COMPETITION

I entered the Janine Stone 'Young Interior Designer of the Year' 2011. The brief was to design a space measuring 6m x 12m x 4m (high) with the inspiration coming from the view out of the window. I was shortlisted out of 100 entries into the top 10 finalists and attended an award ceremony in London. My submission is illustrated below with design synopsis.

The View

The view from the window looks down onto the late 18^th and 19^th century brick dockside warehousing (some already converted to shops, galleries, apartments and offices) and the late 20^th century redevelopment of vacant sites into high rise office, apartments and hotels in steel and reinforced concrete.  The river is on the other side of these buildings and there is still some maritime traffic. This could be any of the dockside redevelopment areas in European or American cities.

Design Synopsis

The design is a challenge to the viewer; is it a redevelopment in one of the 19^th century warehouses incorporating 21^st century concepts or is it a redevelopment in one of the late 20^th century buildings reflecting the 19^th century industrial architecture outside?

The design has changes in floor level to create visual interest.  Lighting is used to enhance the definition of the divisions of the living space.  Mirrors at either end make the c1850 “industrial” train line inset under a glass floor appear to run to infinity.

Conversely, the window openings with the vertical stainless steels reflect the late 20^th century reinforced concrete buildings outside with the concrete removed.

Around the edge of the floors and ceilings and where the internal wall meets the external a 200 mm mirror strip has been inset.  Visually the reflected walls appear to continue into infinity and the floors, ceilings and internal wall float, disconnected from the main structure.

The materials used are both cutting edge 21^st century (the glass wall to the bathroom becomes opaque with an electrical current) or reclaimed c 1850 oak floor boards/bricks in the living area.  The highest level of insulation is to be used using sustainable natural insulation materials and sustainable concrete. All windows are to achieve a BFRC rating of C or above.  The area under the raised floor provides for a heat sink and heat storage.

The cost of the fitting out is likely to be about £50,000 and the design could be applied to either a suite in a small boutique hotel or to a luxury apartment development.

http://www.yida-award.co.uk/victoria_crawcor.html