7/13/11: Something I learned in Class

This class exposed me to several tools and techniques I hadn't previously used to produce quick, attractive drawings of interior spaces.  These inlude the use of micron fine line pens and fine point and ultra fine point Sharpie permanent markers to produce drafted drawings and free-hand sketches of one's interior design ideas.  As someone used to using pencil and the ability to erase lines incorrectly drawn, I still find the use of ink as a medium somewhat intimidating.  However, I enjoy the higher contrast it provides as well as the fluid lines it produces.

Another tool new to me was the use of Prismacolor markers to provide color to one's views of interiors.  I was also surprised that even with 156 markers, I sometimes find myself searching for a hue that is not there.

Ink tracing of magazine photograph on cardstock

Tracing, pencil shading

Tracing, ink shading

Tracing highlighted with gray markers

Tracing colored in with Prismacolor markers

One-point perspective of kitchen, Prismacolor markers, on trace paper

Ink orthographic view of bedroom

Orthographic view of bedroom, ink colored in with markers on cardstock

Bedroom floor plan and elevations, ink and markers on cardstock

7/11/11: The Moorish Style

The Moorish Style evolved in the intense sunlight and heat of North Africa and Andalusian Spain.  This led to the use of column-fringed courtyards, providing the desired privacy and protecting the interior spaces from the heat of the strong sunlight, while allowing cooling breezes into the rooms.  Decoration of wall surfaces is provided by filligree carving and colorful abstract-patterned tile.  Interior furnishings use carved wood and leather upholstery.  Tile decorates the walls and along with marble provides a cooling floor surface.  Sheer fabrics are used in window openings to screen out the intense light. The Moorish style can be successfully adapted for modern use and is appropriate in beach or arid climate locations.

Below are historical and modern examples of the Moorish Style:



The Nasrid Palaces, The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Multiple rows of collonades allow cooling breezes into the progressively darker and cooler interior spaces.  Arches and walls above are ornately filligreed.



Patio de las Doncellas, or the Courtyard of Maidens, Alcazar of Seville, Spain

Although an exterior space, the patio or courtyard is very much one of the living spaces of a Moorish home.  Source of light, air, and water.  Low filligreed walls top the carved surfaces of the arches and columns.  Tiles surface the corridor walls.  Arched entrances provide glimpses of the dark interior of the home and of a sunlit courtyard beyond.


Moorish style living room

Low slung sofas are framed in dark, carved wood and upholstered in red leather.  A carved, wood coffee table sits on a rug which helps define the seating area.  Tall carved wood doors flank the arched entrance.  Tiles decorate the lower surface of the whitewashed walls.  Marble and tile flooring provide a cool-to-the-touch walking surface.  Sheer drapes frame the arched window and filter the intense sunlight.


Moorish interior public space

Low slung setees, tile floor and walls, red area rug, arched wall openings.


Modern interpretation of the Moorish Style

Lightly-hued Moorish style room includes an arched window opening filled with a screen of inlay and lattice-work.  Tiled wainscot.



Moorish plate



Moorish decorative tile

7/6/11: My Thoughts on Lighting

Lighting provides focus:  Crystal modular lighting (Kentfield Collection by Boyd Lighting)  uses lead crystal beads and balls strung on satin nickel mesh which shimmer and reflect as they catch the light.  The lighting focuses your attention on the contrasting white upholstery of the two chairs. 



Lighting provides decoration:  Moroccan Lamp.  The black metal frame contrasts with the carved filigree panels.  The lamp provides a subdued light and evokes the strong Moroccan sun passing through an awning or trellis.



Lighting softens space:  This sink and counter are enlivened by round recessed lights in an overhead bulkhead. Their light washes over the walls in a pleasing arch-shaped pattern contrasting with the rectilinear shape of the walls and mirror.



Lighting reinforces rectangular theme:  Natural light enters through rectangular windows creating crisp blocks of light on the platform bed and floor.  A back lit hanging panel above the bed platform introduces both light and a swirl of decorative pattern.

Lighting as design element:  Rectangular, box-like recessed lights contrast with round recessed lights in the ceiling.  An undetermined light source splashes in convex shapes over the rectangular panels behing the bed.
Minimalist cylindrical table lamps top the bedstands.  Interestingly, the window has been covered in a opaque film and does not provide any light at all.  Maybe an urban setting with neighbors too close or a showroom display with no view or natural light at all.

As shown above, imaginative use of lighting can result in stunning spaces.  Lighting is a crucial design element that must be considered during the design process.  Probably, too often, it is an afterthought and is only added to a room after the other features have been designed and selected.  In the examples above the designer employed natural and artificial lighting to highlight walls, ceilings and to create a unique sense of place for the space.  He/she considered light and lighting thoughout the design process and employed its characteristics to complement and highlight the other design elements of the space.

7/4/2011: Visit to something I feel was designed well: Falling Water

Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic house, lies a top a stream in the southern Pennsyvania foothills.  Vertical stone pillars anchor it to the ledge rock and support strong horizontal bands of floor slabs and balconies.  The sunlit cream-colored balconies are set off by the dark shadows underneath.  The solidity of the structure and the rock it sits on are softened by the sun-glistened waters of the rushing stream below.  My sketches try to capture the interplay of the strong vertical and horizontal elements of the design. 

6/29 Thoughts on Designing the 5th Wall (Ceiling Treatments)

Ceilings are often overlooked as a design element in a room.  Rather than ignore it and provide the default white drywall ceiling one should approach a room's ceiling as another surface that can help define the room and to the add to the room's aesthetic.  Possible ceiling treatments include moldings, trim, medallions, light fixtures, paint, textured finishes, skylights, trellis, exposed beams, bulkheads and coffers and the use of diverse surface materials such as wood planking, perforated metal panels, stamped tin, panels wrapped in fabric, draped fabric, and clerestory windows.



Glistening tin ceiling adds another dimension to room.



Coffered ceiling creates depth instead of the normal flat surface.



Recessed lighting and color used to turn ceiling into a major design element.



Vaulted ceiling used to provide depth and a visual contrast with the, of necessity, plain gallery walls.



Wood planked ceiling mirrors the wood floor and helps create the enclosed feeling of a room despite the lack of a wall on the right.

6/27: When I Began Loving Interior Design

Although I can't honestly say that I "love" Interior Design, I am very interested in it and want to become a lot more proficient in it.  I registered at the last minute (on the first day of classes) for an Interior Design course when a CAD course I signed up for got cancelled.  The course (Material and Methods for Interior Design), which I signed up for on a whim, turned out to be very interesting.  For the first time I was spending a lot of time selecting interior surface materials and colors.  The challenge was to not only select materials suitable for the intended uses of the surfaces but to select colors that would create a pleasing and appropriate palette for the space.  I have continued this exploration with a course in textiles (another eye-opener), one in Kitchen and Bathroom design and now one in portfolio development and visual presentation methods.

6/22: Spanish Colonial Style

Torre Tagle Palace, Lima, Peru.  Spanish Baroque style.  Upper story
colonnade, wood beam structure, stucco walls.

I also admire the Spanish Colonial style.  Spanish Colonial buildings are inward looking. Massive whitewashed adobe exterior walls surround a sunlit interior courtyard. 

Spanish Hacienda in Yucatan, Mexico

From the outside, large wood doors with wrought iron hardware lead to a dark tunnel-like corridor which takes you to the inner courtyard.  A fountain often serves a as a focal point of the courtyard and may have been the water source in years past.


Spanish colonial courtyard with fountain and colonnade, whitewashed walls, and Spanish tile roof beyond.

Surrounding the courtyard on the ground and upper floors are colonnades with the rooms opening beyond.  The colonnades provide a circulation path protected from the rain and more important, the strong Hispanic sun. 














Torre Tagle Palace.  Interior courtyard below
with surrounding upper floor colonnade. 
Tile floors.

Materials include adobe bricks, protected by stucco, whitewash, and deep roof overhangs, wood doors, window shutters, beams, tile floors and fireplace surrounds as well as kitchen and bathroom surfaces including counter tops. 




Spanish Colonial tiles.

Roofing is provided by the familiar red clay Spanish roof tiles.   This style develkoped to make use of economical and available materilas, to keep one out of the sun as much as possible, and to allow cross ventilation between the courtyard, through the one room deep perimeter and the outside.  The style also provided privacy and security.