When you begin an architectural project, you consider what your finished building will look like, whether it’s a refurbishment of a historic town house, a new dream country home, or a hotel or hospitality venue. As far as the interior goes, you will want its ambiance to appeal, the flow to work, and your style or brand to come across in a stylish way.
You will probably hire an architect for this process. But at the initial discussion, design and planning stage, if the discipline of architecture does not holistically coexist alongside the discipline of interior architecture, you may not fully achieve those interior ambiance goals successfully. To understand why, let’s look at the difference between the two disciplines and why you need both.
Architecture vs interior architecture explained
Architecture is about designing the whole building — how it looks from the outside, how it fits into its surroundings, and how the overall structure works. Architects think about how the building will be used, how people will move through it, and how to make it safe, sustainable, and visually striking.
Interior architecture focuses on what happens inside the building — how the spaces feel, how they function, and how they support daily life. Interior architects design and plan spaces, choose materials, and create atmospheres that make interiors comfortable, practical and beautiful.
In simple terms, architecture shapes the building itself, and interior architecture shapes how people experience the spaces inside. Both are essential and can influence each other; neither should be dominant. The goal is to create buildings that not only look good but also feel great to be in and use.
The skills involved to practice the two disciplines of architecture and interior architecture are different.
Architect’s Skills — Shaping the Whole Building
– Designing the building’s form, mass, shape and style
– Navigating planning laws and building regulations
– Designing for energy efficiency and sustainability
– Managing the construction process
– Analysing the site, considering sunlight, views, access, and how the building connects to its surroundings
Interior Architect’s Skills — Shaping Interior Spaces
– Planning space, room layouts, flow and circulation
– Designing with people and intended use in mind, thinking about how the occupants live, work, and feel in the space
– Choosing materials, finishes, and colours for ambiance and durability
– Designing lighting schemes, including how natural and artificial light work and interact
– Custom designing internal features, like built-in furniture, kitchens, staircases, and storage, as well as wall treatments, partitions, ceilings, and joinery
We believe that if you run these two disciplines in tandem you are much more likely to achieve your goals of both a beautiful building, and a successful interior.
In this largescale new build country house, we were able to set the scale and flow of rooms up well from the outset, by designing both interior and exterior architecture at the same time. This means that we included a bar in the right place, getting the flow exactly right for the party and public rooms. So often, certain spaces become an afterthought, whether they’re a hallway, utility room, bar, or gym, leading to them being unsuccessful in some way. We consider each as important as the main living spaces, with scale and flow at the forefront of our planning, and using a consistent design feel between external and internal details.
In this grand sporting lodge, we set up the interior to flow seamlessly from the impressive entrance to the entertaining space, with pleasing consistency between the external architecture and the traditional-style interior, with its dominant symmetry. This sets the tone for the entire interior, affecting one’s mood on entering the building.
In all of the new build projects featured above we have been both architects and interior architects. Each discipline has been executed in synergy with the other, influencing the other to create a complete design that just makes sense, inside and out.
All too often, we are brought in to solve problems that stem from fundamentally poor design. The issues include awkward circulation, rooms in the wrong places, lack of flow, dark and oppressive spaces, or large public rooms intended to be luxurious and impressive but that fail because of low ceilings and poor proportions.
We’ve all experienced these kinds of spaces — and they feel uncomfortable for a reason. Most of the problems could have been avoided by bringing in the right expertise at the right stage of the design process — which is as early as possible.
At Thomas Robinson Architects we want our clients to achieve the best buildings possible. Our motto is that we design buildings that make people happy; that may sound simple, but it’s achieved via an alchemy involving architecture and interior architecture. We all know the feeling of entering a great space — we have the knowhow to make those spaces. When we do this, we achieve beyond our clients’ goals and objectives. We are committed to the best possible outcome for our clients, which is why we practice both architecture and interior architecture disciplines, working in tandem on every project. A building’s success is set early on in the architecture journey, and carefully considered interior architecture is a crucial part of that journey.
We’re happy to discuss any architectural project you have in mind. Contact us today >
