Interior Design is concerned with the creation of new interiors that are inserted or installed into existing buildings or other places, relatively independent of their site contexts, for short-term use. Design projects may therefore be generic and applied to many different sites.
THE BODY SHOP PROJECT /Â RDW STUDENT DESIGN AWARDSÂ (click to see full brief)
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In response to the The Body Shop design brief, develop a pop-up solution that allows The Body Shop to more fully express its sustainability focus, within the context of its wider purpose.
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Create a compelling pop-up solution to visibly address our sustainability objectives. Your design will need to work within a compact space (25SQM) that includes mobile payment. The design solution will be assessed both for its sustainable design credentials and ability to communicate these in an authentic & embedded way.
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COLLABORATIVE LIVE/WORK
Your clients are two different young professionals who want to create a Collaborative Live/Work space where they can both share a single building for living and working – which allows them to develop and grow their separate careers. The two met on social media, they are not friends and see this arrangement as one of convenience, by sharing a space they are sharing costs. They want a space that they can live in (sleep, eat, socialise) and work in (create, produce, promote and sell) – how these different activities are situated within the space will be a key driver of your design. You should assume that they will need separate sleeping areas, separate working areas – you should consider whether the existing space allows you to provide separate or shared social/living areas, kitchens and bathrooms.
It is important to note that this is the individuals only residence, they live full time here and you should allow for sufficient space for a person’s ‘life’ to be contained within – consider wardrobes, the amount of kitchen storage, the equipment and facilities needed within the workplace to ensure successful development and growth.
A SENSE OF PLACE Â Â
This project explores how space transforms into a place through human occupancy and inhabitation. It focuses on everyday rituals and the way that we use, move through and interact with personal space. Â
Students were asked to design a private ‘place’ for a client with a passion for mudlarking and the River Thames. The client required a private place to retreat from their day-to-day lives, the distractions of regular work, home-life, and the outside world, somewhere to focus on their passion. The site was the historic Brunel Engine House in Rotherhithe close to the River Thames. Â
Through rigorous and thoughtful research, the students developed an understanding of the functional, organisational and emotional needs of the occupant. The client’s collection of a focused genre of mudlarked object; coins, bottles, plastic toys etc and the fragments of stories contained with in them, helped to inform and support a strong conceptual stance and established a clear approach to the student’s design thinking. Â
The students created a ‘place’ their client felt belonged to them and reflected their needs and interests, a place that felt personal. It provided somewhere for the client to clean and sort the artefacts retrieved from the river and a place for them to study and catalogue their findings. In addition, a relaxing/restful area where the artefacts could be displayed and the client could enjoy a contemplative study of their collection. Â
A PLACE FOR IDENTITYÂ
Expanding the theme of mudlarking established in Project 7, students were asked to now extend their research and knowledge and to design a public space; an exciting and impactful gallery for a varied collection of found objects, with a clear identity that amplified the character and personality of the work on display.Â
The gallery would host up to 50 visitors at a time and require a refreshment area. The objects needed to be organised and displayed in distinct areas that although different, would relate to each other and bring the space together as a whole. Emphasis was placed on articulating a difference between the built elements, using a variation of colour, materiality, and light to help the visitors enter, circulate through, and leave the space. Â
In contrast to the previous project, the site on the river’s edge in Greenwich offered plenty of natural light with glass panel facades on three sides and extensive views of the River Thames. The location of the site relative to the river was key to establishing a connection with the objects displayed within it. The nature of the river, the found objects and the stories they told needed to be embedded in the identity and atmosphere of the new design proposal. The challenge was to design a truly contemporary and creative public space while being responsive to something historical and routed in its proximity to the river.Â
