February is the month during which we’re craving more light. Although the days are getting longer, Spring can’t come soon enough. The snow, shoveled into piles that hover seven feet high above our driveway, have been demoralizing. Today the sun made an appearance, making the snow dazzlingly bright. The high light reflectance off the snow reminded me of how we use color and light reflectance when we design our interiors. In an overwhelmingly gray environment, typical of the raw concrete buildings of Paul Rudolf at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and also of the gray cube farms of companies like Cisco Systems, bright white and bold color can be used to bring that startling, dazzling, happy feeling that we got today right at the end of our driveway on a rare sunny day in winter.
First three images Leslie Saul and Associates. Final photograph Paul Rudolph The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Interiors
The Most Ancient of Design Features Still Warms Our Hearts
We’ve been talking about warmth recently here on the blog.
One day in the distant past an unnamed hunter-gatherer suggested moving the fire from deep inside the cave to just outside the cave opening. That way the cave would stop filling up with smoke. Plus, the neighbors wouldn’t be able to see everything they were doing inside the cave after dark.
And that was the birth of the interior design profession.
Fireplaces seldom now serve the original function of heating homes or providing heat for cooking, but there is no more potent design feature to create a sense of comfort, coziness, or emotional (as well as literal) warmth.
When it comes to designing a home, the living area is the first place we think of to include a fireplace.
But fireplaces work well in other rooms, too.
A fireplace also provides opportunities to add different materials and textures to an interior. And, as in this case, a fireplace can add vertical drama to the room.
Nor does a fireplace have to be inside. (You’ve seen this fire pit before.)
Nor do they have to be particularly traditional.
If you have an idea for a fireplace, or just the warm atmosphere you want to create in your next design project, let’s talk.
Call Leslie Saul & Associates at 617-234-5300.
Let the Sun Light the Space
We’ve talked here about how light really sets the tone for an interior space. Light has the power to energize or comfort. And even if the lighting of a space isn’t the main visual element, it’s the light that carries the colors and textures of the space to your eye.
The very dynamic use of light– much of it from the sun– is what sets the headquarters of the International Fund for Wildlife Welfare (IFAW) apart from other corporate spaces.
Light from outside interacts beautifully with nature and animal themed images in the IFAW headquarters.
The American Institute of Architects named the IFAW building a Top Green Building for its eco-friendly design.
The blinds in the upper part of these gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows block the harshest and hottest of the sun’s rays, while still allowing lots of light into the building.
Placing corridors next to the windows and using reflectors on the ceilings greatly reduces the need for artificial lighting. This is one way the design achieved LEED certification.
The building took over a once polluted field in Yarmouthport, Massachusetts.
This project was spectacularly successful at reflecting the mission and values of IFAW.
Create a Magical Interior with Cove Lighting
Lighting is sometimes the last thing some people think about when imagining a new living space, but light is the visual foundation of a room. It’s the light that brings the room into our eyes, after all.
Cove lighting is a particularly effective way to create a warm atmosphere that’s always at least a little magical.
The idea of cove lighting is that is often above the eye line and often even hidden, so that the glow of the light is what’s infusing the room, rather than direct rays.
Even a sun room can benefit from cove lighting to warm the room.
This sort of indirect lighting isn’t intended for reading. But it can create an overall feeling of comfort and serenity that is quite effective in a work space.
Cove lighting doesn’t have to be warm.
Nor does it have to be subtle. The LEDs in this kitchen change color, putting on a veritable light show.
We’d love to discuss your next interior design project.
Give Lesile Saul & Associates a call at 617-234-5300.
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