Abstract
This paper explores the elision of public and private realms in the interior at advent of the 21st century. “The Fluid Contemporary Interior,” covering the mid-1980s to the present, surveys the interior spaces of the house, the apartment, the loft, the office, civic spaces, religious spaces, cultural spaces, retail spaces, restaurants, hotels, and therapeutic spaces. A critical assessment of the social implications of the contemporary interior, this paper examines the fluctuations in design typologies in a globalized era. For example, hospitals are increasingly adopting the form language of spas and health clubs to allay patient's fears and to be more responsive to their psychological needs; at the same time, spas and health clubs adopting the language of clinics to suggest that their services are a vital dimension of physical and mental well being. Civic spaces, from embassies to libraries to schools, are now designed to promote interaction and to erase the memory of anonymous institutional interiors. Offices are using furnishings and spatial strategies formerly in the domain of the home; likewise, retail spaces provide amenities to blur the commercial nature of their activities. My paper not only valorizes these shifts but also questions their implications in the nascent 21st century.
Keywords
architectural design, interior design, design studies, contemporary design.
Citation
Yelavich, S. (2006) The Fluid Contemporary Interior, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/99
The Fluid Contemporary Interior
This paper explores the elision of public and private realms in the interior at advent of the 21st century. “The Fluid Contemporary Interior,” covering the mid-1980s to the present, surveys the interior spaces of the house, the apartment, the loft, the office, civic spaces, religious spaces, cultural spaces, retail spaces, restaurants, hotels, and therapeutic spaces. A critical assessment of the social implications of the contemporary interior, this paper examines the fluctuations in design typologies in a globalized era. For example, hospitals are increasingly adopting the form language of spas and health clubs to allay patient's fears and to be more responsive to their psychological needs; at the same time, spas and health clubs adopting the language of clinics to suggest that their services are a vital dimension of physical and mental well being. Civic spaces, from embassies to libraries to schools, are now designed to promote interaction and to erase the memory of anonymous institutional interiors. Offices are using furnishings and spatial strategies formerly in the domain of the home; likewise, retail spaces provide amenities to blur the commercial nature of their activities. My paper not only valorizes these shifts but also questions their implications in the nascent 21st century.