6 INTERIOR DESIGN PROFESSION

P. Sakthidevi

epgp books

 

 

Introduction

 

An interior design professional requires good taste and enthusiasm. Successful interior designer possess technical and administrative skills as well as insights into problem solving, organization, cooperation and attention to detail. In the following section we will examine the evolution of this relatively new specialty and the training required qualifying hurdles and business aspects of the interior design profession as it exists today.

 

The objectives of this lesson are:

  • To gain knowledge about past and present interior design profession
  • To know about designer skills
  •  To acquire knowledge on the professional development in interior design and
  •  To study on careers in interior design and the future of interior design.

The design Profession: Past and Present

 

Today interior design profession may be said to have two ancestors: architecture and decorative arts. In past centuries, the role of an architect or builder often extended to determine and install the features of a building’s interior. Custom or “to-order” ‘building and fabricating were the rule rather than the exception. By the beginning of the twentieth century, many Indians had attained enough wealth and status to demand more elaborately planned interiors than what an architect or specialized craftsperson could provide. It was at this point that architecture and decorative arts merged to produce a new kind of professional: the interior designer, who would specify, coordinate and oversee the plans, construction and installation of interiors.

 

The Bauhaus school of architecture and design, founded in Germany in 1919, trained designers to create interiors, with a more function and populist’ orientation. It promoted the use of machine-age materials, resulting in excellent designs such as the classic modern tubular steel chair. When the school was closed during the Nazi regime in 1933, many of its faculty emigrated to the United States. Their techniques and ideals together with those of Scandinavian designers, have continued to define modernism in design from the 1950s to the present.

 

The post world War II period in America witnessed new level of affluence commercial development, building and population growth. The generalpublic was presented with an overwhelmingly wide variety of affordable goods. As a result, the demand for professionals to help navigate through the maze of materials and furnishings increased dramatically. Today’s interior designers not only design creative and individual interiors but also act as specifiers, organizers and buyers. Responding to the demand for excellence in design now involves a wide spectrum of professional tasks requiring extensive skill and training.

 

Designer skills

 

The interior designer today must have skills, education, training and experience to perform a great variety of tasks, which include the following:

  • Developing the design, which includes generating and refining the design ideas leading to a design concept.
  • Preparing the documents and letters of agreement pertaining to all contractual aspects of the interior and handling financial and business matters concerned with the design execution.
  • Working with or specifying building systems, such as heating, plumbing, air-conditioning and all aspects of lighting.
  • Specifying materials, finishes and furnishing, which requires a thorough knowledge of all types of floor, ceiling and wall-covering materials and textile applications as well as a knowledge of period and contemporary architecture and furnishings.
  • Preparing working drawings for cabinetry or interior details to be executed by a craftsperson or subcontractor.
  • Overseeing the execution, installation and completion of all contracted areas of the design project.
  • Conducting the POE (Post Occupancy Evaluation).

Among the specific skills and knowledge required for these tasks are:

  • Technical skills including drafting or technical drawing, computer skills applicable to business management as well as design and computational skills for measuring and costing
  • Knowledge of construction methods, building systems, codes, architectural specifications and safety requirements.
  • Ongoing awareness of innovations in materials, finishes and furnishings
  • Business skills such as employee management, budgeting, purchasing and lines of credit, marketing and public relations.
  • Verbal communication skills including the ability to present ideas, concepts and contracts in written and verbal form
  • Visual communication skills including the ability to present ideas and concepts in sketches, renderings and technical drawings.

Training and Professional Development

 

Formal Design Education

 

There are many institutions offering accredited and fully developed interior design degree and certificate programs. They include departments and schools of architecture, fine arts and home economics within universities, colleges and design schools.While it is possible to bypass formal education and learn the interior design profession through apprenticeship and on-the-job experience, this process is ultimately more time consuming and difficult than a formal program of study. Most schools have internship options; such options provide an advantageous opportunity to combine academic theories with practical applications.

 

Titlement and Licensing

 

In order to ensure professionalism, competency and quality services, some states have passed title or licensing actsto use the title “interior designer”. Although requirements may vary from one state to another, generally, obtaining a license for the designer is a must.

  Interior Design Resources

 

Successful interior designers know where to go for information and how to access the resources that will best enable them to fulfill the needs of a given project.

 

Trade Resources

 

Trade sources are companies or vendors that sell goods and services to the trade (designers, architects and specifiers) for purchase by their retail clients. These goods include every element of fixtures and furnishings needed in an interior. Most major cities now have design marketing centers or markets, which are convenient clusters of trade source showrooms that serve the designer.

 

Computers and the Internet

 

A computer with internet access is the most important tool available to interior designers today. Computer-generated animations even allow a client to walk through a virtual version of the completed design. In some case the computer and Internet access have made it possible for designers to work anywhere in the world without leaving the office.

 

Designers use computers and the Internet for:

  • Computer Aided Design (CAD) to draw and render interior design concepts.
  • Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) to draft, render and animate design concepts as well as to create working drawings and details.
  • Project management to oversee calendars, critical paths and deadlines so that the design is completed in a timely manner.
  • Data management, such as entering programming information in real time as the designer interviews the client.
  • Managing accounts that must be paid to suppliers and contractors and accounts receivable from clients to whom services have been rendered.
  • Preparing specifications of materials, finishes and furnishings
  • Monitoring procurement, delivery and installation of materials, finishes and furnishings. Networking with other designers within an office in other offices. Plans and drawings can be evaluated and changed on the screen in real time as the designer’s conference.
  •    Networking with clients, which can be done in a likely manner.
  • Videoconferencing, which allows clients and designers or design teams to set up conferences over the internet without the necessity of traveling.
  • Product searches on the internet or via catalogs CD-ROM
  • E-mail, which allows almost instantaneous communication between designers or designers and clients. E-mail attachments allow for the immediate transfer documents and drawings as well.

Professionals in Related Fields

 

Interior designers must have the ability to participate in team with professionals such as:

 

  • General contractors and builders, who are licensed and legally responsible for the outcome of the structures they erect.
  • Architects, who are also licensed and legally responsible and are essential team members in projects for upscale clientele. Many major architectural firms have interior design departments.
  • Subcontractors, who specialize in handling specific aspects such as plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems, drywall or plaster, masonry, siding, painting and finishing carpentry
  • Cabinetmakers, who create custom closets and cabinetry and other built-ins
  • Retailers and wholesalers of products such as furniture, paint and wall coverings, lighting, window treatments and floor coverings. Dealers who sell at retail to the public often provide discounts to interior designers.
  • Fabricators and craftspeople such as upholsterers and other custom-furniture makers, restoration specialists, fine artists, stained-glass artisans and stone carvers
  • Installers of materials such as flooring and floor coverings, bath and kitchen fixtures, paneling, tile, wallpaper and drapery rods and other window treatments.Careers in interior DesignAn education in interior design provides professional opportunities in an almost endless variety of fields and specialties and an important distinction is frequently made between residential and nonresidential design.

     

    Residential Interior Design

     

    They typically have close contact with users, often work. Residential designer may specialize in particular rooms, such as kitchens or media rooms.

     

    Nonresidential Interior Design

     

    It entails a higher degree of attention issues of project management and code compliance. Specialization allows nonresidential designers to gain the depth of experience and expertise them is often necessary to secure work assignments.

     

    Specialized Design

     

    Interior designers especially those working in nonresidential design often become proficient and skilled in a particular specialty, such as hospitality (hotels, restaurants, resorts); commercial/retail (offices, stores); health care (hospitals, medical offices, hospices); and justice design (courthouses, jails, prisons).

     

    Teaching Interior Design

     

    To qualify for a full-time position in an university, college or design school, a candidate is usually expected to have professional experience as well as a terminal degree; master of arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of fine arts (M.F.A), or doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.). The degree may be in interior design or in a related field such as architecture, art history, business management, CAD, education historic preservation, humanities, psychology or housing.

 

Financial considerations

 

The designer will have not only good aesthetic sense and training, but also good budget sense. A thorough knowledge of sources and products is essential to allow the designer to suggest and obtain elements that the client can afford and that will meet the client’s needs.

Design Specialties and Related Fields

  • Acoustic design—planning the sound-reflecting and absorbing qualities of an interior through the shape of the space and through specified finishes and materials. Theater design will incorporate acoustics.
  • Adaptive reuse—the remodeling of old or historic structures to fit a purpose different from the original. A wharf warehouse, for example, could become a shopping plaza or mall; Rehabilitation or rehab, is the process of bringing any older building up to current standards so that it can be inhabited.
  • Amusement park design—carrying themes into every item of the park, also deals with safety, traffic patterns and efficiency.
  • Aquarium design—for homes, offices and aquatic parks and museums. This specialty could also include maintenance.
  • Architectural space planning or floor plan design—drafting by hand or CADD.
  • Art and accessory dealerships—selling fine art and/or unique accessories retail to the public or wholesale to interior designers.
  • Color consultation—for marketing firms, industry, architectural or interior design firms, business corporations and government.
  • Buying–for large department and furniture stores, Buyers select floor merchandise or lines (merchandise offered by particular companies) carried by the company.
  • Cabinet, closet and storage design—custom design to suit individual needs or dealerships in retail modular storage furniture.
  • Communication design-working with specialized needs in offices for computer terminal stations, telecommunication conference rooms and other areas.
  • Construction/project management—overseeing the construction and acting as liaison between client and contractor. This may include hiring the architect, engineers, subcontractors, craftspeople and consultants.
  • Drafting and/or CADD.
  • Design for corporate parties, charity balls, design shows; other large gatherings where there must be organization of many details within a given length of time.
  • Design for the handicapped, aged, or infirm-including design for medical facilities, rest homes, hospices, residences or products.
  • Energy conservation- acting as consultant to architectural firms or clients to increase energy efficiency.
  • Entertainment center design-designing the storage units for television, videocassette recorders, stereo equipment, computers, media-center rooms and home theater.
  • Environmental safety-research into materials that will not burn or do not threaten the safety of the users or of the environment, consultation to manufacturers and architects.
  • Facilities management-a fast-growing field where corporations utilize a manger to plan and purchase furnishings and to coordinate and be responsible of all building repairs and maintenance.
  • Forensic consultation-studying a product’s construction and appropriate use for manufacturing for application or for purposes of testifying in litigation proceedings.
  • Furniture design-the design of new and innovative furnishing items such as case goods, upholstered furniture and accessories.
  • Graphic design and illustration and signage graphics-such as creating a corporate image. Greenhouse and solarium design-designing spaces for healthy plants (including
  • temperature and humidity control); also designing sun spaces for people to dine, socialize or relax in a heated spa.
  • Hard-surface floor-covering design-including both the actual design of the tiles or vinyl and the use/application of ceramic tiles, wood, brick and stone on floors, walls and ceilings.
  • Hardware design-designing doorknobs, handles and hinges.
  • Health care design—designing hospitals, clinics, hospices and doctors’ office.
  • Health club/recreational facility design—buildings that house swimming pools, indoor ball courts, gyms for workout and aerobics. Safety as well as good design is important.
  • Historic preservation and restoration of authentic interiors maintained as museums; also, restoring fine old buildings to their original state or an adaptation of it.
  • Hospitality design—interior design for hotels, convention centers, resorts and restaurants. A large and important area in non-residential design.
  • Industrial facilities—manufacturing plants and accompanying offices and support areas. In-house corporate design—design, consult with experts and coordinate components to
  • keep the corporate image prestigious.
  • Journalism—magazine and newspaper articles on design.
  • Justice design—designing secured facilities such as prisons and courthouses.
  • Kitchen design—planning the latest in cooking equipment and efficient food preparation and serving areas, plus accommodating a social environment (A Certified Kitchen Designer uses CKD after his or her name.)
  • Landscaping—design firms specializing in interior landscaping select, sell, rent and maintain real and artificial plants.
  • Law—handling, litigation over interior design projects, working toward, legislation or serving as advisors concerning design laws, Public safety, historic preservation or a host of other designrelated areas.
  • Law office design—incorporating specialized needs, equipment and personnel with an image.
  • Library design—meeting needs of different kinds and locations (such as law libraries) and all the inherent equipment and space planning.
  • Lighting design—a twofold career option: designing lighting plans and specialty lighting needs for interiors and designing the lighting fixtures or luminaries.
  • Management—in design firms, industry or design-related business or as facilities managers.
  • Manufacturer’s representatives (reps or sales reps)—liaisons between the trade and vendors.
  • Marketing—consultants to wholesale and retail firms and to exporters/importers of design goods.
  • Medical facilities—interior design for hospitals, clinics and other medical care facilities. Model-home design-renting or selling furnishings to model homes. Similar to residential
  • design but without having to deal with a user who will live there. Luxury models for condominums, flats or co-ops incorporate, expensive and luxurious design.
  • Museum design—planning spaces; meeting, Specialized needs for display design, background materials, specialized lighting, humidity control and traffic flow.
  • Office design-a specialty in nonresidential design ranging from small offices to high-rise buildings.
  • Plumbing fixture design-designing sinks lavatories, bathtubs and saunas, toilets and bidets, and faucets.
  • Product design-new and innovative furnishing items such as furniture and accessories.
  • Product evaluation-consulting and recommending marketing strategies to companies that are introducing new designs and products.
  • Publicity and public relations(Pr)-establishing and / or marketing an image for corporations, company products or other designers.
  • Purchasing agent-an interior designer can act as purchaser for large companies, negotiating and overseeing correct ordering of furnishings.
  • Real estate developer—interior designers often buy real estate, improve or remodel the building and sell it at a profit.
  • Rendering–artists conceptions of interior or exterior design.
  • Restaurant design-a specialty in the interior design of restaurants, cafeterias, bars and fast-food services.
  • Retail design—from individual boutiques to large department stores and from sing1e shops to entire Shopping malls, creative designers are in demand.
  • Retail selling—many interior own, manage or work in retail stores. Specialty shops might include accessories, selected new or antique furniture, textiles or fine art.
  • Salon design—design of beauty and barber shops, tinning facilities, nail sculpturing and other beauty services.
  • Set design—set design is needed for television, theater, movies and for taking photographs for furniture companies.
  • Showroom designer—the interior design and space planning of permanent and seasonal showroom, of furniture fabric carpet, accessories. This can be done on free-lance basis or-as a permanent employee of a manufacturing firm.
  • Solar design—requiring knowledge of energy efficiency sun control and sunlight-resistant materials. Specialistsin solar interior design are needed in both residential and nonresidential design.
  • Textile design for fabric wallpaper or carpeting—working inhouse for large conversion companies or free-lancing and designs (or being paid royalties) for textile design.
  • Training specialists-in areas such as computers, retail sales and marketing, lighting, nonresidential specifications or other design services.
  • Transportation design—including specialties in aircraft interiors (passenger jets to corporate jets), marine design (interiors of luxury liners to private yachts), bus and train interior design and even automobile design.
  • Turnkey design—in which the designer sells the project and complete responsibility to hire all consultants/subcontractors and finish the project with very little input from the client, who needs only to turn the key and walk in to a completed interior. Vacation homes are one application of this specialty.
  • Window treatment design—today so many style and mechanical options exist in window treatments that it takes expertise to know which treatments to specify. Fabric coordination with overall design and furnishings is also necessary.

 

The Future of Interior Design

 

It is clear that in the future there will be a greater need for designers to be knowledgeable about the complex and technical aspects of interior design. Increased litigation over design projects points to the increasing accountability of interior designers for the environments they create. Because-of this, designers in the future will specialize further to gain expertise in one area of design. Qualified interior designers will enjoy increased recognition in the legal and business arenas.

 

Computer technology promises to play a commandingrole in the future of interior design. Financial programs will aid in preparing -estimate purchasing goods and services and monitoring budgets. We might even expect that designers and clients will utilize graphic applications such as CAD and virtual reality for visualizing and planning how an interior will look and feel.

 

Conclusion

 

Hence, it is concluded that good design can inspire and support productivity, creativity, social interaction and a sense of community as well as physical and psychological well-being. Individual, subjective taste obviously plays a role, but good design is more universal. Interior designers do not simply create a physical environment in a vacuum; they create a space within the context of the client and its business and behavioural objectives.

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Web links

 

  • www.idibc.org/design/what_is_an_interior_designer/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interior_design
  • https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/interior-designer/
  • https://www.idlny.org/history-of-interior-design/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
  • https://www.connox.com › Connox Magazine › Design Styles
  • https://www.quora.com/What-softwares-do-professional-interior-designers-use
  • essenziale-hd.com/2013/03/11/top-cad-programs-for-interior-designers-review/

Suggested References

 

  • Ulrich, R. S (1991), effects of Interior Design on Wellness: theory and recent research (review), Journal of healthcare interior design: proceedings from the symposium on healthcare interior design, Vol.3.
  • Christine M. Piotrowski, Professional Practice for Interior Designers 2nd Edition (2002), John Wiley and Sons Inc., USA,ISBN-13: 978-0471285977, ISBN-10: 0471285978.
  • Christine M. Piotrowski, Becoming an Interior Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., USA,ISBN-10: 0470114231, ISBN-13: 978-0470114230
  • Cindy Coleman(2001),Interior Design Handbook, McGraw-Hill Inc.,USA, ISBN-10: 0071361634, ISBN-13: 978-0071361637