Interior Residential Planning, Furnishings, and Materials

Buildings are inseparable from Interior Planning. The objective of this course is to design residential interiors. We will look at the Eastern Long Island residential architecture of Horace Gifford, Gwathmey Seigel, Norman Jaffe, Richard Meier, and Barbara and Julian Neski. The houses are all coastal and located between Fire Island and Montauk.  

The houses we will study were originally built as “beach houses” during the early 60’s through the late 70’s.  You will design both summer/weekend getaways and primary residences depending on the new occupant/s of the home.  We will study the reuse of these homes through renovation and preservation of the interiors in the context of increasing real estate and land values on the east end of Long Island.

A client for each project will be identified.  A written brief will be developed to guide planning and design thinking for the interior of each home and to meet the needs of the new contemporary resident/s.
Students will work individually and in groups. Students will create plans, elevations, renderings, models, material boards and other appropriate presentation methods to elaborate the projects and obtain client approvals.  Teamwork and presentation skills will be emphasized and are part of student evaluation.

The planning exercises will be reinforced through the study of modern and contemporary furniture, textiles, color, and materials for interior specification.

Teams will participate in the critique of each other’s work. The review, comparison, and editing of the projects will help each team gain insight, define similarities and differences, and establish overall themes in planning. A midterm and final project will be assigned and reviewed by a jury of external of professionals.