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The definitive guide to Interior Planning

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO INTERIOR DESIGN SPACE PLANNING

 

A. Interior Design Space Planning

Whether you’re just starting as an interior designer or have decades of expertise, you’ve probably noticed that while each project is unique, some universal design concepts apply to all projects. These concepts are vital because they help you make critical judgments about project elements from the highest level down to the tiniest feature.

Space planning is crucial and an essential skill to develop throughout your career. Understanding how to lead a client from the initial meeting to a good project end can help you develop your business and obtain more joy from your work in the long run.

 

In this post, we’ll go over a step-by-step space planning approach that answers all the critical questions and explains why you made specific selections for the customer. We’ll provide you with 15 concepts and methods for mastering space planning that you can use immediately.

In interior design, what is space planning?

Planning space is an essential part of the interior design process because it determines the purpose, functional requirements, and basic floorplan of specific areas in a home.

Rather than allowing personal tastes or stylistic preferences to dictate the layout of a spacious home, planning necessitates interior designers to consider other aspects of proper design, including at least the following:

 

1. The varieties of spaces in a specific home or building, which generally fall into four categories:

  • Jobs (office home)
  • Social interaction (dining area or living room)
  • Personal (Bedroom and bathroom)
  • Keeping things in order (shelving, closet)

Each category will impact the finished room or area’s home design, furniture placement, design, and layout.

 

2. Getting the room necessities and the activities that will take place, which features will best meet those needs, and how these needs should influence the space design and layout.

A typical representation is an interior designer will need to consider things for an interior space like storage (both open and closed alternatives), cleaning needs, tablespace, access to other rooms, lighting, sleeping arrangements, areas, bathing, or exterior and interior entrances, and other necessities.

3. Furniture placements, door placements, wall placements, and other essential interior design decisions should be influenced by understanding and mapping where foot circulation would naturally flow. Depending on business laws (for commercial spaces) or personal preferences with private clientele, there may also be safety concerns concerning access.

4. Multifunctional requirements for a space. Each room within a home might serve one primary purpose, but there could be multiple needs to be considered to guarantee that the goal is attainable. Think of the example of a music room that contains an area for storage (instruments and music), seating, space for primary instruments like doors to seal off the space, and a piano. Choosing the space’s primary purpose (music storage and practice) presents another series of crucial concerns about achieving a decent design and accommodating fundamental capabilities.

 

B. Why is space planning vital for good interior design?

Projects, or entire homes and buildings, might lack a cohesive sense of form and function that makes them appealing and usable without efficient space planning. In addition, without proper space planning, functional spaces can be over-decorated, which is a common mistake.

These errors might be blatant or subtle, gradually lowering a client’s enjoyment of their area since it isn’t best suited to their demands or makes ordinary activities more difficult. While the difficulties addressed by space planning might seem obvious, it can be an easy blunder to overlook that element of the process.

  1. These mistakes might be obvious or subtle, but they gradually reduce a client’s pleasure in their space because it isn’t well-suited to their needs or makes everyday activities more difficult. There are three issues brightness, light placement, and fixtures.
  2. Furniture placement and arrangement.
  3. Material selections. In a high-traffic area or one where you will wear your shoe, tile vs. carpet

You’d be much more sure that the finished result fulfills client demands today and in the future if those decisions were guided by thoughtful and intentional space planning.

 

C. Space Planning Principles:

Is there any critical thing to remember each time you start space planning? Aside from the three methods stated above, here are four crucial pointers to help you navigate the space planning phase of your project. 

  1. Keep in mind the theory of prospect and refuge. Simply put, we consider spaces to have two unique roles, which can be enhanced or reduced based on the client’s needs and available space. Refuge zones are created for respite and escape, while prospective spaces look into other places or outside. Space can sometimes serve both purposes. The design must be human-centered and feature more than just eye-catching decorations or architectural choices. Instead, it must meet psychological needs and promote excellent mental and physical health, among other things. 
  1. Layered. For Instances, lighting is an excellent technique to provide rooms with numerous functions and to vary the appeal of the space with a simple switch (or roll off a dimmer knob). 
  1. Regarding space planning, think about more than just one room at a time. Sometimes, the relationship between numerous rooms is one of the things you should look into due to their new or connection to other rooms with a specific purpose or access to another space. For example, you wouldn’t use a room adjacent to a kitchen as a library, especially if they are directly connected, and it’s more natural for this space to be used as a dining room.  
  1. Before planning, list everything you want to do. Usually, this will be more convenient than trying to go back and rearrange things afterward to accommodate a crucial request that was previously overlooked. Keep track of your client’s demands and the decisions you’ve made together so you can refer to them later.

 

D. Top 10 space-planning tips:

Here are some professional ideas to help you think differently about space design and impress your clients with the experience to help them enjoy their space more than they imagined possible. 

  1. Recognize how you can design around the room’s natural focal point.
  2. Find out if you need to re-evaluate for a new focal point or change obstructions that can better use the functionality or usefulness of the desired space.
  3. Balance the space accordingly. Don’t overcrowd to provide as much seating, storage, or table space as possible, and don’t fill it just because it’s empty.
  4. If you have physical access to the space where you’re working, take advantage of it by estimating how much space furniture or other elements might take up. Use tape to mark the walls or floor area to understand the size and impact better.
  5. Leave ample walking area to and from the entries to a space. Provide storage where it would be expected. When a person enters a home, they anticipate (maybe unconsciously) finding a space for their shoes, coats, and other personal belongings.
  6. Make the most of large spaces by dividing them into distinct sections or areas. Even if there are no physical barriers between them, the layout, decorating, seating, and many other intelligent design elements can make their intended usage obvious.
  7. Human-centric design involves tailoring the space to healthy human behaviors rather than the other way around. Think of the number of people using the space, as this will affect the number of different types of rooms you need to add (e.g., bedrooms). Finally, remember to factor in financial issues.
  8. Where possible, provide unobstructed views into other rooms or outside.
  9. If you’re annoyed by the confines of a tiny space, look for items that you can scale down to fit the space. Even with smaller windows, lighting fixtures, or chairs, your customer can get part of the functionality they seek. Or expand walls to open space for larger furniture and items.
  10. Can room components be utilized for multiple functions in multi-purpose rooms? Construction techniques such as half walls or glass doors can help close off spaces and add privacy while keeping them open to other areas.

Here’s an extra tip that might or might not apply to you. Determine any specific needs your client could have relative to physical limits, impairments, special needs, or elderly family members (or consumers) that might be using the facility. For example, differently-abled persons, or those with limited living settings, will have precise requirements for things like hallway space and stairs. Accommodating their needs will guarantee that the place is safe and usable for all.