INTERIOR SPACES HOME AND ART Perpignan 26 January, 2006 Barcelona 27 & 28 January 2006

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1 INTERIOR SPACES HOME AND ART Perpignan 26 January, 2006 Barcelona 27 & 28 January 2006 Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning Technion Israel Institute of Technology Technion city, Haifa, 32000, Israel Abstract Dr. Dafna Fisher-Gewirtzman Building and Environment, Interior design Shenkar College of Engineering and Design 12 Anna Frank St, Ramat-Gan 52526, Israel Interior Design for professionals Reflections in Interior design studio: Architecture students versus Interior design students. The issue of redesigning, redeveloping and adjusting interiors designed and built in various times by various architects, for the demands of contemporary inhabitants, is central in most architecture design and interior design practices. Interior design is already, and will become even more important for the future of our existing urban fabrics. Therefore, high professionalism is required. The problems encountered in interior design are extremely complex and therefore the practice of this profession must be carried out by professionals that can cope with its complexity. The main issue is internal space partitioning (vertical and horizontal) and manipulation. The three dimensional concept of an internal space demands the Interior designers to be knowledgeable about a variety of disciplines: the building's envelope, the structure of the building and its flexibility for potential changes, and its robustness under internal partitions. They should be knowledgeable about old and new technologies for space partitions and layering; new materials and fabrics. In addition, the interior designer should have knowledge on the issues of natural light and lightings and acoustics. Also, they should master esthetic theories and decoration. Good Interior design is achieved when its integration in the building and structure is harmonious and total, and no barriers are visible between the disciplines. To support professional Interior designers, Interior design education must be discussed and revisited. In this paper some insights from teaching Interior design studio to Architecture students and to Interior design students will be shared. The focus is on the space concept development process in Interior design studios of these two groups of students, searching for a way to reflect the complexity of the domain and the role of professionals in the context of the home. The students of both studios were asked to redesign the interior spaces of an existing urban domestic complex. One project is in a central location in the city of Haifa and was designed in the early 1950s, by a very well known local architect, Mr. Al Mansfield. Therefore the building is announced for conservation. The second project is on a central commercial road in Ramat Hasharon where buildings have been designed by various architects in various times. The approaches of the two types of students to these projects will be discussed. The conclusion of this comparative study is that for both groups of students Interior design education must be a rich and diversified process. Only as such, it will enable them to cope with the various issues of redeveloping existing spaces and adjusting them to the demands of contemporary inhabitants. Interior design knowledge must be integrated into the Architecture design education and at the same time Architecture design must be integrated in the syllabus of Interior design schools. The flow between disciplines would enrich both and produce superior professionals.

2 Introduction Interior design is central regarding existing urban fabrics. The issue of redesigning, redeveloping and adjusting interiors designed and built in various times by various architects, for the demands of contemporary inhabitants, is central in most architecture design and interior design practices. Interior design is already, and will become even more important for the future of our existing urban fabrics. Therefore, high professionalism is required. The Interior designer enhances the function and quality of interior spaces, within a given envelope and load bearing structure (Based on IIDA, International Interior Design Association website). The interior design profession provides services encompassing research, development, and implementation of plans and designs of interior environments to improve the quality of life, increase productivity, and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology. Research, analysis, and integration of information into the creative process result in an appropriate interior environment. The problems encountered with Interior Design are extremely complex and therefore the practice of this profession must be carried out by professionals that can cope with its complexity and must be knowledgeable about a variety of disciplines. (The urban context of the building, the building's envelope, the structure of the building and its flexibility and for potential changes, and its robustness under internal partitions, old and new technologies for space partitions and layering; new materials and fabrics, issues of natural light and lightings and acoustics. Also, they should master esthetic theories and decoration.) Good Interior design is achieved when its integration in the building and structure is harmonious and total, and no impediments are visible between the disciplines. The most significant mater is exploring new definitions of space within an existing envelope and the space repartition, otherwise the intervention could be considered more as redecorating space. The main argument of this paper is the Interior designer s ability to manipulate space defined in an existing envelope and load-bearing construction; His ability to explore the hidden potential of space within an existing envelope and in particular instructing Interior design studio to support space concept development. Interior Design Studio To support professional Interior designers, Interior design education must be discussed and revisited. The focus is on the learning process in Interior design studios, searching for a way to reflect the complexity of the domain and the role of professionals in the context of the home. In this paper some insights from teaching Interior design studio to Architecture students and to Interior design students will be shared, and in particular the space concept development.

3 Architecture students experienced Interior design studio as a secondary studio, meeting only once a week. At the same time for the interior design students this is the leading studio simulating their main professional experience. The students of both studios were asked to redesign the interior spaces of an existing urban domestic complex. One project is located in a central area of Haifa and was designed in the early 1950s, by a very well known local architect, Mr. Al Mansfield. The built compound is composed out of three connected volumes, two stories high each. The buildings are declared for conservation. The second project is on a central commercial road in Ramat Hasharon, next to Tel-Aviv, where buildings have been designed by various architects in various times. All buildings are four to five stories high and the ground flour is a commercial arcade. In both studios the students had limited access in to the internal spaces and had to bass their study of the space on external views and on architecture drawings. Since both projects are located in urban centers, the urban context had an important impact on the concept development. The external envelope of the buildings and the load bearing structure were mandatory for the students but the nonbearing construction were expressed subjectively in order to open up future concepts for the repartitions of the captured space. The subjective illustration of the envelope and load-bearing structure had a great impact on the spatial concept development. This will be discussed and illustrated in the next sections of this paper. Concept development in both groups was based on two themes: the idea of the home and the subjective readings of the context, regarding the immediate urban context, the existing building, its envelope and structure. This influenced the functional distribution, areas and spaces within given envelope, and many qualitative definitions within the dwelling unit and the dwelling complex. In both studios a very similar approach and methodology was introduced. The idea is founded on representations of the study and analysis, based on the subjective expressions and impressions of each student. Each student had to produce a set of representations for their subjective impressions. This had to influence their building and space documentation, and specifically be projected in their new set of drawings, pictures and schemes of space. Later they were asked to build a three dimensional model but to already format it through their subjective readings of the place, space, envelope, and structure. This influenced the material and selected items to be represented or dismissed. In this way it created a new subjective context for new interventions.

4 Space Concept Generation. Some examples Following are some examples for the first stages of the spatial concept development that derived out of a very rich and fresh design process. The first example illustrates, in details, the first steps of concept development by Meital Shukrun, a student at the Shenkar College of Technology and Design. As viewed in illustration (1), Meital perceived the row of apartment buildings and arcades of small shops as composed out of many layers that faded the clarity of the structure. She interpreted the layers also as screenings. In addition, when looking at the building during day time as opposed to night time, she found out the building has a complete contradicting appearance. At day time the mass of the building is very dominant and at night time this mass dissolves and only the line of stores create a dominant appearance of one story in height only. She then represented the street façade in a black and white, negative-positive representation. When asked to represent her insights in a physical three dimensional model, this was interpreted by her as a mass and free space, constructed by many layers of white thick cardboard. This subjective representation created a model that derived her intervention: Since her vocabulary was based on mass and space, layers and screens, she played with cutting new paths of space through the mass of the building. In this intuitive intervention Meital had to define new relations between the private spaces (apartments) and public spaces (shops, cafes) in the mass of the building. The public space cutting through the building like a worm in an apple, demanded rethinking movement, usage and functional spread through space, redefining dwelling units and their relations with the small businesses attached to them and the definition of space within the dwelling unit itself. Following, the student had to adjust the concepts of space and formal language to the load-bearing construction and existing envelope of the building.

5 Figure 1: Space concept development process. Project by Meital Shukrun, a Shenkar Interior design student.

6 The second example is a contribution by Ron Karas, another Shenkar student. Ron looked at the building and analyzed the view of the building from street level and from neighbor buildings, concerned mainly with the problem of visual privacy of the tenants. In his analysis Ron chose to represent the most private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms) as masses and the more public spaces in the dwelling unit and the building as a whole, were left out and only the existing coulombs and beams were represented. (The red rectangle represents the contour of the existing building.) Then he stretched view lines from each neighboring window and from several locations on street level. In the three dimensional model the student represented the private spaces in the building as masses made of plied wood and also represented the view lines physically. Figure 2: Space concept development process. Project by Ron Karas, a Shenkar Interior design student. The lower picture of the model illustrates the type and syntax of space deriving from this unique representation of the building. This last image has influenced the program for this building and the student decided to leave the last floor only as dwelling and convert the three lower floors into one shopping space. The shopping space was composed out of intimate showrooms and free open spaces where most of the movement in the three dimensional space took place. Following, the student had to adjust the concepts of space to the load-bearing construction and existing envelope of the building. In both projects the interior design was defined as major intervention concerning the building as a whole, as opposed to accepting the existing public and private spaces and existing partition of dwelling units.

7 A couple of Technion students, Maital Tubul and Iris Zakheim, have looked at the natural screening of the set of triple blocks and chose to represent the envelope as a screen of irregular webs. Internal space was represent as continues space and all partitions were erased. Figure 3: Space concept development process. Project by Meital Tubul and Iris Zakheim, Technion Architecture design students. Another interesting example is the work by Lea Eliezer that was concerned with the imaginative movement of space through the three attached blocks. Therefore the blocks were represented through a set of folded layers of metal streaming along the contour of the block. She then investigated the model and established a language of layers and folds that distinguish the typology and syntax of the internal space: the logic of new partitions, lighting, objects and furniture. These examples are only a few taken out of a larger group of works in each studio. This technique enables a very subjective and unique concept development and supports creative new ideas of space and functional distribution and at the same time helps to define the formal language and syntax of space. Using this method each student, (and later designer/architect) can actually mold into their two dimensional graphic representations, and three dimensional representation by a model (material and shape), the input of their analysis and insights and through them explore the hidden potential of space. This, of course, regards only the concept of space and lays as a basis for all other interior design aspects.

8 Figure 4: Space concept development process. Project by Lea Eliezer, a Technion Architecture design student. Discussion Regarding the comparative study, there was no real difference between the two groups of students apart for the great lack of time Technion students had (as this was a secondary studio, meeting only once a week). Both groups of students went through a very similar space concept development process. This led them to rethink the space distribution of the building as a whole as opposed to a possibility to regard the existing major partitions such as public and private ownerships and existing dwelling units. This is of course much easier in academics, where in real life repartitioning ownerships can become an impossible task. The interior design students had less experience and less theoretical background on support load bearing construction issues. This fact has influenced their confidence in reading the existing space and in their ability to manipulate it. The role of studio master was great in liberating their fears. At the same time, the Architecture students had a great tendency to disassemble the existing façade, to disregard the construction and actually suggesting a completely new building, which is opposed to the idea of interior design. Architecture students are trained to approach a design project through contextual study and primarily the urban context, along with the building, internal space, internal partitions, fabrics, ext. This may be the reason for their disregarding the existing load-bearing construction and envelope. They have the tendency to demolish and rebuild. Interior design students are trained to approach a project by focusing on the building and its internal context going into much more details. All together it is not surprising that the outcomes of both studios were very similar in project development and product, as both groups were guided by the same studio master.

9 A subjective representation of the space, envelope and structure, relating to the subjective perception of the place, can generate new and fresh ideas for space. Leading the space-concept development through such a process in interior design studios was the outcome of the fact that in most cases when students represented all realistic/existing spatial partitions, they would leave the existing partitions (vertical and horizontal) and would, at the most, be very creative in remodeling and redecorate existing interiors. As interior design has a much wider definition than remodeling and redecorating an existing space, the tools and processes for creative design of space were revisited. Both groups of students require a rich and diverse process along their Interior design education. Only as such, it will enable them to cope with the various issues of redeveloping existing spaces, adjusting them to the demands of contemporary inhabitants in the most creative way. Interdisciplinary knowledge would give the students the strength and ability to question space. Interior design knowledge must be integrated into the Architecture design education and at the same time Architecture design must be integrated in the syllabus of Interior design schools. The flow between disciplines would enrich both and produce superior professionals. Acknowledgments I would like to thank the students participating both studios, at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion and Shenkar design school for their efforts and for letting me use their materials. In particular I would like to thank Meital, Ron, Meital, Iris and Lea.