I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your speech at Louisiana Tech University [March 27, 2008]. It was very informative. I love your e-mag too. Thanks for the wonderful information you provided us, and I hope you have great success! - Mari Demint, Louisiana Tech University
Have a burning question that you want answered other than “Is it really against the rules to wear white after Labor Day?" Then email us at contact@plinthandchintz.com, and be sure to put ASK ME in the subject line. Due to the volume of questions and/or the obscurity of your particular question, we may not get to it in the next issue, but we'll do our best to keep up.
I am an interior design student, and I have an essay to do. After reading the piece on Irving Schwartz I thought you might know where I should look for these answers. The question is "Discuss your views on the employment of one or more designers to produce a building which is well designed both internally and externally. Should there be a need for more than one designer? If there should be, how will their work be coordinated? Should all interior designers be qualified architects? Can you please send me the names of some sights that can help me answer my questions. Thank you for any help you send me - I am going crazy trying to answer this question.(submitted by Maysan Nass) As answered by Laura McDonald, IIDA / ASID, and Robert Nieminen [Editor, Interiors & Sources]
I am an interior design student, and I have an essay to do. After reading the piece on Irving Schwartz I thought you may know where I should look for these answers. The question is " Discuss your views on the employment of one or more designers to produce a building which is well designed both internally and externally. Should there be a need for more than one designer? If there should be, how will their work be coordinated? Should all interior designers be qualified architects? Can you please send me the names of some sights that can help me answer my questions. Thank you for any help you send me - I am going crazy trying to answer this question. (submitted by Maysan Nass)
That is a pretty hefty topic, but we hope that we can help point you in the right direction.
Irv Schwartz is actually working on a piece (or series of pieces) for us having to do with the designer / architect relationship, but I'm not sure when they are going to be finished and released. In the meantime, I think the best place for you to research is Interiors & Sources Magazine.
They have archives of all sorts of great articles having to do with the tension and collaboration between designers and architects, as well interior design legislation issues. You may have to dig, but I'm sure you'll find some information that you can use.
You can also reference my series of articles having to do with interior design legislation and the dynamic between decorators, designers and architects. Read them in order, but Part 3 might be the most helpful. They are all under THE "REAL" REAL WORLD section, but here are direct links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
I hope this helps you at least a little bit. Irv Schwartz is one architect that truly understands the important and valuable differences in focus between designers and architects, but many architects don't. If you want to get some idea of what many architects tend to believe, you may want to look at these articles from summer 2000. I doubt that opinion has changed much then.
We hope these help. The best of luck with your essay!
Answer by: Laura McDonald, IIDA / ASID Founder of PLiNTH & CHiNTZ
NOTE: When contacted by PLiNTH & CHiNTZ, Robert Nieminen, Editor of Interiors & Sources, generously provided this extra information:
An article the student might want to read in terms of hiring one or more designers for a project is the IIDA Forum article from our September 2005 issue. Unfortunately, it is not online yet. The magazine was recently sold to another publisher and they have put a freeze on posting new content to the web site until they finish a total redesign. Let me know if there's anything else I can do.
The September 2005 issue of Interiors & Sources is out on shelves now, so be sure to pick up a copy.
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