It’s often said that good clients with a clear brief and the appropriate budget make for good design and successful construction projects. I was at the opening of such a project recently. Its design had encouraged adventurous use of materials, and the contractors had been up to the challenge. The result, a beautiful interior.

The care taken over detailing relatively standard materials was impressive, and enhanced the well thought-out public and private spaces of the building, each functioning well for the needs of staff and visitors using it. I admired the way each material’s structure, colour, texture and volume was used to good effect, helping improve both sound and light requirements.

Flat wood-based panels had been ingeniously cut using a five-axis CNC router, the design dependent completely on the accuracy of the process, turning everyday materials into subtle and intriguing forms. Partitions for instance, became self-supporting thanks to their shape. Their design also provided a neat, practical solution to cable management and sound deadening.

Where innovative use of new products and materials met more traditional practice, it did so without compromise. The brief also required environmentally-sound solutions, using low voltage lighting, and air quality management. As a whole, the scheme functioned with wit and style and the building was a pleasure to be in.

Design contrast

I left thinking that interior design in 2008 was really benefiting from latest developments in materials and computer software. But then I entered a nearby sub post office to send a recorded delivery item which needed weighing and a customs certificate. Half a pace inside I joined the very long queue which snaked its way to the counter, double-backing several times.

Standing in this dreary non-contact conga afforded me more time than I really wanted to look around and I soon appreciated that, in terms of interiors, I’d gone from the sublime to the definitely sub-standard.

Materials were poorly chosen, there was a lack of craftsmanship and inappropriate, almost vulgar surfaces had been used throughout. Even imitation marble kitchen tops had been made into shelves for unlucky customers to fill out forms. The lack of design was making this visit to the post office a grim experience and I started to feel sorry for the staff. Most depressing of all, this was clearly a relatively newly refurbished space.

What also struck me was the amount of material that had been used. For instance, stud walling featured glass apertures, heavily framed in yet more crudely finished timber. Lack of design meant more material being used in a very ugly way.

This very ‘sub’ post office was the antithesis of the interior I had just visited, even though they faced roughly the same demands in terms of flow of people. So why in 2008 was there such a disparity?

Clearly the first project was well-funded and used good design from the outset, while the second was done on a tight budget without a designer. The received wisdom is that well-funded experimental, or avant-garde design and use of new materials eventually does trickle down to benefit less well-funded schemes, but this does not happen nearly enough.

Precision

What interested me about the good scheme was how it used basic off-the-production-line materials like composite wood panels, glass, laminates and tiles, then transformed them with great precision. This was made possible by CAD technology, sophisticated machinery and experts who knew how to use it. Materials were used thoughtfully, so the result was that less was used, with the added benefit of reducing the amount of energy consumed in the whole project.

The onus on how materials are combined and manipulated is generally with the designer. However, less well-funded schemes also seem to suffer from a lack of information, thought and access to the latest technology.

Perhaps this is where material suppliers could help, mainly by looking at the possibilities of combining their products with others. It could enhance their effectiveness, cut waste and reduce delivery cost. And they could also make it easier for smaller schemes to access their computer programs and machinery.

Maybe what I’m proposing is a new service, a service provided by manufacturers and suppliers that will add value to their existing products by disseminating the problem-solving knowledge and experience gained by others. The result would be more joint ventures between supplier and end user, resulting in better interiors that use fewer resources.