Week 4 - Reading 1 by Brands

Shearing Layers

In my opinion you would be stupid to think that interior design is not a profession. Whilst architects may create and provide the spaces, the interior designers can really take the space and activate it further than it originally was. Obviously architects just think they can do a better job than interior designers, otherwise why would they bother making the 'architectural digest' mainly about interior design?

Do architects think they don't need interior designers to activate a space? That their original designs should automatically be activated and usable and interesting and everything? I think they should be all those things, but I think the interior designer is the one that takes it a step further and makes sure every bit of space is used and used to its maximum potential.

I very much agree with this article that people will change their interiors ten times more than they change a house. So while an architect might design the original house at the start, they don't do any redesigning throughout the life of the house until the next one is built. Obviously the architects want more of a cash flow coming through, and rather than wait til the next house to be built (which nobody knows for sure), they keep that money flowing through by designing and influencing the interiors too; expanding into other markets. The interior of that house could be changed many times through the life of that house though, and so the architects are trying to keep their influence in not only the design of the house itself, but the interior also. Its a much surer way of making money.

The 4 S sequence
Shell 35 - 50 years
Services 15 years
Scenery 5 - 7 years
Set weeks - months

The set and scenery is the main industry of the interior designers and is changed the most often. So why wait 35 - 50 years for the shell to be demolished and redesigned when you can keep the money flowing through by redesigning the scenery every 5 years or so and the set every few months.

Have along term relationship with the clients so you are continually doing the smaller set and scenery redesigns, so that when they want a services redesign, they come to you, and if they sell or want something demolished, they come to you also. The interior designers only do the set and scenery redesigns, so as an architect, why not try and block them out and do all of the jobs? I don't think the architect does it as well as a specialized interior designer might do it though.


The 6 S sequence
Site
Structure
Skin
Services
Space plan (Scenery)
Stuff (Set)

     -I feel as though the 4 S sequence was enough. Sure it goes into more detail about the whole site, but to me the architecture of the building is only associated with the 4 S sequence. The structure and the site are things we don;'t really connect with or interact with in the site. We interact with the building; sure we might play out side but it isn't the same sort of connection as between humans and the building and its interiors.

"The building interacts with individuals at the level of stuff; with the tenant organization (or family) at the space plan level; with the landlord via the services (and slower levels) which must be maintained; with the public via the skin and entry; and with the whole community through city or country decisions about the footprint and volume of the structure and restrictions on the site." 

     -I think this is an interesting point, and it makes sense to me. The only thing I disagree with though is the community having anything to do with the structure. Generally they don't see the structure (no one really does). I also don't think that the community has anything to do with the restrictions. That is a governing body that decides that and the community just abides by it. Therefore I don't really think that connection, connects somebody or the community to your site.

"Many people make different decisions, thereby ensuring variety in the resulting environment. many property owners slow the rate of change by making large scale real estate transactions difficult."

     -This idea of resilience of a building or buildings to me is a very important idea. To maintain the quality or       historic or just value of an area, its is more important to have a number of people in charge with the same feelings in mind. This way if there are a couple people who would prefer to knock something down, the majority number can maintain the value of the site/sites.