How Architecture and Interiors Can Work Together to Improve Your Home
A collaboration with Element Living Interiors at Gloucester Road, London
Adding Value
Whether you are a homeowner or private property developer there comes a time when the question arises - how can we add value to the home? Whereas a developer may look at the question of value in terms of the ‘house’ an owner may think in terms of their ‘home’ - not just physical spaces but an environment with an emotional sense of belonging.
The reality is that the developer’s and homeowner’s motivations overlap significantly because ultimately they both want to create better places to live. The main difference I have found is not in motivations, but in outlook - the time horizon over which this question happens - ranging from very short term, say ‘flipping a property’ to progressive and long term, all the way to a home that is lived in for decades.
Collaboration
Amongst the varied roles of actors in this process, the input of creative professionals can be thought of from two points of view - as a Catalyst (for new ideas) and to Crystallise those ideas into something concrete, if you forgive the pun.
I have been a registered architect for twenty years, but I have worked about a third of that time, most recently, in the Interiors industry. What I discovered there, and how it contrasted with how I had come to practice as an architect informs how I work today, which is a combination of both value systems.
Architecture and Interiors are highly collaborative endeavours, and though there are many similarities and overlaps, when looked at through the lens of values, differences emerge. These differences highlight the contrasting strengths and weaknesses of each profession - but when the strengths are confidently employed, in symbiosis, the results can be magical.
As we strip away all of the trappings, at its core architecture is concerned with construction. This is why fundamental shifts in architecture only happen with similar shifts in construction - and construction evolves very very slowly.
Interiors is concerned with palette - and palettes change from season to season. In this way I see interiors as an industry closer to fashion than it is to a architecture. Whole ways of thinking can be turned upside down in interiors once or twice a year, if necessary.
Architecture vs Interior Design
Which brings us back to outlook when adding value. The longer lasting architectural interventions imply (and are usually evidenced by):
Longer run-up timelines (planning permissions, building contract complexities etc)
The necessity for disciplined (some see a ‘rigid’) approach with an emphasis on structure and foresight
A more disruptive and longer duration execution period
… All to be interwoven with a creative thrust
This effort though, is in the service of a work that can be lived in and enjoyed for an indefinite period of time.
I use the word ‘Interiors’ liberally. That is because Interior Design ranges from loose accessories like cushions to built-in joinery and hard finishes. In the studio, the extremes are often generically divided into two:
FF&E design (furniture, fittings and equipment)
and Interior Architectural Design - as I habitually describe it, everything that doesn’t fall out when you turn the house upside down.
Interiors will typically provide you with a faster, more changeable, while still impactful transformation of your home, or of the property your are developing. These time advantages can be turned on their head however as the transformation may suffer from an earlier than desired ‘best-before’ date.
Synergy
The magic, which should be the goal, is in the balance - with both architecture and interiors considered simultaneously. It may not always be possible to execute both as part of one project but that elusive symbiosis can still be achieved by approaching the development of your home with a Big Picture in mind.
The idea, in effect is that you ‘masterplan’ - and roll out the changes as and when you can or want to. In this way you can not only achieve a progressive symbiosis between the architecture and interiors but you can also avoid (or at least minimise) every homeowner’s and developer’s nightmare - abortive work - building or installing something that has to be ripped out or discarded when you do the next thing.
Engaging a creative professional in architecture and/or interiors to create a big picture concept with you is an intelligent move, as it may alert you as how to save money in the long term and also strategically establish how other value-adding possibilities can be incorporated - say in the garden or with lighting or audio-visual installations.
In the end, whatever your motivations for adding value to your property, any financial result will be complimented by emotional rewards - and if we are going involve our finances or disrupt the space we call home, then peace of mind is the most valuable reward of all.