The Retreat from the Interior and the Emergence of the Generic

  While it is sad to think that as architects we might be unable to focus equally on the interior and exterior of the buildings we design, we must be realistic about what is feasible given the real constraints that we face today.  It is a fact that the design of interiors have become increasingly dictated by building codes, economy, and mass-produced, standardized building systems.  In some ways I think we have contributed to the handing over of the interior ourselves.  It is far easier and more convenient to stick to the conventional, to select ceilings and flooring and wall finishes from manufacturers’ catalogs than to design a system ourselves.  And much less expensive off course.

  There are certainly benefits to this way of working.  There are some innovative and beautiful systems designed by manufacturers that are perfectly suitable to be incorporated into an interior.  The danger is in becoming reliant on what is already available rather than pushing for new solutions.  We risk losing our innovative edge.  As both Till and Mostafi put it, responsible design is not about using technology to do the same things better; it is about thinking creatively to develop completely new ways of designing.  More basically, I think we also risk losing the beauty that comes from variety.

  This becomes an issue even in the way that we work in studio.  Many of us use the same modeling programs, rendering engines, and photoshop techniques to design projects and create presentations.  There are scale figures, view references, and material textures that we can all recognize and immediately know how someone did something.  In fact, a lot of times our drawings look the way that they do because we drew them in Revit, for example.  Like the retreat from the interior, we are retreating from our ability to create student projects that are unique and personal.  

  The result in both cases is the emergence of the generic.  Generic renderings, generic plans. Generic interiors, generic ceilings, generic flooring.  So generic that you almost don’t even notice that it’s there.  That’s not the world that I want to live in.  

 fancy exterior

 

maybe the most depressing office ever created

images: http://www.regus.com/locations/office-space/alberta-calgary-bankers-hall