of used wrapping paper, a page from a scrapbook, or indeed anything that grabs your imagination and provides an anchor, a strong and compelling idea that says everything that you need it to about the project; what it looks like, how it feels, the history that it evokes.

However it is presented, the strongest concepts often make little direct reference to the constituent parts of the project. Rather they are an abstract representation of the ideas of form, texture, colour, style and mood expressed in the brief by the client.

Concepts work by providing a reference point for the designer. All the decisions made during the development of the design that dei ne the look or feel of the space can be checked against the concept. Does the formal, grid-like furniture layout you are contemplating work with the concept? Which furniture fabric strengthens the ideas of sophistication and elegance that the client wants? Check against the concept, and you will have your answer.

Communicating concepts

Some designers like to work in a very abstract way during the first stages of a project, allowing ideas to coalesce about a central idea. Their concept work could be generated in the form of ‘mood (or concept) boards’. Others will have strong ideas from the start, and without getting into detailed planning they may confidently produce ‘concept sketches’ which are not intended to be dei nitive, but which serve to illustrate their first thoughts on how a space might work.

Clients may want to see initial concept work so that they are confident that the design will progress in a direction that they are comfortable with. However, both mood boards and sketches may be very raw, visceral and unfinished. This is exciting and liberating for the designer, but can be confusing for the client. You will need to judge the personality of the client and, if necessary, modify the work before presenting it. Careful line drawings organised into an understandable if tentative and unfinished representation of the space, perhaps with colour added to define form, can be a very evocative and ultimately persuasive tool for the designer. Concept work is not about perfection; it is about capturing and communicating the spirit and character of a space.

Scrapbooks are a very useful way of collating research material, especially if this is visual in nature. Rough working in this way encourages free thinking and helps in the generation of design ideas during later stages of the project

Case study
Concept development

Project Orange responded at short notice to a brief for the ‘Urban Interventions’ exhibition (part of the London Architecture Biennale) to look at how architecture can reinvent and enhance the fabric of the city. Local architectural practices were asked to submit pieces of work, which were then displayed as a ‘collection of road signs and street furniture’. Housed in a disused 1950s shed, the space was painted yellowin order to lead visitors in from the street, the idea being that they create their own road map’ of the exhibition.

The ‘bar code’ floor pattern, derived from the bar code of the Biennale, makes a visual connection between the Biennale and the exhibition as it leads visitors in from the street.

The yellow of the scheme is the same as that used in road markings outside the venue.

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Building and site research

No design for a space should ignore the existing building into which it is being integrated. An understanding of what exists is fundamental to deciding what needs to be done if the space is to fit the functions that will take place there.

When you are creating interiors within newly built structures, there will be a lot of scope to define the look and feel of the interior, but where the interior is placed within an existing building the designer is obliged to understand how the previous life of the building has given the space its character. This feeling of character or history, the spirit of a place, is strengthened by the proportions of the volume and the position of existing building elements such as windows and doorways, all of which will impose a certain sense of order upon the space. The new design can respond to these factors, allowing them to inform the new design. The appreciation of a building ’s history may extend beyond the boundaries of the property to include the local area, the street, the village, the city, where it stands.

None of this means that your design should be a pastiche of the existing style references of the building. The best designs respect the existing building and will reference it in some way in their execution, through materials, methods of construction, craftsmanship, pattern, form and so on.

Concept development

All of the preceding research should bring you to a point where you understand the essential points that will have an impact on the design:

• What structure exists.
• What functions and activities will take place, and how these will be addressed practically (for example, what furniture is required).
• What is possible in the space (and just as importantly, what is not possible, due to time, technical or budget limitations).
• How the space functions and interacts with others around it.
• What emotional response the client wants the space to generate in the user and what aesthetic style is desired.

This is necessary, but for the design to feel considered and complete, rather than being a random collection of elements, there is a need to find a unifying idea that will hold the disparate parts of the design together. This single idea will be one that sets the stylistic tone of the design. It is this single idea that is the concept.

Case study
Researching the existing site

Jonathan Tuckey Design was commissioned to transform this old steel fabrication workshop in London, England, into a family home. The site was chosen because it provided a ‘challenging setting’ for an alternative to typical London housing.

External and internal additions rel ect the sensibilities and aesthetic of the original use, as can be seen in this view to the exterior from the dining area of the i nished project.

The isometric drawing of the project shows how much of the structure remains unchanged.

Very careful consideration was given to the site and former use of this disused metalworker ’s workshop (outlined in white here).

Understanding the project

The first stages of a project are the foundation on which the whole design process will either stand or fall; investing adequate time at this stage is crucial if the project is to have every chance of success. Spending time to make sure that each aspect of the project is properly identified will deepen your understanding of the task ahead, and will open up new avenues for exploration as the design evolves.

Teasing out information from a brief can be a long process and isn’t always fulfilling in itself, but it allows you to research and formulate a concept, and strong concepts (key ideas) are what the most successful projects have at their heart. There are several steps to achieving your goal of understanding the project, from meeting the client and taking a brief from them, to developing a concept. Each step is looked at in more detail in this chapter.

The client

Clients can be anyone from anywhere. A client might just as easily be a company or organisation as an individual. However, as clients, they all have a common need for the services of an interior designer, though the level of understanding of these needs is likely to vary greatly between them.

For some, the decision to engage a professional designer will have been arrived at after a careful appraisal of their circumstances. For others it will be a vague idea that there is likely to be someone (the designer) who can provide better answers to their problem than they would be able to do themselves. Some clients may believe that aesthetics are the main issue and the practical side of their needs may not have featured in their decision to call in the designer at all. For others, practicalities may be the prime consideration, with decorative concerns a secondary issue.

It is for these reasons, and many others, that the designer needs to be able to communicate on many levels with lots of different personality types. From the forthright to the timid, clients need to be understood, treated with respect and made to understand that they are a key element of the design process.

Because you will often be trying to connect with a client on an emotional level, establishing a good rapport is a must. In fact, it is sometimes a more important part of building a good client / designer relationship than being able to provide an extensive curriculum vitae.

Client profile

The client profile is an attempt to understand better who the client is and how they live or work. It is a general overview and while in itself it may not relate directly to the brief that the client has given, it will provide insights that will help you as you develop your design.

In a residential project, the client profile can help you to understand how the space might be used on a daily basis from first thing in the morning until last thing at night, and it may also give some clues as to style preferences of the client. An understanding of the daily routine can be one of the most vital parts of producing a design that works for the client.

For commercial projects, understanding the work practices of the organisation that will ultimately occupy the space is essential. This is another opportunity to look closely at the status quo and determine if the existing work patterns make best use of the space. You may find that they do, or you may be able to challenge these and propose new and better ways of working. Commercial clients often employ designers not just to create comfortable working environments, but as ‘agents of change’ when they know that a new direction will benefit their organisation.

The briefing

The briefing is the first real chance that you will have to get a feel for a project. Some briefs are presented to you by the client as carefully constructed documents that fully convey the scope and detail of the project; other briefs may be little more than a casual chat over a cup of coffee.

Although a written brief is likely to contain a good deal of useful information, quantity by itself does not necessarily mean quality. In 1657, French mathematician, physicist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, ‘I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.’ Information that is succinct and relevant is the essence of a successful briefing document. In fact, brevity is often a good thing. If the brief is focussed and clear, it will be easier for the designer to make incisive decisions and to formulate an effective design solution.

Understanding the brief

It is quite reasonable to ask the client to produce a written brief after their initial contact with you, and prior to the briefing meeting. This is a good tactic because it will force the client to carefully consider their request, and it will also make sure that they are serious about the idea of engaging an interior designer. The chance to talk about the writ en brief at a later date will allow both parties to sort out any problems or uncertainties that arise from it. The opportunity for mutual agreement is one that should be made the most of; time spent talking over the brief will give both sides a better understanding of each other’s position and can only have a positive effect on the business relationship.

The more complete the brief, the easier your job should be, but you should remember that you may be dealing with amorphous feelings and ideas about the desired end point of a project, rather than a definitive list of needs. It ’s entirely possible that the ‘brief ’ may consist of the client saying no more than, ‘I just want somewhere that ’s a great place to come back to after a hard day’s work’.

Even if the brief is vague, and whatever the practical requirements of it may be, there will be some constraints that you should try to establish: time and budget available, aesthetic style, the scope of project. Constraints, particularly heavy ones, can actually be good. Try to see them not as limiting the project, but helping to define it. Once you know some of these constraints, you can plan more effectively, discarding options that fall outside the boundaries and concentrating on those options that will fit the brief.

Many projects, whether domestic or commercial, will have more than one individual as the client. You should try to make sure that, whoever has writ en the brief or whoever you have spoken to in your meetings, the final brief has been agreed by everyone who has a stake in the finished project. You also need to take the opportunity at face-to-face meetings to be certain that you and the client understand each other explicitly; what does the client think of when they say ‘contemporary’? Is their understanding of the word the same as yours? This is the time to find out.

Careful consideration has been given to the functions required of this room in the Homewood in Esher, England. The tubular steel leg of the bar folds under the bar top to allow it to pivot back into a wall that also contains storage for other items and a pass-through hatch to the kitchen.

Design analysis

Having met the client and taken a brief, the detailed analysis can begin. You need to be sure that you understand all that the client needs. Sometimes this will have been explicitly stated, at other times you will have to make inferences from the information that you have.

Collecting information

You also have to perform a careful balancing act with the raw information. Your judgement will be crucial in deciding whether the client has actually understood their own needs. Remember that clients have engaged you because they believe that they need a professional, which implies that they are not experts, so some of the assumptions they have made may not be correct and it will be down to you to put them right. If you were to produce a finished design solution where you had managed to ‘tick all the boxes’ they ought to be content with the solution provided. But ‘content’ is not what you should be aiming for. Something extraordinary, even revolutionary, can often only be realised when you don’t simply provide the client with the answer that they think they need. Special things happen when insight leads to turning an idea on its head, or doing something contrary to what the client is expecting, or doing it in a way that hasn’t been done before, will answer the brief in a better, more efficient or more beautiful way. Unusual ideas will need to be thoroughly tested and resolved during the later development stages of the design process to ensure that they really do work, but it ’s these ideas that will yield a delighted client, not just one who is ‘content’.

With the brief, some clients include practical issues that need to be addressed. Others may talk in general, abstract terms about the emotional response that they want their space to trigger. Even if the brief is vague, there will be some constraints that you can establish: time, budget, style and so on. The word ‘constraint’ sounds negative, but you should actively be trying to seek out the constraints present in the brief. Constraints are actually good. You should look at them as a positive force within the design analysis that will help you help you define the scope of the project. When a brief seems complex or daunting, the natural constraints can be some of the first elements that help you see the shape of the project.

This composite image has been produced as part of the research into the site. It consists of several prints that have been roughly collaged together, and in itself provides an evocative sense of the location of the project. It serves as a reference for colour and style.

Question the brief

What is arguably one of the most iconic buildings in the world owes its form and success to an architect who didn’t hesitate to question the brief. The building is Fallingwater, by Frank Lloyd Wright at Bear Run, Pennsylvania, USA.

The client, Edgar J Kaufmann, took Wright to his site at Bear Run where he wanted to build a summer house. With broadleaf trees and rhododendron bushes all around, the site overlooked the river at a point where it cascades over a waterfall. At the same time, Kaufmann also gave Wright a survey of the site which he had commissioned some time earlier. This site survey drawing showed the river towards the northern part of the site, the waterfall, and the hillside to the south of the waterfall. It was clear from the way that the site plan had been laid out that Kaufmann expected to build his house on the hillside south of the river. From this situation, there would be a view of the waterfall

to the north.

However, Wright wasn’t content with this interpretation of the landscape. Instead, without any consultation with the client and using the new technology of reinforced concrete, The proposed a design for the house that integrated it completely into the site by using a cantilever construction to launch the house out over the river, above the waterfall, from the northern hillside. Wright said to Kaufmann ‘I want you to live with the waterfall, not just look at it, but for it to become an integral part of your lives.’ In so doing he created the building for which he is probably best known, and he gave his client an experience of and an involvement with the site far beyond what was originally anticipated.

For one of his most iconic buildings – Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, USA – Frank Lloyd Wright proposed a design that boldly questioned his client’s brief. Rather than situate the house away from the waterfall, he decided to integrate it completely into the site.

Analysing information

It ’s easy to imagine that ‘analysis’ means an intellectual and academic dissection of the data from the brief. This is a factor of most analyses, but it can be a visual exercise as well as a literary one. You are, after all, going to be exploring the aesthetic side of the brief in addition to the practical, and working visually with media such as collage, sketching and photography will help you form links and develop aesthetic ideas in a free and potentially unrestricted way. This style of working is a fast and efficient way for a creative mind to access new ideas as they emerge from the brief, and it connects well with the building and site research that will be looked at later. Ultimately, if you are to produce an effective analysis, you should feel able to work in any way or medium that makes you feel comfortable. This is a skill that may need practice, but it is also a rewarding one that pays dividends

Two well recognised techniques that can help in the process of analysis and evaluation are brainstorming and mind-mapping. Brainstorming is an activity designed to generate a large number of ideas, and is usually undertaken as a group activity, but there is no reason why the principles should not be applied to solo sessions. Four basic rules underpin the process:

- Quantity of ideas is important; more ideas equate toa greater chance of finding an effective solution.

- Ideas are not criticised, at least not in the early stages of the exercise – that can come later when all the ideas have been generated. Ideas that might have some drawbacks could be built on to produce stronger ideas.

- Unusual, of -beat ideas are encouraged. They may suggest radical new ways of solving a problem.

- Ideas can be combined to produce better solutions.

Mind maps are diagrams that are used to visually represent ideas and associations surrounding a central thought or problem. There is no formal method for organising the map, instead it grows organically and allows the designer to arrange and link the information in any way that feels right, though the different points are naturally organised into groups or areas. Pictures, doodles and colour are as much a part of a mind map as are words; imagery helps to reinforce ideas and the visual pattern created is easier for the brain to process and contemplate than a simple list, encouraging subconscious processing of the information at some later point.

Once you are satisfied that you have extracted as much information from the brief as you can, you will have a secure foundation upon which to build your project research, which is detailed in the following sections.

This mind map was created for a refurb project. The visual and non-linear format of mind maps helps the generation of new ideas and enables connections to be seen easily.