Interiors Lead for Grimshaw Architects, Amanda York, says she has always been drawn to ambitious, large-scale cultural and community projects.
Some of the prominent, large-scale projects she has led in interior design include the Optus Stadium in Perth and Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. She says while such projects can be initially overwhelming and “demanding on so many different levels,” they are incredibly rewarding at the end.
“If I take Optus Stadium in Perth as an example, to be honest, it was daunting to begin with. It’s such a large project in terms of its scale… It’s not square like a workplace tower; you have a radial grid and things that are unique, which you don’t come up against in other interior design projects,” Amanda says.
She approached the project by breaking it up into “small segments and manageable pieces,” beginning with the “overall design narrative,” then taking each space and area piece by piece and designing through that.
“It takes leadership… and because of the scale of the project and timeframes we needed to meet, we would need to be designing and then presenting the following week. It really can be fast paced,” she says.
In her 20 years as an interior designer, she says the fundamentals haven’t changed too much, but there is a greater focus on the human experience than there used to be.
“I emphasise the word ‘experience’ because there is a much greater expectation of what our buildings and public spaces are to provide,” she says.
“If I take a stadium as a perfect example, you used to go to the stadium to watch sport, and it really didn’t involve much else. These days, it’s about curated spaces. What’s the food and beverage offering? What’s the entertainment offering?”
Amanda says another key element of successful design projects is custom finishes.
“They are very important. I’d see them as crucial to the success of projects. As designers, if we select from what’s available, it’s been curated, designed, and considered for a broad market that needs to be something for everyone,” she says.
“But when we are designing projects, we’re quite specific. Without customisation, we would just be limiting ourselves, not really having a holistic design strategy.”
She says that nowadays, the manufacturing capabilities available make custom designs much quicker to produce.
“It’s not as challenging as it was previously. And it’s being done more often, so the cost has come down. It’s more of a standard proposition on projects of the scale that I’ve been involved in.”
Overall, Amanda says interior design has become more artistic and more creative, with finer attention to detail.
“Our clients are far more sophisticated and in tune with design than they used to be. There is an expectation that we create an experience for them that’s tailored to their ideas and brand and that it sets up that brand identity internally and externally.”
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