The Space There - Reinterpretations for the Future. A Case Study of the Diploma Projects at the Interior Architecture Specialization, Faculty of Interior Architecture

Architecture is a field of creativity. One might think that having to work with an existing building would limit it. In fact, I think the exact opposite.

Even when we build something from scratch, one does not have a literally “white canvas”. One has all kind of limitations. From the context, the urban regulations to the budget and client’s preferences, the project brief is full of constraints that the architect has to respect and include into the project. In working with an existing building, the “canvas” is even more challenging. Just as a haute couture designer is inspired to create when they see a particular fabric, an architect can imagine a variety of solutions for it when working with an existing building.

Since the competence of the interior architect is limited by law to the interior of a building, it is most often necessary to work with a fellow architect, because working on a building, and usually modifying the architectural program, is not possible without adapting the exterior as well. But that is another discussion.

After almost 20 years of working individually on a site/ building, the last few years have brought a different dynamic, changes in the diploma project process have made it resemble an architectural competition. Given a site/building, several students have to work on it in the Foundation Study phase, and then each one has to come up with a different architectural program and/or a personal approach to the building and the project.

The recent experience of having ten, then seven students working on the same listed site and three on another site has shown that, with a correct and creative approach, different solutions can be obtained for the same site. It is obvious that some of them could overlap, at least partially, as an architecture program, for example, but, in the end, the goal is to differentiate approaches, to show that having multiple answers to the same problem is not a matter of right or wrong, but of being creative and innovative. The quality and the originality of the projects are in the hands of future architects.