Room in Context: Design Without Boundaries

by Katherine Benzel

Synopsis
This work concerns the interrelationship of the design professional - interior design, architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning. It positions rooms, building, landscape and city in a common context in which the needs of the individual and of society must be addressed in similar ways. It shows designers how to think and to design beyond the boun daries of their chosen professions. Issues of social use, spatial relationships and humanistic goals, as well as more formal topics such as shape, light, colour and material are addressed. The book confronts the key how and why issues of environmental design and applies them to the design of healthy buildings in which to live and work and outdoor spaces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

From the Back Cover
"It's about time that someone who understands the relationship between interior spaces, their envelope, the landscape, and the community is willing to tackle the subject in a more humanistic approach." St. Clair. the Room in context is an insightful treatment of the exchange between interior and exterior, a design theory that links autonomous inner and outer spaces. The room relates in function, form, and meaning to the architecture of the building that houses it, the cityscape, and the landscape. All of these environments, or "spaces," are necessarily connected to each other through the continuity of time, movement, materials, views, and the human life within. The heritage of civilized architecture has always recognized this continuity. Now, Benzel gives architects, designers, and urban planners the theoretical framework to think and plan holistically, beyond the boundaries of their own professions, to create a harmonious and organic sense of place that nurtures the people who inhabit it. Benzel uses case studies to bring this design theory to life, covering issues of social use. . .spatial relationships. . .designing in context. . .humanistic goals. . .integrated design. . .and more formal topics such as form, light, color, and materials. The Room in Context is a unique guide for professionals and students who want to design rooms that have a harmonious relationship to the world beyond their walls.