The Interior Designers Institute of British Columbia (IDIBC) turns 75 in June of this year. This was going to be an article about the history of the institution and by default, the profession, but there is a story with a bigger picture: what is interior design and why is it important?
Seventy-five years ago, interior design was mainly about residential decor and those who could afford it. Demand increased as economies flourished and more people entered the work force, working in offices that were part of a post-war building boom. Practicality and function in the workplace was the primary focus for designers.
It didn’t stop there. As buildings and interior spaces became more specialized, socio-economic needs and public expectations grew. Design professionals responded in kind, taking on the design of shops, restaurants, theatres, medical offices, and other public facilities where people would live, work, gather and spend their indoor activities. Interior designers started to recognize the societal importance of their work, making sure that they were in lockstep with changes impacting society, particularly in matters of the environment.
Today, interior design is a multi-faceted discipline that perhaps is the most detail driven, all encompassing, and human-centric of the applied sciences. Interior designers fuse functionality, materiality, form, aesthetics and beauty to produce a result that benefits all. While many people believe that they have taste and can perform the perfunctory tasks needed to design a space, the nuances involved in creating successful interior demands extensive knowledge of codes, construction, cost, and business acumen in addition to a knack for aesthetics. Professional interior designers optimize space for both function and appearance, while ensuring that aspects of safety, sustainability, building technology, cost and occupant needs are satisfied.
Interior design makes for good business too. Well-designed interior environments increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, foster workplace culture, resulting in a better bottom line for business owners. Recent global pandemic events have resulted in hybrid work models that have influenced how we design residential interiors to pivot between work and everyday living. Escalating construction costs resulting in shrunken building footprints have raised the bar for designers to think outside the box in terms of designing higher density housing with innovative layout plans, materials and details. Interior designers have the education, experience and expertise needed to develop and deploy strategies that improve the lives of those who they design for and contribute to the greater good of the public interest.
The profession of interior design has taken great strides over the past 75 years to grow and evolve in sync with societal change, shifting economies, increasingly complex building designs, and the needs of a global audience with homogenous and distinct identities that our built environments need to acknowledge.
Traditional single family residential models are no longer the norm, surpassed by a rise in non-traditional households in want of housing design that addresses livability, affordability, and an acceptable standard of living. Economic disruptions challenge designers to reinvent how companies can readily adapt and reposition existing space.
Interior designers are tasked with designing for large scale, mixed use, complex commercial developments with a multitude of occupancies anchored by a unifying building element. A national hotel chain may have identical floor plans for properties in a semi-rural small town setting as in a major urban downtown core, but by commissioning an interior design professional with the ability to properly assess and provide design diligence, the result in identifying regional differences can maximize positive guest experiences in both. These are all scenarios professional interior design firms and designers are hired to consult on in present times.
This is not to say that others in the design and construction industry do not share related progressive minded processes and skills. Interior designers have long held the opinion that we need to be collaborative and collective minded in creating spaces that elevate a sense of belonging, health, happiness, comfort and thriving, in any size and type of interior space. The intent here is not to restrict or limit any other design professionals from practicing as they do, including decorators, architects and engineers. We must not lose sight that we do what we do to improve the human experience in all types of spaces, and by taking an inclusive and integrated approach to design, we have a much better opportunity to garner more rewarding outcomes.
From a regulatory system process and a construction standpoint, interior design is poised to emerge as a major component of the building process. We are fortunate to practice our profession in an age where opportunities are plentiful, demand for design professionals is increasing, and our role as specialists in the building design service sector becomes more clear and vital to the public. If the building design industry progresses as rapidly as in the past three quarters of a century, the trajectory for professional interior designers will continue upwards.
As for IDIBC’s next 75 years? The institute will continue to shape the profession as British Columbias regulatory body to ensure that interior designers in B.C. and beyond are prepared to embrace a leadership role and perform in the same spirit as their fellow design professionals – with enthusiasm, confidence and professionalism.
Jim Toy, BA BArch LEED AP RID (Fellow), is president of the Interior Designers Institute of British Columbia and principal of False Creek Design.
