Humans of interiors – diversity by design

Within the disciplines of Interior Architecture and Design, visual depiction of spaces is a powerful tool to communicate use, users and qualities of the designed/proposed spaces. With a mixture of techniques we can produce images capable of plunging viewers directly into these imagined spaces. Visual depictions of people demonstrate social norms and values, teaching viewers how the world works and their place within it via symbolic socialisation. Such visualisations, so provocative and seductive, are carefully designed to communicate the atmosphere that the designer is aiming to create, but if they fail to include a fair representation of the people those spaces are designed for, they misrepresent the aim of the project. This distinct lack of diversity and inclusivity within visuals is indicative of both a lack of consideration of the existence of people who are not the same as the designers themselves (who are overwhelmingly young, white and able- bodied1) and an equally problematic lack of understanding of the needs of these populations. The paper is the account of a collaboration, a research project and a series of workshops conducted over the last few years by the University of Lincoln and Middlesex University London. Humans of Interiors/Diversity by Design aims at promoting a discussion across education and industry on the impact that visualization has on the representation of future spaces and whom these spaces are addressed and designed for: a discourse about social sustainability of spatial design. The research activities underpinning Humans of Interiors/Diversity by Design and the workshops devised internationally, help establish EDI as an integral part of the design process and enable participants to apply their own critically reflective knowledge and understanding of these principles to the development of their design.

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Murialdo, Francesca , Thomas, Peter, Elvin, Rosie and McKenzie, Kirsten (2022) Humans of interiors – diversity by design. In: Adil, Zain, ed., AMPS Proceedings Series 28.1. A Focus on Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning and Research in the Modern Academy, Virtual, 20-22 Apr 2022, pp. 173-184 https://amps-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Amps-Proceeding...
The published paper is reproduced with permission of the publisher