a huge part of any successful space/room is getting the layout right. of course it is very important to ensure the room is visually balanced, not cluttered and has focal points, but more importantly it needs to be functionally correct and easy to use. it’s all well and good having a beautiful living space, but if you cant pull out dining chairs, open drawers, or flow round the room because the space is too tight, it soon becomes annoying and makes day to day life very difficult!
working to achieve the best layout is one of my favourite parts of the job, it’s a bit like a puzzle… frustrating at times, but once you get it right its very rewarding! i usually work in 2d (plan view) to begin with, either drawing by hand or using a computer program such as autocad or sketchup to help. it basically involves moving scaled shapes around a plan of the room and using ergonomic and functional guidelines until you get the right solution!
once i have a good layout, i use sketchup to turn it into 3d. i have found that using this as a tool is really helpful and allows the client visualise the solution and see the potential of the space. it also helps show them when things wont necessarily work in a good way?!
one project that i am working on currently, is a beautiful three story victorian semi detached house. the clients want to open up the rear of the property with an extension and re-model the ground and first floors. the first thing we looked at was a mood board for the general feel of the space, ensuring we had a clear style direction. i really do love the overall feel…
*please note - all images via pinterest and not my own work.
once we had done this, the next step was to explore lots of different options for the layout and how they could achieve their dream home in the best possible way. we started by discussing the main things they wanted to include and how they wanted to use the space and live day to day. this then gave me lots of information and detail and allowed me to produce a number of different solutions to discuss.
at this stage i tend to create my 3d visuals in white with no colour or textures and keep them quite basic. I do this purposely so that the client focuses on the layout and that they don’t get too hung up on colours or specific types of furniture. the idea is to show how the space can potentially feel and whether it will work for them functionally day to day.
once happy with the layout, we can then start to build on the visuals, adding more specific furniture, colour, texture and light. if extremely detailed computer generated images are required for the project, i will outsource to a cgi company who will produce - this is a whole different skill set and can be very time consuming… i leave that to the cgi specialists!