Functional space planning

Some steps to make time-consuming work easier

SPACE PLANNING always
reminds me of Marek, my
instructor in design school. I
don’t remember a single lec-
ture on the subject.

By Edith Saatkeamp
Contributing Writer

He taught by giving us a floor

plan and the abjective of the
. design.

Eor the next five weeks, he
would go from one student to
another, point out the flaws in our
plars and suggest improvements.

‘Our deadline for completion of
a project — the design of a store,
office or residence — was usually
five weeks.

A sixth week was added when
panic set in because we were still
in the space-planning stage after
five weeks and had not even
thought about color, lighting and
furniture, nor of drawing plans
and perspectives.

“Good space-planning is time-
consuming. There are of course
some steps we can follow to make
it easier, and Marek must have
told us. | :

_ Let’s start with the preiiminary
considerations, the objective of

the design.

Your lifestyle and the intended
use of the space are the main
criteria in developing a functional!
space plan for a room or home.

In case of a living room, will it
be used mainly by the family to
relax, read, watch television or
play games?

You would then consider sepa-
rate seating groups, each with ap-
propriate storage spaces and task
lighting, and with small tables, so
that one activity does not interfere
with another. ;

Mf the room is reserved for
entertainment, it should have a
comfortable seating group, and
amenities to serve drinks and ap-
petizers.

A good distance for an easy
flow of conversation is between
five and eight feet. At longer
distances, conversation tends to be
limited to polite smiles.

Soft lighting should iHuminate
the seating group; recessed or
track lights can be used to
highlight plants or other objects.

The traffic pattern through the
room determines the furniture
layout.

The pattern can be changed to
some extent, but should still
follow a relatively unobstructed
path without dividing a seating

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group.

] try to avoid placing a sofa in
front of a window. The light from
the window can create glare for
the person seated across from the
sofa, and harsh shadows for the
person on the sofa.

A diagonal seating arrangement
might work better.

The view from the entrance or
from a seating group is often ideal
{o create a focal point. A window
with an interesting view can be
more attractive with just a collec-
tion of plants than with a full
window treatment.

The size and amount of fur-
niture is determined by the size of
the room.

Large pieces of furniture can
look awkward in a small room
and it is better to eliminate some
furniture than to try and fit
everything in.

In order to appear somewhat
smaller, large wall units can be
painted the same color as the wall.

Glass shelves, installed ona
mirrored wall and highlighted with
spotlights, do not take up as much
visual space as wood shelving.

Glass coffee tables seem to
“float”? in space rather than oc-
cupy it,

See Experiment page 48

Photo submitted

YOUR LIFESTYLE and the intended use of the space are the main

criteria in developing a functional space plan for a room or home. -

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