Most designers usually begin their careers with residential projects. These are the projects that many designers focus on throughout their careers. Many people oversimplify and underestimate residential projects online and in academia. The reality is that these projects combine a variety of skills and are often more complicated than people think.
There are many things that come with residential projects that are not present in commercial projects. For instance, the client will often be living in the house or apartment during the design and construction phase. They may have an emotional connection with objects that are not fitting with the design or construction. The budget is not always fixed and may change during the process. There may be issues with the remodeling of the house with the heritage of the area. There may be issues with the family of the client. These projects are often a combination of design and many different aspects of psychology.
This section of the document addresses the different categories within residential projects. This includes the different types of properties as well as different types of design projects.
Period Properties
UK is home to the largest percentage of period housing in Europe, which means that a large part of the domestic design work in the UK is due to people trying to adapt older buildings to help them live comfortably. This can rural buildings with original timbers that have been altered many times over the years, such as Victorian terraces, Edwardian semi-detached houses, Georgian townhouses, or even Tudor houses.
Each has its own limitations, opportunities, and architects. This section will focus on how to maintain original features, how to provide intervention that is sympathetic to the spaces, as well as the conservation rules that will be important to know in their entirety instead of just remembering parts of it.
New-Build Interiors
New build briefs come with a paradox. The space is generic, the services are fixed, the materials are usually of mediocre quality, and the client has often spent everything on making their deposit and wants the interior to feel as if it cost twice what it did.
Among all that designing something that feels personal takes real work. Here (in various design cases in this book) is where to begin and what the most effective designers in this field are focusing on.
Renovation & Whole-House Projects
Most projects are not limited to a single room. Generally, it’s a long, disruptive renovation that a family is expected to live through (possibly beyond the completion date), and involves all of the building trades and at least one unexpectedly disastrous event. Designing for the family and the project is about half space design, and the other half, design choreography.
Holiday Lets & Short Stay
Designing to elicit a personal response from property owners and managers versus designing for guests is a different undertaking. The UK online short stay market is still robust (although alluding to the potential of new regulations it is reasonable to expect that this will not be the case indefinitely) and so the brief is on your desk more than it probably should be.
What works, what is designed, what is expected to fail and do so quickly, and what can be a design opportunity to discuss with property owners.
Family Homes & Life-Stage Design
Family dynamics and living situations are never static. There are births, deaths (and in the case of some unfortunate families, some very regrettable surprises); parents move in; shifts in location, both local and long-distance, etc. Designing for a specific family at one point in time is easy. Designing for a family that will not be stagnant is more difficult.
This is about that. Designing for small children without designing a permanent nursery. Designing for older adults in need of vertical living. Designing for households that will possibly be very different in five years.
Where to next
This is the other side of the section Designing for Commercial Projects, the segment of the field that plays by its own rules while still having some fundamental design intersections. If you’re earlier in your career and trying to figure out which direction to head, then Becoming an Interior Designer discusses the pathways and the area of specialization question.