An exciting addition to interior design could be a water feature. Water has a calming effect which not only creates the feeling of peace but can also be seen as a sophisticated part of the building’s interior design. There are endless types of water features you can choose from and, depending on the type you require, such a feature can work very effectively as part of the interior design of any building.  

A particularly elegant as well as recently popular is water wall feature. In an office such a feature could be added in an entrance as a statement piece, providing an inviting and elegant entry to the building. It could also enhance clients’ waiting area by making it more welcoming and sophisticated. It could also be an exciting outdoor sculpture.

Water features in general are commonly used in relaxation areas and business types focusing on relaxation such as SPA’s, beauty salons, hotels, etc. and yet these can also be and are successfully used in other business types as well. Over-stimulation of our senses so common in our busy lives is taken away almost instantly when we hear and see water. Water’s natural calming effects are forming our senses into the sea of tranquillity. When we look at water and when we hear water, we are met with less information to process, a lot less in comparison to what we are used to. This sends us off into a meditative state and has an instant soothing effect on our senses.

No matter how large or how small your office is and no matter the business type you’re in, you may benefit from the effects of having a water wall feature in your building for the simple reasons discussed above. Elegance and sophistication such feature bring is a bonus. Something to consider.

It is difficult to describe in one sentence what harmony means and how harmony is created. When thinking of harmony in design, harmony is often associated with symmetry, and yet not only symmetry creates harmony. According to a number of dictionaries, ‘harmony’ could be described as a state of peaceful existence while ‘harmony synonyms’ include ‘peace’, ‘balance’ and ‘compatibility’. In fact, those three words are some of the best to describe harmony creation. In design, through balance and through compatibility we can create peace and we can create harmony.

How do we decide on balance and compatibility though? Balance can be achieved in a number of ways; this includes the use of both symmetry and asymmetry as well as the use of light and colour. For the purpose of this article, we are looking at images focusing on composition and general shapes within.

We could distinguish shapes which are balancing each other by looking at each photograph at a time. We can analyse shapes in the images by reading the photos looking at them from left to right as if we are reading a page of a book. Comparing both sides of the photograph reveal information about the composition. It reveals which shapes are being used to balance each other and to balance the composition.

Images we see display harmonious shapes and composition. Those images evidence both symmetrical and asymmetrical elements being used in order to create harmony. What balances asymmetrical composition? What makes the elements of those compositions compatible enough to produce the feeling of peace?

In one of the image examples at the top, we can see a heavy, bold and energic shape of a bridge balanced by a vague, continuous, horizontal line of this same bridge disappearing in the distance. In other images, we see mainly one bold symmetrical shape combined with asymmetrical elements such as clouds or building reflections. Light reflections enhance the softness of the image and therefore add to the harmonious composition. Soft light and soft colours are used to create a feeling of peace.

Overall, we see images balanced with shapes, colours and light within.

Balance and compatibility are crucial in order to create peaceful images. With the right use of composition elements enhanced by the right colours and light, we will achieve harmony in the design. In order to find out how to do it, we look around and learn from what we see.

In one of our recent articles, we have been discussing George Nelson as part of our ongoing series on the subject of Prefabrication History. George Nelson was an American architect, writer and designer who wrote extensively on the subject of design. In his book titled How to See (1977) Nelson would advocate the subject of looking at images to be separate to learn discipline. We would like to take this idea of learning to look as a starting point of a new series to introduce to this blog. This series will be focused on physically looking at buildings/images in order to learn more about architecture and related subjects.

Today we would like to discuss images of arches, spherical shapes and waves in relation to the field of construction, as part of our own pursuit of deepening our ability to look.

Arches have been in use in architecture for more than two thousand years. Used in many forms throughout history and today, construction of arches presses the weight outwards hence they are durable and strong. The use of arches is not only advantageous because of their durability and strength, arches are also aesthetically beautiful. The use of arches has become widespread with the Roman Empire and extensively used in order to build aqueducts and bridges. But arches were used earlier than that. Greeks and Romans adapted the use of arches from Etruscans. We could go back even further into the history but instead, we are going to stop here as we will be focusing our attention on arches as part of a group of shapes and objects. However beautiful, today, we are not only thinking of arches but also of spheres, curves, and general shape of a wave in architecture. Let us take a break from art history and focus on the images and structure.

Looking at curves gives our eyes a rest, a non-broken fluidity of information. When looking at an arch or a curve, in an architectural form, our sight is reaching a pause from busy surroundings. We are taken on a route through physical space which is soft and delicate. For our eyes, it is an equilibrium.

A spherical shape in architecture is a symmetrically perfect never-ending curve. Do we look at it as a whole? How do we respond to a spherical shape? We could think of a sphere’s resemblance to the sun and the stars or its use in Hellenistic temples. We could also look at its use in contemporary architecture for its simplicity and its geometrical form. And we would be closer in finding the answer to the question of a connection between an arch, a wave and a spherical shape. We want to look at the images and find this connection. The connection between those aesthetical forms. Equilibrium and softness of those shapes could be part of the answer.

Visually both a sphere and an arch are elegant and harmonious shapes. Spheres, waves and curves can also appear futuristic depending on the context of use, materials used and other shapes accompanying the overall form. Sizes and quantities of those shapes play a big role in how we perceive the overall object.  

On the photographs, these forms can be appreciated not only for the architecture but also for the composition. The circles and lines and their positioning are in the essence of forming the elegance in composition. The symmetry or asymmetry of their positioning is crucial. If we look attentively at those lines and curves, we are starting to notice more – we notice the complexity and depth of the form. We notice the elegance. The softness of arches, spheres and waves, when positioned well, next to a perfectly strict line, is the start of a good architectural design. We will continue this subject in another article.

In the past, we have discussed examples of colour palettes for office. We have also discussed examples of colour schemes used within interior design. One office may vary greatly from another in its purpose though. An office may be a reception area for a holiday park, it could be a car dealer’s office, a developer company and many more.

An office is in fact quite a broad term and the subject of interior design is as broad as customers’ needs. Today we would like to discuss a subject of early decision making when choosing a colour palette. We will be focusing on consideration of potential colour palettes for a beauty salon or spa design during this early decision-making process.

First of all, let’s not get overwhelmed with the amount of options. It is important to start with some visual references for your design while at the same time consider the purpose of the building. This enables you to imagine the real outcome a lot clearer.

Because the palette we are considering is for beauty salon or spa we will perform a small experiment in relation to these. As an experiment, let us start by thinking of potential words in response to the word BEAUTY.

Words that may come to mind are; air, delicate, cosmetics, fragrance, white, natural, clean, clear, blue, pink, soft. Your responses may vary.

When you do have your words written down, look at the visual representation of those words. Ideas will spark instantly through looking at the images. That in itself may be enough to sharpen your idea of what you want the colour palette to be. When you will select your final choices, it will become your visual reference guide, it will become your colour palette. It is worth remembering about colour schemes at this point. This is in order to not get carried away by choosing too many colours. Keep it simple.

You can perform the same exercise by choosing to respond to the word SPA. This will generate other visual references.

We can look closer at generated words in order to figure out what your colour palette can be. From the list above, let us take, for instance, the word cosmetics. You can look at the examples of cosmetics packaging, for instance. This is in order to analyse what colours are used there and why. First of all, you may notice that majority of packaging is made mainly in white colour, with addition of smaller amounts of one or two other colours, usually soft and light hues. Quite often text and logo of the brand is printed in black/silver or gold. Those colour palettes are not too complicated and kept in fresh bright hues. It means that these colours will portray feelings of cleanliness, freshness and youth. These could as well be good colours to go for as a base for beauty salon.

The above analysis would generally exclude fragrance packaging. Fragrance packaging is often designed in darker colours.

Having this as an example, you can go back to your other words on the list and consider colour scheme for your chosen one or two colours in order to expand on the idea.

If, for instance, you will take the word air as an example, you will most likely think of clear images of a blue sky, light clouds or air swirls in white or semi-transparent colour. The decision is to put these colour findings next to each other and decide which colour palette works best as a beauty salon or spa design.

More general advice would be to remember the building purpose when choosing your colour palette. Consider if your visual responses match the purpose of the space and adjust your idea if needed. Because both spa and beauty salon are places to relax, remember soothing colours. This means cool colours such as blue, green, white and/or pastel colours. Many people will appreciate addition of warm colours as well, as an element of cosiness and warmth in the space. Feeling of cosiness could also be created by the use of natural decorations such as sand, plants or wood. Other option could also be the use of warm, atmospheric lighting.

Initial idea can be adapted to match different styles. Once the step of choosing colour palette is undertaken and decided, the rest is easier. The rest is to stick with the plan. When final decorations overwhelm you with the amount of possible choices, have your colour palette with you and remember what is the feeling you would like to portray. Ask yourself if a particular object will do that for you and reflect accordingly.  

Enjoy the fun of designing.

Today, we are continuing our subject of New Year’s resolution which involves the introduction of plants within the building interior. The presence of plants within building interiors could be seen as a step forward, towards what’s better. The use of plants could be seen as small steps towards saving our own health and through that, saving our environment. That is undeniably important. 

There are many design options within interior plantscaping. If wanting to consider a large number of plants, it is worth hiring an experienced interior plantscaper, who will not only advise on the visual aesthetics but also have the knowledge of taking care of those plants as well as their effects on the microclimate of a building interior. Those are the facts you may want to consider before deciding on a large number of plants. Professional advice may be needed.

Your plantscaper, if you decide to hire one, will definitely discuss all the details with you. If you would like to use a small amount of plants and try this on your own, it is important to consider two facts. First, while introducing plants to an interior, it is important to consider the amount of light within the room. Most plants will benefit from large amounts of natural light, which means if you have large windows within your portable office your plants will be glowing. The second fact is regarding interior design. It is important to consider the color of the interior. Bright colored walls will highlight the presence of plants. Green plants will look great particularly within white walls and maybe with the addition of natural colors such as wood, pebbles or sand. Remember, there are many more possibilities to choose from. Read about particular plants prior to introducing those to an interior of your portable cabin. Have a look at Wolverton’s list of 50 plants that purify the air (link to the list can be found in the sources section below, or within part 1 of this article).

For many, New Year equals new hope and a new start. We often decide to undertake changes in our daily life and daily routine in order to improve on some aspects of our life. It usually involves new commitments. Change, if required, need to be made. This is how progress is being made. Air pollution, discussed in part 1 of this article, is a serious subject. If we focus on small steps and improve the air condition of our interiors, we will improve our health as well as the health of others. If more people decide to consider this change, we will work towards the greater good. The impact is on all of us.

Summarising, we put together a list of some of the most valid reasons of why plants could be seen as beneficial when used within the interior design of an office/hospital/shop or any other type of organization or business;

– The presence of plants within our surroundings benefits our psychological and emotional health, reducing stress, and relaxing us. This leads to increased productivity within the working staff.

– Plants are cleaning the air by getting rid of carbon dioxide and producing oxygen as well as getting rid of many other harmful air compounds (such as VOC’s, explained in part 1 of this article).

– By cleaning the air and influencing positively our emotional health, the presence of plants influences our general health. Again, resulting in a smaller number of days off within working staff.

– It has been proven patients’ recovery speeds up in hospitals while spending time around plants during recovery.

– Plants create a balanced microclimate keeping the air temperature down or up (warming or cooling the room) depending on the indoor conditions. This means the use of indoor plants could be seen as economical.

– Plants have noise reducing qualities.

– By including plants in interior design, the look of the room can transform remarkably. There are many possible ways to do that.

Finally let’s remember, when we use the approach of small steps, we have the biggest chances of success, and let’s consider introducing plants into our surroundings whether we make it our New Year’s resolution or not.

Sources;

NASA SPINOFF (2018), available at https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2007/ps_3.html (Accessed January 2018)

Wolverton Environmental Services (2012), available at http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/air.htm (Accessed January 2018)

Plant Air PURIFIER (2016), available at https://www.plantairpurifier.com/product_details_-_overview.html (Accessed January 2018)

Our House Plants (2018), available at https://www.ourhouseplants.com/guides/50-plants-that-clean-the-air (Accessed January 2018)

Many people decide on New Year’s resolution at the beginning of each year. New Year’s resolutions are often focused on improving our behaviors and improvement of ourselves as human beings. Also often focused on improving our health. On this occasion, by helping ourselves we could also help others. How can this be done? The answer we would like to offer is easier than you may expect. A decision regarding resolution depends on our particular needs. Because it could be a broad subject, our focus for today is not on all ideals we could strive towards, but a particular one. It is striving for a healthier working environment in order to improve our health. We would like to discuss the option of introducing plants within the interior design of your portable cabin, as a New Year’s resolution. It is something, we believe, you may find interesting and doable. The reason why we believe it to be a positive goal is mainly based on the vast health benefits plants give us. We will discuss those benefits further. In addition to health benefits, there is plenty more.

No matter what type of business you have, there are suitable plants for interior designs of most. Many interior designs involving plants overtake large spaces of lobbies and shopping malls.  It is done in order to impress clients and transform the space into fresh, inviting natural-looking surroundings. Plants often serve as temporary walls, dividing large spaces into smaller, more approachable looking sections. It has been proven that people are willing to spend more money in an interior filled with plants. People perceive architecture with plants included as more luxurious, especially if tropical plants are in use.

Plants are also used within small waiting areas and offices, adding an atmosphere of freshness and warmth. This transforms the area of an office into a positive space where clients are willing to spend more time in. Thanks to the variety of species and sizes, plants have the potential to transform an interior more suitably than real walls and furniture do. Potted plants, for instance, can be rearranged when the needs of the space alter changing the look of the interior instantly. Another important aspect of plants is their noise reducing qualities. This can be used to advantage with the interior design of a cafe, busy office, or large shopping mall. By designing the interior with the use of plants similar to those growing outside, we produce an extension of the natural world. Thanks to that, architecture is more balanced within the environment. There is more.

Our aim is to improve the working environment into healthier conditions by introducing plants within the interior design of our business. To prove that it is a valid goal we would like to introduce a man who performed extensive research on this subject, Bill Wolverton. Wolverton is an environmental scientist who was working in the late 1960s for the US military and has been later funded by NASA Space Agency to work on research into natural environment self-cleaning abilities. There is a vast amount of information that can be found through different sources, including NASA’s website and more on Wolverton’s research. We will discuss his findings partially, but if you would like more information, please follow the links present in the sources section below.

Wolverton first worked on improving the quality of water with the use of plants and then followed with research into improving the condition of air within the building’s interiors. There are many volatile organic compounds (called VOCs) present within the building’s interiors, reducing air quality. The existence of VOC’s was initially identified inside Skylab space station by scientists working for NASA. A problem of volatile organic compounds once known, was found to be particularly heightened in airtight buildings, made with the use of synthetic materials and insufficient air circulation. Wolverton believed in improving air condition not by changing the way buildings are made but by introducing the right amount of particular species of plants within the building’s interior. He believed in nature’s life support system as a solution.

After retiring from civil service, Wolverton opened his own company, called Wolverton Environmental Services Inc. Through his company, he continued his work. He published a book titled “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office”. He also published his second book titled “Growing Clean Water: Nature’s Solution to Water Pollution”.

More information on the list of plants Wolverton included in his book. Find more at Our House Plants website following this link https://www.ourhouseplants.com/guides/50-plants-that-clean-the-air .

One of the conclusions of Wolverton’s research confirmed the positive influence of plants on hospital patients, Wolverton’s Company then started co-working with a Japanese company, Takenaka Garden Afforestation Inc, on designing ecology gardens for hospitals.

To be continued in part 2…

Sources;

NASA SPINOFF (2018), available at https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2007/ps_3.html (Accessed January 2018)

Wolverton Environmental Services (2012), available at http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/air.htm (Accessed January 2018)

Plant Air PURIFIER (2016), available at https://www.plantairpurifier.com/product_details_-_overview.html (Accessed January 2018)

Our House Plants (2018), available at https://www.ourhouseplants.com/guides/50-plants-that-clean-the-air (Accessed January 2018)

After discussing Christmas branding and its possible destructive effect on our perception of Christmas we concluded with our belief into the values conveyed through Christmas and for that reason we desire to celebrate it as a business. If you agree, read on and you will find out that today our focus is of less of a serious matter – Christmas decoration.

Creating the right atmosphere within the workplace will result in a friendly environment for both employees and customers. If you are thinking of decorating your portable cabin to summon Christmas spirit some will argue to follow trends. Others will say, focus on the type of clients you have and organize your decoration to fulfill their needs. The type of clients visiting business should not be ignored. If there are different age groups or maybe families walking through the doors or anyone from within general public in fact or maybe a specific group of people, they all may need to be taken under consideration because they will have different expectations and different needs. Generally though, if you are not deciding to follow through with any special Christmas activities and want to keep your decorations subtle you probably do not need to overthink it. We believe that your clients should never be ignored and yet we argue that simple Christmas decorating could be down to your own taste. The reason is simple, most clients who appreciate Christmas will value Christmas decorations because decorations are pleasing to the eye and most importantly because decorations fulfill two major tasks; remind us of Christmas and spread the love – which equals in making us feel cozy and welcome. On the other hand, those clients who do not appreciate Christmas will either try not to pay attention to most decorations or may simply dislike them all. To that, we have one advise, if you would like to respect those particular clients but still evoke Christmas spirit you may want to keep your decorations subtle. It is really up to you to decide on that.

Our idea to decorate portable cabin for Christmas 2017 is to start early on with few decorative items. Each week or alternatively every couple of days there could be more items added. That way, the office is not overfilled with Christmas items too early and your spirit is built up slowly, day by day, in preparation for Christmas.

Our favorite color this year is gold. Interior design does not often include gold but as a Christmas color gold is your perfect choice. It means that if you like gold, Christmas is your perfect excuse to use it. Gold emanates elegance and value and could be a good choice for your Christmas decoration. There are some not impressive looking imitations of gold color and for that reason, it is important to pay attention to the hue of gold you are using. Rich and deep hues will work best.

Color match for gold could generally be up to your preference but it is worth remembering to not overdo it and if you are going for simplicity and elegance, choose one or maximum two other colors to match them with gold.

If you are a fan of tradition you could go for obvious color choice such as gold with red and green and decide to have some handmade decorations which would look lovely in those colors with the addition of some natural wooden items.

Wanting to create rustic charm you could use more colors. Decorations could be with the addition of wooden items painted in white, turquoise or any other color of preference with the use of crackled paint. Rustic looking wooden items like these can be found in many craft stores or sold online. It is worth remembering that for any color combinations you are choosing, adding a small amount of white together with gold will emanate charm and elegance.

Gold and white on their own can also be a successful and elegant choice of Christmas decoration. White is often associated with Christmas for obvious reasons such as a reference to snow and purity. Together with gold white will emanate elegance and perfectionism.

Finally our personal preference for color combination this year is gold with persian-blue. This color combination is elegant and rich. The deep hue of persian-blue is sophisticated, graceful and luxurious on its own. Together with gold, it creates a breathtaking duo. A hint of white could finish off this type of design satisfactorily.

Let us be honest, we love all Christmas decorations because decorations remind us of Christmas and no matter what color palette you choose it is not about trends, it is all about Christmas.