Modelling the Interior: opening up the doll’s house

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Jul 20, 2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37113/ideaj.vi0.142
Keywords:
Domestic interior Spatial design Interior design

Main Article Content

Ana Araujo
University College London
Ro Spankie
University of Westminster

Abstract




Unlike the architecture that contains it, the domestic interior is not a solid entity, nor is it empty space. Rather, it is a fluid mobile field, filled with the detail of everyday life. Organic and self-organising by nature, the interior provides an enigmatic site for design research and innovation.


One of the problems facing the designer in discussing the domestic interior is the inability to represent it in three dimensions. What is needed is a modelling tool that shifts the focus from form to function, from whole to the fragment, from walls to wallpaper. This paper proposes to retrieve the doll’s house from the toy cupboard and re-examine it as a potential ‘modelling tool’ for interpreting and fabricating the domestic interior. Using a series of case-studies, we propose to use the doll’s house, firstly, as a critical tool to analyse the possible role of the model in the interior. Secondly, we propose to look at ways that the fabrication of a doll’s house might engage the student or designer in a process of making that is comparable to the practice of interior design.




Article Details

How to Cite
Araujo, Ana, and Ro Spankie. 2009. “Modelling the Interior:: Opening up the doll’s House”. idea journal 9 (1):62-71. https://doi.org/10.37113/ideaj.vi0.142.
Issue
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2009): Interior Territories
Section
text-based research essay

Author/s and or their institutions retain copyright ownership over works submitted to idea journal, and provide the Interior Design / Interior Architecture Educators Association with a non–exclusive license to use the work for the purposes listed below:

  • Make available/publish electronically on the idea journal website
  • Publish as part of idea journal's online open access publications
  • Store in electronic databases, on websites and CDs/DVDs, which comprise of post-publication articles to be used for publishing by the Interior Design / Interior Architecture Educators Association.

Reproduction is prohibited without written permission of the publisher, the author/s or their nominated university. The work submitted for review should not have been published or be in the process of being reviewed by another publisher. Authors should ensure that any images used in their essays have copyright clearance.

Author Biographies

Ana Araujo, University College London

Ana Araujo practises in London as a designer, an educator and a researcher. she teaches at the Bartlett school of Architecture, UCL, and at the Chelsea College of Art & Design. Ana is also the co-founder of Atelier Domino (www.atelierdomino.com). Ana is interested in the use of textiles as a means to humanize institutional settings – health-care environments in particular. her practice engages traditional, craft-based methods of fabrication such as weaving, embroidery, gilding and block printing. Ana’s work has recently been shown in exhibitions in berlin, Amsterdam and London.

Ro Spankie, University of Westminster

Ro Spankie has worked as an architect and furniture designer as well as an academic. she is currently establishing the new Interior Architecture Degree at the University of Westminster. Fascinated by the role of the drawing in the design process, she has exhibited and published work related to the interior both in the UK and abroad. her book ‘Drawing Out the Interior’ published by AVA Academia came out in the spring of 2009.