Planning is a cornerstone of designing interior spaces, yet the complexity of planning to predict and accommodate the future actions, behaviours, and needs of would-be occupants is rarely resolved. In 1978, Robin Evans showed us that the ‘moral geography’ of the plan had a mercurial relationship with the composition of interior spaces and that the ordinary, unassuming, and unexamined elements of domestic interiors change in time to reflect our emergent social values. At the same time, Manfredo Tafuri’s analysis of the endless interiors in Piranesi’s Il Campo Marzio dell’antica Roma ichnographia engraving showed us that the unprescribed interpretation of the plan was the only way to surpass the well-intentioned mistakes of functional and utopian idealism.

The 2025 issue of Idea Journal sought contributions that explored the history, theory, practice, and futures of unplanned interiors. In opposition to the aesthetic idealisation of interior compositions in the commercial contexts of department stores, lifestyle magazines, and presentation drawings, it asked authors to consider the un-ideal interior. How do interior spaces work in ways that are unplanned, unforeseen, and unintended? What do instances of human action exceeding the prescriptive ideas of the plan tell us about who we are, our emergent social and moral values, and where these values are going? In the contexts of rising climate and political uncertainty, what is the significance of agility, temporality, and openness to change needed for new approaches to interior planning?

Authors were encouraged to use text-based research essays to offer new knowledge on how unplanned interiors reflect the social and cultural conditions of their time. They were also invited to use image-based research essays to respond to, comment on, and convey ideas of unplanned spatial practices.