Design Speak lets you in on a some industry lingo so that you will sound oh-so-smart. From abbreviations to acronyms to phrases to trendy words, we’ll do our best to cover it, and we’ll do it in language you’ll understand.
In the high-flying times, people are more likely to purchase an older and/or smaller home and just tear it down in an instant to make room for something newer and bigger. With people holding onto their wallets more tightly and with the increasing focus on sustainable issues like energy conservation and waste reduction, more homeowners and homebuyers are realizing the advantages of “unbuilding” rather than tearing down. Though it takes more time (i.e., money) to carefully disassemble a house than to use a bulldozer to wipe a lot clean, the salvageable parts can be incorporated into the owner’s new home, donated to non-profit organizations, and/or sold to rebuilding centers, who then resale them to the public and contractors. The bonus side effect is that less waste makes it to your local landfill.
(pronounced UHN-der-kroft) This medieval term refers to the space – either subterranean or above ground – under a castle, church, chapel, etc. Undercrofts were used to store items and service the building and are often vaulted and lined with brick.
Exactly what it sounds like: warm, toasty heat radiating from what would otherwise be a cold, toe-curling floor. But how to achieve? Sink hot water pipes or electric heating cables near the upper surface of a concrete floor slab or in the screed that sits on top. There’s nothing as luxurious as getting out of the shower, grabbing a warm towel from the warming rack and stepping onto a heated floor. Just like sitting in First Class, you’ll never want to go back.
An essential term because it will show up on many itemized invoices in your future design industry career. The unit cost (or unit price) is a fixed price for a measurable quantity of work to be performed or for an item to be supplied. If the former, the unit price would include all associated labor, equipment and materials. If the latter, it can be a single item or an entire lot containing a set amount of items.
When many of us hear this term, we think of it primarily as design for those with physical disabilities, but it is actually much more comprehensive than that. In her philosophy behind the Universal Design Living Laboratory, Rosemarie Rosetti used the definition of universal design as given by Ronald Mace: “The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.” She went on to explain the Principles of Universal Design: Equitable use, Flexibility in use, Simple and intuitive use, Perceptible information, Tolerance for error, Low physical effort, and Size and space for approach and use. In other words, universal design is design to accommodate a universe of people: from children to the elderly, from the short to the tall, from the able-bodied to the physically and mentally challenged.
See also: Design For All, transgenerational design
Almost all patterned fabrics are designed to be used “up the bolt,” meaning that the fabric is to be applied exactly as it is manufactured on the bolt because the pattern’s design runs from side to side across the fabric’s width as it is unrolled. If the “canvas” accepting the fabric is wider than the fabric’s width, then seams will be required to keep the pattern’s design running in the intended direction. If, however, seams are not acceptable and the fabric’s pattern won’t be badly compromised by doing so, the fabric can be railroaded – i.e., applied perpendicularly from the way it appears on the roll.
Let’s start off by saying that we have to admit that we don’t exactly know why commercial real estate calculation terms like this are always capitalized like German nouns. Maybe it’s so that they are recognized as official terms and not just casual phrases. Calculating different types of square footage is a big deal, you know. In fact, it was only in April 2008 that the International Facility Association (IFMA) and Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) announced a common definition for floor area measurements. This meeting of the minds was quite welcome because it should make it easier for companies that own or lease a wide array of buildings to define their space more accurately, which obviously affects them financially in a variety of ways. But we digress… Usable Square Footage is considered “the area contained within the demising walls of the tenant space.” To calculate the total Usable Square Footage, then multiply Net Square Footage by the Circulation Factor or, more simply, add the Net Square Footage to the circulation space. See the other terms listed below – it’ll help you sort this out.
See also: demising wall, Net Square Footage, Circulation Factor, Building Common Area
To bridge the gap between the student / educational community and the professional / manufacturer community of the interior design world, and not to die of boredom while we do it.
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ASID is proud to announce the winners of the 10th Annual Student Design Competition: Repurpose for Today. The Grand Prize goes to Molly Sherman of Pratt Institute for "Wheels of Empowerment: Mobile Learning Environment for Migrant Workers". Honorable Mention goes to Kelsey Conroy of Virginia Tech, Misty Brecht of Anderson University, and Sarah Yacko of Ball State University.
GO HERE to see the winning projects.
Enough Said T-Shirts
Created by a couple of Milwaukee interior designers with a quirky sense of humor, a healthy dose of sarcasm and a heaping serving of caring. Check out Enough Said to find fun t-shirts with a message.
