How the pandemic has shaped interiors…
As we look back on the unimaginable few years we have weathered, we can’t help but ponder the impact this pandemic has had on our world of design. How it has allowed us to renew our thoughts and deepen the focus on our values.
More and more of our daily activities have been confined to the home and as necessity has changed our priorities, we reflect on the trends of 2021 and what’s returning as a blast from the past for 2022 in design?
One notable change and perhaps not surprising is the need for split living, it seems the requirement for spaces to become multi use has tempered the rise of totally open plan living. Layouts of the home now need to be flexible, to be adaptable, be that a home office turned gym, or a kitchen turned classroom.
Whilst open plan has been a big trend for many years, most now don’t have the luxury of this, the perils of this once popular design can be easily overcome with clever use of anything from screened partitions to glass box rooms, keeping the feel of luxury but with elements of practicality.
Along with this trend has seen the rise in ‘Biophilic design’, the meaning being quite literally bringing the outside in. As we have been forced to spend more and more time indoors that human instinct to be in nature has become empowered in design. Large spanning panes of glass and oversized sliding doors, allowing natural light to flood in, and living walls which breathe new oxygen into our interiors are a few elements of design to consider in helping us boost both mental and physical well-being. Colours close to nature and materials which are less for show and more for comfort can also help us create a grounding home. Enhancing our connection to the environment is ever important the more we are forced into the new age world.
Of course, there are many other trends we have noticed, the desire to bring back the ‘foyer and boot room’ to keep the dirt at the door has certainly grown in importance. The want for hotel living, that spa bathroom, the cinema room, the indoor and even outdoor bar with a backyard entertainment now seems the norm.
For most these buildings were places we lived but didn’t necessarily connect to. They seemed to be places of mere possessions, places to show off, they may have even been perceived as cold and uninviting. It’s almost as though in time and progression of the world surrounding us, humans lost all memory of what ‘the home’ once did for us and what it was made for, to protect us, to create memories, to shelter us from the storm.
It’s clear to see that this pandemic whilst forcing us back into our four walls, has made us rethink what the meaning of home really is. It has allowed us to invest in what’s important. So much has changed this year, and in turn that’s changed interior design but also architecture. It has overwritten our ethos, that design is not just about the surface but it’s much deeper it’s about the function, the feeling, the mental wellbeing of us who inhabit it. It’s about the why, why are we creating what we are and what is the meaning, and as an interior designer there is nothing more exciting.”
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