Materials and Interior Design

Rachael Brown is a senior lecturer at Portsmouth School of Architecture. Before this, she worked as an interior designer for 15 years. Lorraine Farrelly is an architect and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Portsmouth School of Architecture. Her previous books include Drawing for Urban Design (Laurence King, 2011).

PART 1: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF MATERIALS AND INTERIOR DESIGN 1. The Industrial Age: Design movements and their materials 2. The evolution of materials 3. The historical influence of the environmental agenda and its impact on materials 4. The twenty-first century PART II: SELECTION 5. The brief and client Image or brand identity Cost, quality and programme Functional, technical, aesthetic and sensory requirements 6. The site Existing buildings Step by Step: Recording materials in an existing building Step by Step: Making a sensory reading of a site New buildings, proposed buildings, buildings under construction Temporary sites 7. The concept Step by Step: Surface to form Step by Step: Combining materials PART III: APPLICATION 8. Material properties Functional properties Sensory properties Relative properties Sight Step by Step: Understanding colour Step by Step: Colour and the interior Touch Smell and taste Hearing Environmental properties Be informed Be responsible Be creative Subjective properties Personal readings Socially or politically constructed readings Cultural readings The maker's reading 9. Material detail Step by Step: Repeat components Step by Step: Recording joints and junctions Step by Step: Visiting an exemplar building PART IV: COMMUNICATING FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION 10. Thinking and communicating through drawing 11. Concept stage Thinking 'through the material' Thinking 'through the sketch' The sketchbook Freehand sketches and 'drawings' Step by Step: Representing material atmospheres Step by Step: Representing existing materials Sketch models and conceptual models Materials vocabulary 'Spirit of place' samples objects Precedent images 12. Design development Drawings and models Computer aided design (CAD) drawings Sample boards and material products Step by Step: Presenting material samples 13. Detail and construction stage Detail and working drawings Documentation and description Prototypes Post-construction and occupation PART V: MATERIAL CLASSIFICATIONS AND SOURCES 14. Material classifications Polymers Metals Wood and other organic fibres Ceramics and glass Stone and slate Animal products Composites New and emerging materials and processes 15. Material sources and resources Practice libraries (private) University/institutional libraries (semi-private or public) Materials databases Trade fairs, exhibitions, manufacturers' showrooms PART VI: CASE STUDIES Case study 1. Atmosphere: Beijing Noodle Bar, Design Spirits Co. Ltd Case study 2. Brand identity: Projects for Levi Strauss, Jump Studios Case study 3. Narratives: Collaborative interiors, Tracey Neuls Case study 4. Pattern and surface: Gunilla Klingberg Case study 5. Creating space: softwall + softblock modular system, molo design, ltd Case study 6. A material response to site: Alex Hoare Case study 7: Sustainability: 'Atmosphere: Exploring Climate Science'. Casson Mann Case study 8: Material detail and construction I: Pink Bar, Jakob + MacFarlane Case study 9: Material detail and construction II: Republic of Fritz Hansen, BDP and TinTab