Interior Concepts

While the new Norris house embodies many innovative ideas in terms of building and living, the project ultimately establishes the frame for a Home. As construction progresses forward, questions of interior design are raised as the choice of finishes, colors and furniture will greatly influence the experience of the space. A first conceptual pin-up is scheduled for Thursday, when the interior team will present two schemes: a “minimal” and a “color pop” scheme, expanding upon the original ideas for the design. Communication is vital to the development of an interior palette; discussions and endless chains of emails have been going back and forth between the cabinet, bathroom and interiors team, as well as most members of the new Norris house studio. Since no interior design students were able to take part in the seminar class, collaboration with faculty and classmates will help the team throughout the design process.

As architecture students, we rarely have the occasion to address projects on the level of detail required by the design of interiors: we experience for the first time a new facet of our discipline. Time is allocated to consider every step taken throughout the house, to study the materiality and color of each surface and how they affect feeling within the space. The abstract concepts we have been taught how to develop are suddenly challenged by the number of practicalities required in the making of a house. Design starts to entice a meaning which goes beyond aesthetics, and takes us back to the normality of life --a normality of which we are now aware, having been away from it for so long. Although our conversations revolve around tangible and quantifiable elements, such as color schemes, wood flooring, tiles, lighting, furniture and window treatments, they address the rituals of everyday life, shaping the pieces of the puzzle which, one day, will mean Home.

color pop