Space planning is a crucial aspect of interior design, focusing on the strategic organization and arrangement of elements within a room or space to optimize functionality, efficiency, and aesthetics. It involves carefully orchestrating the layout, furniture arrangement, and other elements to create well-balanced and purposeful environments. Space planning is the core of every interior design process and determines the quality of living and the level of functionality of a space.
When done well, space planning takes into account traffic patterns in and out of the space. Furniture placement is important because it dictates how good a room looks, how well it functions, and how easily you can move in and out of the space. Space planning and furniture layout are essential components of interior design, determining the functionality, flow, and aesthetics of a space.
In simplest terms, space planning involves assessing the purpose, functional requirements, and layout of a space, and letting these factors influence the design. By taking the time to plan each room in a home, it ensures that it is purposeful and functional. Space planning involves evaluating the existing layout and proportions of a space and making recommendations for modifications and furniture arrangement.
In conclusion, space planning is an essential aspect of interior design that influences the functionality and visual appeal of a space. By applying the principles of effective space planning and considering the lifestyle and aesthetics of clients, interior designers can create well-balanced and purposeful environments that meet the needs of their clients.
📹 things to consider with your space plan & furniture layout
Hi friends! Let’s have a little chat about space planning, where to put your furniture, and how to get the best vibe and flow in your …
What is the difference between plan and layout?
Layout refers to the structured arrangement of items within a facility, while plan is a technical drawing showing technical details of a building or machine. Layout is crucial in determining the best physical arrangement of resources that consume space within a facility. Building plans consist of various drawings, including site plan, floor plan, cross section, elevation, sewarage, electrifical, plumbing, and landscaping, required for construction of the site. Dr. J C Vashista adds more value to the query by adding more value to the query.
What is interior space and furniture design?
Interior Space and Furniture Design is a discipline that focuses on designing and planning interior spaces for various human needs. Asst. Prof. Devan Das, a Post Graduate from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, has a background in communication design, publication design, Indian graphic identity, design semiotics, and visual research. He has worked in various design scenarios, including commercial art direction, design education, graphic design, publication, fashion, metal crafting, design intervention in indigenous craft clusters, voluntary work, e-commerce, and social media marketing.
He has also worked as Creative Art Director at Workafella, a leading co-working space company, and as Art Editor for Dorling Kindersley and Roli Books, covering subjects such as children’s education, Formula One, sports, history, travel, and cookery.
Why is space planning important?
Space planning is a process that helps analyze the current features of a home and how it can be improved before making significant decisions. It focuses on creating efficiency based on existing features. By planning or engaging an interior designer, you can assess functional deficiencies in various rooms and manipulate design elements to reduce or eliminate them. This helps clarify renovation priorities and identify the most immediate impact. Additionally, space planning ensures accessibility, considering the ease with which people can move around a space according to their individual needs.
What is space layout design?
The Space Layout includes plans for partitions, doors, electrical outlets, right fixture locations, mill work, wall finishes, floor coverings, and special requirements. It is a conceptual drawing that includes stormwater management facilities required for approval. Open space land refers to designated land areas, while space refers to the volume of gas a storage facility user is entitled to use.
What is space design in architecture?
Space is a crucial element in architecture design, as it is continuously studied for its usage. Architectural designs are created by carving, creating, and dividing space using various tools like geometry, colors, and shapes. Erdem Üngür, a German interior designer, highlights the undefinable space of architecture in his article “Space: The undefinable space of architecture” on Academia. edu.
What are the objectives of space planning?
Space planning is a crucial process that integrates work outcomes with room requirements to maximize productivity. Interior designers ensure their designs are in compliance with ADA standards and align with organizational objectives. They also consider cost, function, and aesthetic values, as well as the space plan’s ability to provide necessary features for effective performance. Factors to consider include the organization’s turn rate, future technology changes, and environmental or safety issues. To view a new version of your space in a 3D drawing, fill out the form provided.
What is the meaning of space planning?
Space planning is a comprehensive analysis of the utilization of physical space within structures, taking into account the structure’s intended purpose and the demographic profile of its intended users. This process, which entails a series of stages, is of paramount importance for interior designers and architects.
What is planning layout?
Layout planning is the process of determining the optimal arrangement of all resources within a facility, including desks, work centers, cabinets, people, offices, or departments. It is crucial for businesses to consider the arrangement of resources when there is a change in the arrangement of resources, such as adding a new worker, moving a machine, or implementing a new procedure. Layout planning is also performed during expansions or space reductions.
Poor layout can lead to wasted time, energy, and confusion, negatively impacting productivity. Proper layout planning is also crucial in work environments, such as offices, where face-to-face interaction is crucial. Proper layout planning can help build good working relationships, increase information flow, and improve communication. In retail, the same concept is applicable.
What are the principles of space planning in architecture?
Effective space planning requires careful consideration of design principles such as harmony, emphasis, rhythm, balance, and scale to create aesthetically pleasing interiors. The scale and proportion of interiors should be related to the human frame’s scale and proportions. Skillful use of design elements like shape, mass, light, line, pattern, color, and texture is crucial for achieving a balance between functionality and aesthetics in space planning.
What is the furniture design?
Furniture design is a specialized field that combines the principles of utility and style. It is a crucial component in any interior space, as it adds functionality, utility, style, and personality to enhance the overall aesthetic appeal.
What is the difference between space planning and interior design?
Interior design combines functionality with aesthetics to create visually appealing spaces. Interior designers collaborate with clients to understand their tastes, preferences, and goals to develop cohesive design concepts. They work with furniture, fabrics, lighting fixtures, and accessories to create a harmonious and visually pleasing space. With their knowledge and creative skills, interior designers can transform ordinary spaces into unique, personalized environments, reflecting the client’s personality and preferences. For instance, a homeowner renovating their living room would collaborate with an interior designer.
📹 How to lay out furniture in your space! Easy step by step guide to Space Planning for BEGINNERS
Do you have a space that you want to place furniture in, but you have no idea how to do it, how to make sure that what you want or …
I was about to buy a new sofa. I thought I had done everything I could to create an inviting space: the sofa faces the main entrance to the room, there’s an additional armchair in a 90 degree angle, there’s a large enough area rug … Yet no one ever sat there. Not even me. After perusal your article, I realised how needlessly far in the back of the room the sitting area was and how empty the space in front of it was. I pulled the sofa one meter away from the wall. I NOW HAVE A NEW ROOM. It’s mindboggling. I’m not joking. You saved me a ton of money I would have spent on a new sofa. I hope that you and your boyfriend will find an amazing apartment in Copenhagen. Greetings from Germany. Subscribed.
just when we needed him most, he came thru. the layout is literally my biggest conundrum in my little studio atm. i’ve watched your other articles several times lol ever since your first article got recommended to me, and have saved so many of the photos because i have never found anyone who’s taste in interior and architecture aligns almost 1:1 with my own. plus, i’ve learned so much about the core ideas behind modernism from you ❤
I am very interested in your thought process while looking for a new place. Something like, what are must have, non-negotiable things for your new place. And if you see certain things that make you cringe, but are still considering it, how can you make it work. Like covering an awful counter with a beautiful cutting board or butcher block. Since you will be renting, maybe some creative solutions (that are authentic). My pet peeve is using peel and stick products to go over bad tile or backsplash. Keep up the good work, see you next week. Good luck with the search.
There’s something about the way you communicate (despite the tea :)) that makes your advice so much more acceptable…? I guess it’s because you provide well explained actionable tips that actually do sound practical and simple, and a lot of it is grounded in logic more than mere preference (and I appreciate that you make disclaimer when something is simply your opinion). Please keep at it! I appreciate the tone of how you deliver your thoughts. I am in the process of moving to a new space (just 26 sqm) and instead of searching for ’26sqm spaces’ on youtube, I just ended up perusal all your articles here and I am learning a lot 🙂 Looking forward to more! 🙂
I love your website! Really appreciate the in depth discussions on design and architecture. The way you talk about design really demonstrates your passion for it. Can I ask what tips you have for finding these great source images that don’t look like mainstream typical inspirations? I find it’s so hard to find images that don’t bore me as there’s so much generic interior design layouts out there!
Great topic that’s not discussed enough! Loved this article Noah. I struggle with layout in our long den! Creating different “zones” has worked best for me there. In our living room I’ve done the same, while “floating” the seating in the middle of the room, atop a large rug, emphasizing different scales and heights in the furniture. (Huge pet peeve when everything in a room is on the same plane!) Anyway, wishing you luck with your apartment search. Mostly because I’m nosy and want to see how you live! hahaha
Can you please talk about ceiling design next? Especially how to break up but stay warm and calm and intimate in an open kitchen-dining-living room concept. I’ve been finding your lighting and furniture placement articles helpful and am personally struggling on material choices, ceiling design, mudroom design, and indoor-outdoor flow design that are less touched on.
I agree about the sofa/wall thing (where space permits of course). In my previous home in spain my sofa was positioned away from the wall to zone the open space. The sofa was a low profile design, and it looked has good from the back has it did from the front. Since selling up and returning to the uk, my new home is an entirely different space so unfortunately has to be positioned against a wall (with the rear of it unfortunately hidden from sight!). With the tv thing, I always prefer to have the tv low on the wall (has low as seating level) I find this does two things. One, it makes it more comfortable to view (and also looks pretty cool) and two, it releases a large area of wall space above it, to display a large piece of art etc (not mirror!) which becomes the focal point of the room when the tv is off. Yes the tv should not be the focal point of the room. But let’s not make it out to be ‘so undesirable’ in a design format/setting… after all, a high percentage of us all have one and it also falls under the ‘media umbrella just like the the mobile phone that even more people seem to have their faces surgically glued to, to ensure that they are absorbing as much media so has to be too cool for school!. And if that if that is not negatively hindering your ‘face-to-face’ interactive social ability, then having a tv in the room definitely isn’t.
A well designed layout of a home is a real money saver as you don’t spend time, mess and money knocking down walls, lowering floors and ceilings or extending the building. Measurement is crucially important in a space plan so would advise on measuring twice & taking into consideration where the electrical points are located. It’s good to bear in mind how you feel in the space. Some people may not feel comfortable with having a sofa in the middle of the room with your back to the entrance as it may feel like someone is going to creep up behind you. Also, people like their personal space so may not want to be all squeezed up together on one sofa. Conversely, some people may feel claustrophobic with too much furniture in a room.
I find that designers/ interior designers often bring up pieces that are from the “design world” and are meant for the design focused home, but how would you tackle more unconventional furnature that is not found in a everyday home. A aquarium would be one of these examples. It’s not really showcased in the “norm of design”, and is often considered a ill-placed piece. I can’t think of any other furnature in the unconventional category at this moment, but it would be intressting to see your perspective on this topic. How can you help these furniture fit in and maybe even enhance the space?
I was going to say that the couch facing the door is a Feng Shui absolute must for obvious instinctive reasons, but the subject has already been covered here in the comments. So I will just say that I love your articles. They are direct, right to the point and they make sense. I don’t always have the same taste as yours but I see what you are seeing in the beauty of your objects/furniture.
Haha, my TV is angled like that 😂. I can’t figure out any where else to put it. It’s either mount it on top of the fireplace (hate,) or it’s blocking the windows, or my couch would have to be right in front of the door, or my TV would be right in front of the door. And, I’m sorry, but I’m not a fan of the TVs with the spindly little legs you showed. In my home, if I follow one of these rules, I would have to break another. Great information though. I’m enjoying your articles.
I’m somewhat new to interior design and it can be really hard to find interesting pieces if you don’t know where to look. As I developed my own personal fashion style, brand lookbooks and inspiration albums were invaluable for exposing me to new ideas and looks. Would you consider making a article to share your favorite designers, brands, or perhaps where you source the photographs for your other articles?
i would love to pull my sofa away from the wall (which is the longest walk in the room, and is opposite both entrances to the room), but there is not enough room for anything functional between it and the wall, and there is no other option for the TV placement as well (TV and sofa must be opposite one another, cannot abide a 90 degree orientation). if i pull it only 12″ from the wall, what can i put behind it to make it feel intentionally designed and spacious? it’s an IKEA Kivik loveseat+chaise attached to one end, we keep the matching ottoman against the end with no chaise so we both can recline.
I think one of the reasons a too-small rug feels so uncomfortable and reduces the visual size of one’s space is that our eyes want to travel the perimeter of these solid shapes when we map our spaces – if you can see all the edges “within” the conversational grouping of furniture, it looks small and contained by the chairs and sofa, rather than the eye taking in the outline of the furniture and the rug as one linked whole. Does that make sense? It was obvious to me when looking at the examples you provided, even if I cannot express the idea satisfactorily 🙄
Having the entrance in your view is also highly considered in Feng Shui. 😊 Also I agree on “social” furniture not being put to the wall. But “cozy” furniture like a couch or bed belongs directly on a wall for me!! It has more of a nook feel then. Having nothing solid behind my back doesn’t feel cozy & relaxing to me. 😅 I’m in Germany, so unfortunately no flat/appartement here for the two of you, I’m sorry! (Looking very much forward to the renovating & styling series to come up on your website along with the moving though!)
Could you cover how to block out a cozy space when its also functioning as a walkway in an open concept home? I need a dining table and chairs but it would have to go in the open walkway to the living area. I dont have any walls around the walkway to provide that enclosing feeling. How do I keep it from feeling like random obstructing furniture in the middle of the path?
O! M! G! I honestly JUST NOW moved some furniture around – before I watched the end of the article – and one action was to pull that big armchair out of its angled corner and move the floor lamp behind it! I feel redeemed. (At least a bit, there’s still another one in the opposite corner, but that thing just needs to go.)
Can you make the same article but considering student/uni rooms? Like designing one room living spaces without a kitchen but with a desk, bed etc. i feel like these rooms don’t get enough love from interior people because undergraduates don’t have much money and live in shared flats but nice spaces are important for us too!! 😂❤
I agree with the “flow” in a room, having furniture spaced in a human scale, but in a lot of other things our living room, your “rules” went out the window 😁. Our living/dining room is 4 by 8 meters. We share it with two parents and four children aged 10 to 17. It has heaps of functions: homework, music practice, cooking, playing, sewing, perusal TV, computer games, home office, exercise, making art, eating, entertaining company, cocooning, ceramic studio, starting seeds for the garden, drying laundry… plus storing all the stuff we need for these activities! So no area rug for us. We have one small sofa and two comfortable chairs, a desk, a large table, two coffee tables and 5 chairs, plus a few cupboards and shelves and a storage bench. Furniture gets moved around a lot, according to our needs. Standard there is a large area of empty floor, that we can use for playing board games, playing with balloons or cutting large patterns for sewing (when the table is in use for homework). We have a small, cozy seating area and our computer monitor doubles as TV. When we want to exercise we shove the sofa aside to do our workout or yoga session. When it’s cold we might group the easy chairs around the woodburner. When we have a big group of people over we can make a long table by using the desk a a second table and our coffee tables can be used as extra seats. It’s a very welcoming, happy space, but very, very different from a typical living room nowadays and more how I imagine medieval halls were: a room for communal living.
hi noah, first of all thanks for uploading those articles. you have great suggestions and the way how considerate you articulate your thought process is helpful in understanding whats the reason that some things in interior design ive seen here or there looked “off” without knowing why. i’ve seen 4 articles in a row and you got yourself a new subscriber. in this article you mentioned that tv-stands might be a better alternatives for tvs in corners. i highly recommand extending tv-mounts. i usually have my tv facing the sofa, but in case its not in use its a simple change to push it directly onto the wall so there is no visual distraction.
I have a tiny living room with a doorway or window in every wall (rented). The absolute only spot for the sofa (loveseat) is in front of the bay window, which has a useless built-in window seat. I don’t know what to do with this. I can’t fill it with pillows and sit in it, it’s very uncomfortable to sit there and the loveseat is in front of it anyway. I don’t want to fill it with plants. What do I do with it? Arghh!
haha the 45 degree furniture thing is funny to me because when i was a kid we had this big armchair pushed into the corner on an angle like that and i used to sit in the gap it made with the wall! it was my like cubby/hangout space while i was still small enough to get in there. i used to pin drawings and things to the back of the armchair with dressmakers pins. so like, maybe it can have a redeeming feature even if it is unpleasing in a design sense!
How’s life in Copenhagen? And how did you decide to move there instead of another european country? Asking as an American that wants to move to Europe soon and is considering different countries. Denmark is one of them but purely based on stuff I’ve read. I’ve yet to visit. Copenhagen is in my bucket list