Commercial and Residential Interior Design – There Is a Difference
January 6, 2011
•IADT Sacramento, Interior Design
• 0 Comments
If you're reading this then you are probably interested in interior design in one aspect or another – commercial or residential, or perhaps both – although you may never have considered the different applications of interior design work as it applies to internal spaces both for living and work environments. Assuredly, there are differences to contemplate.
All good designers consider the function as well as the form when it comes to their design work. The purpose for the space upon which they are working is of primary importance when it comes to interior design. The living room or dining room of a home will require different lighting, different flooring, and different colors on the walls then will a doctor's office, a trendy boutique, a corporate waiting room, an office workspace. Interior designers must keep the purpose of the room in the front of their minds at all times in order to serve their clients well.
Residential interior design is the professional form most often associated with interior designers, as most people view their home or condominium as extensions and expressions of themselves and desire for their living space to reflect who they are. Creative individuals particularly want their residences to express aspects of their personality, but also want to enjoy and be stimulated or soothed by their living spaces. For this reason, residential interior designers work with galleries, carpet showrooms and painters to add color and sophistication to living spaces in oftentimes colorful or individualistic ways.
Commercial interior design, on the other hand, has to take into account the large volumes of people who will move through and utilize various semi-public spaces. Oftentimes there are safety issues that interior designers must consider when they design public spaces, as well as traffic flow considerations. Many an up-and-coming trendy store has gone out of business due to a bad traffic flow design that made interactions in the store uncomfortable for customers. There is also the consideration that different people have different tastes and styles, which must be taken in to account when a commercial space in designed. Confrontational, "loud" and bright, and even slightly erotic artwork that an individual would feel proud to display in his or her own home may be completely inappropriate for a commercial space, where aesthetics tend to be more neutral so as to not offend anyone. This neutrality issue presents tremendous challenges for the commercial interior designer, who must design spaces that at once hold our attention and encourage participation and yet do not alienate others by being "too strong." Interior design studies at a legitimate design school will empower the designers of the future to navigate the sometimes complicated world of commercial interior design.
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