Interior design elements are vital in creating the appropriate atmosphere for a space. There are, however, a number of different factors that go into accomplishing this goal. Key factors include general zoning, colour choice and lighting and, while the latter two aspects gain most of the attention, the zoning element is often not used to its greatest potential.
While physical architectural zoning is an obvious way to separate areas according to their function or the designer’s wishes, an increasingly creative trend has seen colour used to differentiate different areas from one another, creating very different atmospheres depending on colour choice and delivery.
La Ville de Pins in Seoul, South Korea makes valuable use of this design technique. Designed by BANG by MIN, the 306 square metre restaurant is described by design leader Sae Min Oh as being atmospherically segregated with gold colourings used to zone the public space, orange for semi-public and purple for the strictly private area.
“I wanted to express the spatial harmony of East and West,” says Min Oh. “I think Eastern spaces follow the world of harmony and have the more delicate components, while the Western spaces follow that of control and order. I wanted Korea and France with the concepts different from each other to strike the balance between them and to be one as another world.”
Acting to further balance out this colour use is the stark white exterior and monochrome interior base colour palate.
Woods Bagot’s Sydney UTS Law Facility development also uses the principle of zoning through the use of colour. Designing the interiors for an informal teaching and learning zone at the Sydney-based University, the designers chose to use floor carpet tiles in colours that respond to natural surroundings, such as greens and browns, on all major surfaces in order to distinctly separate various learning areas without physical architectural blocks.
This type of creative alternative to traditional zoning methods allows for design that is not limited by internal architecture, and for the creation of a strong and specific atmosphere to be created.
