Architecture Vs. Interior Design

Updated on 2018-10-14

Two sides of the same coin, is probably the most appropriate proverb that define architecture and Interior design together. Drawing a parallel between the two would give acute differences that are related to the same aspect. Its like comparing skin and flesh, both part of the same identity, following similar functions to achieve a common goal yet belong to different genres. Theoretically both the departments are different but that’s just on papers. The difference bliurs out in reality. When we conceive a design, its not just about how it looks but also how it makes us feel. Let us have look on what brings them together and what takes them poles apart.

MAGNIFICENCE VS COMFORT

Every architect has unsaid ambition of building a structure that stands out in the crowd (wishing one day his name would), to craft a vision that may stand amongst other buildings but stand miles away metaphorically. On the contrary an interior designers challenge is to make us feel that all the spaces are in sync with each other and not deviating from our visual comfort. For both the approaches the aim is different. Architecture craves for magnificence while interiors for comfort. One wants to stand out while the other want to fit in.

Magnificence vs comfort

Image credit: Max Pixel

Comfort vs Magnificence

Image credit: Max Pixel

PUBLIC VS.PRIVATE

An unknown saying suggest that architects are hired to impress others while interior designers are hired to express oneself. We shall not get into what the idea behind that said but the functional use of architecture and interiors is quite opposite. While the architecture is supposed to be the public realm of the building, the interiors is the private part. The architecture has to follow the certain rules like in form of building bye laws because at the end it is a public structure while the interiors has its flexibility and is designed as per the whims of a person.

Public vs private

Image credit: Max Pixel

public private

Image credit: Max Pixel

CHALLENGE

On one hand architecture faces certain limitations like the use of materials. It has to bear the grunt of the weather and the tantrums of surrounding structures, dictated by the bye laws and scrutinized by others. While the interiors gets some relaxation here. Apart from the regular glitches of protecting wood from water and the glass from the kids, the interiors has a wide scope to explore.

Challenge in buildings

Image credit: Max Pixel

challenges in apartment lights

Image credit: Max Pixel

RIGIDITY VS FLEXIBILITY

Architecture yearns for timelessness. It is the face and identity which is stands tall and is put to the test of time. One can like it or hate it but one cannot ignore it. Its rigid character goes beyond temporary glitches. That’s is not true for the interiors. It gives the flexibility to remodel itself with the change of time. The trends change and evolve and the interior is not afraid to walk the tides of transmission.

Rigidity vs flexibility

Image credit: Max Pixel

Flexibility in architecture

Image credit: Max Pixel

MASSING VS DETAILING

Almost every architect or graduate has been tutored by the faculty to focus on the massing of the building he designs. Coherently architecture majorly is about the massing of the building. While the detailing is the interiors. The panache of the building is carried forward by the interiors and as they say god is in the details, the massing is defined by the detailing. Both the aspects are extensions of each other. One is incomplete without the other.

Massive vs detailing