Six educators and practitioners from all over the world who specialise in interior architecture joined me for a discussion about how they conceptualise the role of the interior architect in spatial design, what the challenges of the specialisation are and what kind of education would help meet those challenges.
HANNES PRAKS
Head of the Department of Interior Architecture at EAA between 2014–2019
How do you conceptualise the subject matter of interior architecture?
The specialisation tentatively began in the time when people moved into the cave and discovered the perks of a heated or cool interior space. The first interior design works already appreciated the multisensorial dimension of space. There is a theory according to which cave murals were deliberately painted in tunnels with special resonance features1. I would imagine choosing one’s cave to have been an equally careful endeavour.
Discussing over the original meaning of the specialisation, we notice it is composed of two words: ‘interior’ and ‘architecture’. The latter is a derivative of the Latin word architektōn which has often been used in the context of a master builder. Decomposing that word, we get archi meaning ‘superior’ and tektōn (τέκτων). The Old Greek version of the New Testament describes Joseph as having been a tektōn by vocation. Although the vast majority of the world have agreed that this meant a carpenter it might be useful to know that in Greek the word is often used in the connotation of a joiner2. By the way, before becoming a pilgrim preacher, Joseph’s son did the same kind of work, which alludes to the possibility that he also had the ABC of interior architecture covered.
Isn’t it exciting to discover that based on this knowledge and considering the general interpretation of interior design, we are actually dealing with inner interior architecture, verbatim? The somewhat odd double emphasis on the action site of the vocation may partly be caused by the climatic crispness in central European and Nordic territories. The Middle East and the Mediterranean areas did not have to witness so much tension between interior and exterior space. The contemporary word form of the profession may partly be the result of the battle that volumetric exterior architecture had won centuries earlier, causing the name to be hijacked rather unjustifiably.
What are the challenges interior architecture is facing in the modern world?
The potentiality, challenge and responsibility of interior architecture lies in its proximity to (wo)man. The spring of this year introduced perhaps half the world to what it means to spend an extended period of time in the interior. Alcohol sales, domestic violence and educational inequality3 all went up. These measures strongly accentuate aspects of ethical responsibility embedded in the specialisation by generating a powerful challenge to figure out how to be there and be of service not only to palaces and manors but how to realise that competence in typology standards related to the life styles of different socioeconomic classes.
The economic questions arising here put a strong emphasis on education that is the corner stone of professional ethics and trends. It may happen that a university graduate gets a job in an office where the work process and output of the enterprise is harassing in both the ethical and aesthetical sense. That is all the more reason to not give up. Rather, try to find out why the market is consuming that type of service in the first place. In case the architect wants to link what she has learned in practice with theoretical aspects, while not forgetting what the pandemic revealed about interior space, the young spatial expert finds herself equipped with precious tools with which to build valuable future visions and concepts. Without exiting the comfort zone and hands-on involvement with intensive planning work there is the danger of weaving safe thought nests that lack realistic seasoning and are therefore questionable as visions for the future.
What is the type of education that will help to meet those challenges?
Doris Kareva’s poetry asks, ‘What is a human? Is it the shadow of an angel? Or a longing for a unity of the soul?’ I think that education as a whole, including interior architecture education, should have the ambition to answer at least the first question in some way because without that the PISA test results and university rankings in their temporality are tragically somewhat ridiculous.
Ergonomics, engineering and reading data are extremely important skills in contemporary design education but so is the ability to read the world as a whole, sense the emerging connections and verbalise or materialise them in the best-case scenario. This could be called the vertical axis of education in addition to which a whole lot of dreaming is also necessary. If our teaching takes place only in the paradigm of rationalised study input and output which stem from the repertoire of current employers, we may suddenly find ourselves pinned against a wall. The ongoing pandemic is proof of this. Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls events like this ‘the black swan’. They are situations that no one saw coming but which are actively shaping the future.
I think unpredictable situations are best met with endless creativity and keeping that inner radar, the gut feeling, up and running. That last bit is especially important since the calculations that need doing in order to fathom the future in its complexity and irrationality are that substantial.
There is another dimension without which even gut feeling and creativity are rather useless, and that is perseverance. Silouan the Athonite famously said, ‘Keep your mind in hell, but don’t lose your head.’ The patterns of despair are indeed destructive. Desperation is also when we doubt the long-term perspectives of our actions but are too afraid to change and put it all out there for our business-as-usual to continue. The roots of desperate thought often reach past our own childhood into the sufferings and fears of our great grandfathers and -mothers. Yet, education has the potential to provide impulse for course correction. Without the unity of the soul that Kareva’s poetry mentions it is of course extremely difficult to change anything.
What is the position and potentiality of Estonian interior architecture in the global context—what uniqueness can we offer to the world?
We have the opportunity to deal with our origin which is Estonian nature, for example. It is not an easy task by any means because we hang on to our inferiority complex and only look to those that are bigger than us. That is not a complete waste in terms of staying in shape, but it requires enough wisdom to acknowledge that Domus and Dezeen are both actually paraphrasing a paraphrase.
Operating with and around a risky origin requires temerity, no doubt. In the worst case you may end up with the title of a village weirdo or, in the best case, a national romantic. Nevertheless, I believe that gritty young people with an explorer’s blood running through their veins and with perhaps a fresh outlook on reality brought back home from abroad might find invaluable treasures in this regard.
The great Baltic-German scientists of their time lived their romantic-idyllic lives surrounded by Estonian nature. Arguably, this fact not only yielded the significant discoveries in biology and natural science, but it also shaped our unique Estonian culture as a whole.
Professor TÜÜNE-KRISTIN VAIKLA
Head of the Department of Interior Architecture at Estonian Academy of Arts and Adjunct Professor of Interior Design at RMIT University Melbourne
How do you conceptualise the subject matter of interior architecture? Since interior design involves the part of space that is closest to humans, it is highly effective as a tool influencing our daily habits, for instance. In a rapidly changing society this close and personal space is subject to versatile and fused processes. Therefore, we may presume that there are numerous ways to approach and deal with interior architecture. Where and how do you anchor your points of view?
A short answer would be that an interior architect deals with questions surrounding the design of a human-scaled space. What the connotations of this term can be and which aspects it covers in spatial design in general forms the subject matter for the study programme of interior architecture at EAA at undergraduate and graduate levels. If we expand the term, we might say that a professional interior architect creates (interior) space, using the methodology of design in her research and creative practice for the purposes of understanding architecture and the built environment in aesthetical and cultural contexts. It is also necessary to be able to read design proposals and solutions at a social level, to have a grasp of the building process, legislation and economic instruments. This combined forms high expectations for teaching interior architecture. The ability to notice change and to highlight hidden change is part of the interior architecture programme both in the academy as well as in professional life.
I hold the ambition of symposia and specialist publications to test the boundaries in high regard because of how important it is to initiate experimental approaches across methodologies and disciplines, and to involve people from different backgrounds. No discipline can thrive without a proper theoretical foundation.
The Department of Interior Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design issues an academic journal called Int|AR (Interventions and Adaptive Reuse) which over the last decade has surged into topics surrounding global reuse by dealing with so-called in-between-areas (In-Between, 2019) from a spatial point of view, spatial interventions as actions (Intervention as Act, 2018), the role of water as a catalyst (Water as Catalyst, 2017), contextualizing art (Art in Context, 2016), the economy of experience (The Experience Economy, 2015), resilience and adaptability (Resilience and Adaptability, 2014), layers of memory and meaning (Difficult Memories: Reconciling Meaning, 2013), new ideas on sustainability (Emerging Economies, 2012) and adapting industrial structures (Adapting Industrial Structures, 2011).
The academic journal IDEA (Interior Design Interior Architecture Educators Association) is about spatial perception in grey areas or spaces that lack clear boundaries (Dark Space, 2017), linking urban space with the interior (Urban+Interior, 2015), and introducing design initiatives (Design Activism, 2014).
Our own Journal of Interior Architecture Research SISU–LINE reflects on acute topics on theory and practice (Dynamics and Theory of Practice, 2014), how space impacts on us (Impact of Space, 2015), human migration in spatial context (Welcome Stranger!, 2016), reconceptualising historical buildings (Naked Space, 2018), and a hands-on, inside-out approach to spatial design (Actual, 2020). Each issue is preceded by a symposium bringing together the active faces from the academic and professional worlds and acts as an impetus to propel the discipline forward.
What are the challenges interior architecture is facing in the modern world and what is the kind of education that will help to meet those challenges?
Interior architecture as a discipline is in constant flux. It became a taught subject in Estonia more than 80 years ago under the name of woodwork in the State Art Industrial School and was based on the craftsmanship of carpenters. Clearly, the needs of modern society have changed as has the technology. It was as soon as in the 1960s that spatial design as a profession ceased being merely decorative and grew into a discipline addressing the impact and perception of architectural space as a whole.
The crispy nature of Nordic architecture carried over from the T-square to the drawings and plans of the Estonian modernist spatial designers. A tool carries enormous power in the process of creating form. A renewed technology will change thought and action patterns. In specialist terms this can mean that, upon plotting an object or space, the classical principles of drawing no longer work necessarily as front, plan or side views, and instead act to produce a spatial image that can be turned to any desired angle on a computer screen. This, in turn, is characteristic of the process of marginalisation where proportions are concerned.
Spatial design and furniture design follow well-known ergonomic principles, although the use principles of spaces and pieces of furniture have changed over time. For example, it is possible to make concessions regarding the comfort of work chairs and office rooms since working with a laptop is possible and has even become the norm everywhere, at all times, in different poses on trains, open terraces, in cafeterias, etc. A large office table no longer has to accommodate a massive monitor that you are stuck behind for the entire day.
Examples such as these demonstrate that the approach and operating principle behind creating wooden furniture cannot be based on decorative considerations which characterised national post-war handicraft, nor can they be minimalist in the modernist sense. On the contrary, the way we use materials has changed, searching for new ecological materials as well as sustainable reuse solutions continues. This does not mean, however, that interest toward bending and shaping wood has diminished. On the contrary, in the context of our culture and cool climate, it is those skills that form the foundation for the masterclasses on material use for the students delivered by world-renowned old-school masters themselves—Ilkka Suppanen, Simo Heikkilä, Jüri Kermik.
The EAA is currently the only school in Estonia that teaches interior architecture. It is a great challenge to organise the learning of interior architecture in a way that would direct the students toward visionary thought and provide specific skills at the same time. How do you address this task?
The programme at the contemporary department of interior architecture at EAA has primarily taken on a problem-specific approach to studies. Studio projects, however, are focussed on different room typologies. Student practice in measuring, construction and office work forms a large part of the education.
My main principle when organising studies on the built environment is that at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels it is important to steer focus onto building a mental and social space parallel to the more obvious physical space. The priority at the first level of education is teaching how to relate to physical space based on the fundamental principles of ergonomics. The graduate programme is focussed on critical thinking and spatial analysis which, combined in the studio project, form an umbrella for different courses. For example, the MA studio addresses political space and offers case-specific solutions in the form of a design proposal in the format of an interior architecture contest.
As board member to the European Council of Interior Architects (ECIA) I participate in the education work group which is working on the latest edition of the Education Charter for 2020. The charter provides a renewed definition of the vocation of a professional interior architect and expands the level of education to the doctoral level. The aim of the charter is to direct the development of syllabi at the European academic level, but it is worth noticing that whether a university emphasises the physical, mental or social perspective in its approach to spatial studies is up to each institution to decide for themselves. This is one of the benefits of academic freedom.
When it comes to interior architecture as a dynamic discipline of spatial design, I am intrigued by how it is in constant evolution, flowing intensively, shaping its own essence and deepening its own bed with each generation. It is not possible to provide a finite definition of the discipline itself and the format of its education, but it is possible to initiate topics around relevant questions and apply versatile methods for the study and design of space.
VILLE LAUSMÄE
Interior architect
How do you conceptualise the subject matter of interior architecture?
I must admit that the mere possibility of that question already points towards the fact that interior architecture has a larger role to play in society than what may be our first impression. Wikipedia seems to provide a rather logical explanation that interior architecture deals with designing the interior spaces of a building in as much as colour and materials are concerned. Contemporary interior architects, however, focus on the human presence in the room and are led by issues concerning the impact of the environment on humans, not the space itself. This type of thinking creates a broad professional field for interior architecture and opens unexpected facets of spatial concerns that are not necessarily centred on pragmatic issues.
What are the challenges interior architecture is facing in the modern world and what is the kind of education that will help to meet those challenges?
If the main role of interior architecture is to use the very environment it is made of to intermediate, support, guide and define the humans inside the space, then the biggest challenge might be to realise what it is exactly that is necessary for the human. Since this is not merely an issue of technical nature but one that requires fusion between the environment and all sorts of human-centred sciences such as sociology, anthropology, semiotics, etc., it is understandable how expectations for an education might be affected. An appropriate education should instil in the learner a realisation that there are more perspectives and aspects to the world than what meets the eye. The creative aspects of interior architecture are deeply tied to the humanities and interdisciplinary pursuits. Seeing that there are more views on any topic than one, discussions on education tend to fail to remember that an interior architect must also be able to pull off his work, that is, be able to realise what he has envisioned. That is also the only way an interior architect’s practice can evolve. However, this aspect of the job touches on the natural and exact sciences, engineering skills, craftsmanship and practical experience. This is where my central standpoint stems from—an interior architect’s education should be very well balanced and versatile, and the main objective of the educator is to constantly search for that nearly unattainable balance.
Over the years you have found time to supervise students although you are busy with your own interior design consultancy. What is that essence that a student should pick up by the end of a certain number of meetings and credit points?
My main message to students of higher education has always been to keep themselves open and strive towards a broad-minded way of being. Life has shown that teachers often have their own narrow view of things that a student might lean into as the only possible truth. If it is a practical issue such as door width then yes, the student is wise to listen and memorise. A background system centred around the humanities is becoming increasingly prominent in interior architecture which actually makes most of the viewpoints served as the only right way to go about things subjective by nature. This is where a student must be able to navigate for herself, raise doubt when necessary and ask for different opinions. To my view, the actual role of the teacher is not to say what a student should do or give out ideas, but to help the student develop her own ideas, guide her and provide support in the thought processes. The role of the school is to provide the right environment and sufficient practical know-how in order to avoid the situation where a student abandons the development of her idea because she lacks the practical skills to realise it.
The following answers can be read here
Küsis KAJA PAE, Maja peatoimetaja 2017-2022
PUBLISHED: Maja 101-102 (summer-autumn 2020) Interior Design
1 Iegor Reznikoff, Sound resonance in prehistoric times: A study of Paleolithic painted caves and rocks. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5325208_Sound_resonance_in_prehistoric_times_A_study_of_Paleolithic_painted_caves_and_rocks
2 Richard A. Batey, Is not this the Carpenter? https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-testament-studies/article/is-not-this-the-carpenter/6DEE2D6310A42CD6C434D060CF384DEB#
3 The pandemic is widening educational inequality. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/27/the-pandemic-is-widening-educational-inequality
