GROUP MEMBERS : LILLIAN TAN AI JUN ALAN CHUNG JIAZEN NG WYN JANE LEE KAILYN NGIENG TIEN YUNG OOI YIN JI

TUTOR : MISS NOORUL IFFA MOHD NAYAN

WHAT IS

INTERIOR DESIGN ?

HISTORY

WHITE SPADE SDN. BHD.

LAU JING CHENG

3D VISUALISATION

COSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

SERAI SAUJANA

WHAT IS INTERIOR DESiGN ?

Interior design is the art or process of designing the interior decoration of a room or building. An interior designer is someone who coordinates and manages such projects. Interior design is a multifaceted profession that includes conceptual development, communicating with the stakeholders of a project and the management and execution of the design.

According to Mr JC Lau, “style, color, mood, harmony, contrast, comfort, convenience and fit are likely to come to mind when considering a new design. Interior design concerns itself with more than just the visual or ambient enhancement of an interior space, however. It seeks to optimize and harmonize the uses to which the interior environment will be put.”

" As an interior designer, it's not just about picking out colors and fabrics to make a space more beautiful; interior designers also have to concern themselves with everything that needs to take place in order to meet a client’s needs and make them happy. That means interior designers must work on a strict deadline and make sure all of the work is completed on time. Facilitating all aspects of a project to ensure success means that the interior designer must deal with a number of key people in order to accomplish what the designer and client originally set out as important goals to be met in creating a new design. "

What does it mean to

be an

Interior Designer ?

The designer must work with the painters, wallpaper designers, electricians, furniture manufacturers, fabric wholesalers and others as needed to make the design process seem effortless and stress free. This aspect of being an interior designer is not well-known by those who are considering becoming an interior designer. Unless you personally know an interior designer or take part in doing some informational interviewing, there are many aspects of the job that are unknown to those considering a profession in the field.

" Interior design is about creating a beautiful, comfortable space that makes the best of what a home initially offers and improving on those not-so-nice aspects like poor natural lighting or funky room layout that many homes have but few people know how to work with this to make the space more appealing. "

- JC Lau -

Creating a beautiful design...

"Beautiful homes don’t generally just

happen, they usually are created."

So, what are the things needed to be considered in

interior designing?

the Space While designing the overall space of a home, the individual rooms are one of the main thing that an interior designer will consider . What are the dimensions of the space and how was it constructed are the key questions that an interior designer will need to answer before they can move on towards their next step. What are the limitations of the space and what is its potential? What will the space be used for – relaxation, family, entertaining, or business?

Is the space designated for entertainment and family time such as a family room or is it a place to pay bills and conduct business? Some of the practical considerations that should be considered are the lighting, the sound, seating arrangements, and identifying other needs such as requiring a place for storage and a workspace that ideally stimulates the senses.

Health and safety concerns are also taken into consideration when designing a specific space or home. To address these needs the designer must learn about the needs of its inhabitants and identify what amenities would be appropriate in better meeting the client’s needs. Are there certain psychological or behavioral needs of the occupants that should be address in the overall planning of the design and is there an environmental impact on the way that the design is created?

Interior Design VS Interior Decorating

What's the DIFFERENCE ?

Many people use the terms "interior design" and "interior decorating" interchangeably but although some of the functions may cross there is a significant difference. Interior designers must be able to apply creative solutions to the space they are trying to design. Interior designers must have the technical expertise to know the vast array of options that they can apply to any one space. The goal of an interior designer is to work to improve the surroundings and the quality of life of its occupants. Interior design is about both art and science and how to use these two disciplines in creating a beautiful outcome.

Interior decorating is mainly about using various forms of color and accents to make a particular space more visually appealing. Arranging objects such as art, photos, pillows, floral arrangements and other things that make the best of the space that is already available. Interior decorating is strictly about the art and the science is left to the designer.

The HISTORY Of Interior Design

The Beginning

The earliest evidence dates back to when early prehistoric humans first started to settle and either found or built up stable communities using elemental tools. Although the focus back then was function and necessity, the fact that these cave men used to decorate their dwellings with basic drawings could lead us to believe that interior design and looking after our homes is actually a primal instinct as well as a sign of our intelligence. Tribes to this day still use natural materials such as wood, mud and animal skins to fashion themselves a comfortable and functional home.

Egyptians, Greeks and Romans

Egyptians were known for their ornate murals which acted at beautiful documents that detailed their beliefs, history and way of life. Life was a mix of stark parallels for the Ancient Egyptians. While many workers lived in primitive houses, the magnificent buildings they are best known for were usually for one ruler or a royal family to signify their wealth and to please their gods. This early civilisation set the trend for superb, ornate interior design in the name of religion which is still plays a big part in society today.

After Ancient Egypt fell to the Romans and Greeks, cities were drastically changed due to the Greek and Roman tastes in architectural style. Democracy and a more civilised way of life allowed normal citizens to show their personal tastes through interior design. The Greeks in particular employed strict rules for constructing their massive, pillared buildings and often used beautiful vases and paintings in their homes.

Design progression in Europe

After these influential periods in history, other distinctive design styles emerged in Europe, particularly Gothic architecture alongside the indulgent beauty seen during the Italian Renaissance. Again, the focus for many large scale buildings was based around religion with carvings, tapestries and murals which stretched over entire ceilings and walls. Beauty and function were equally important.

18th and 19th centuries

From Baroque’s artistic exaggeration to the industrial revolution to Art Deco and Art Nouveau, interior design opened up to the common man, as fashion magazines and prints hit the shelves during the industrial revolution. Interior design was influenced by a mixture of styles from around the world as travel became more accessible. This eventually led to the age of eclecticism which drew these styles together to create personality and character.

20th and 21st century

Modernism and post-modernism soon followed. Designers became famous faces rather than behind the scenes workers. As countries recovered from war, there was a return to prosperity and a large influx in suburban sprawls. More people started to indulge in interior design as a form of escapism and personal interest. Makeover shows such as Changing Rooms also started to influence our homes and old, vintage styles were starting to be revived.

Today, it can be fair to say that we are still in an eclecticism era, as old vintage continues to be teamed with modern features. After thousands of years of groundwork, people can now play and experiment with a whole host of styles to create their perfect homes. Rather than uniformity, interior design is now fast paced with seasonal trends and forecasts for the coming year.

White Spade Sdn. Bhd., an interior design studio and company started in 2012, which has already been 2 years until now, 2014. “ It all started from a scratch, just like a piece of white paper, waiting to be filled and coloured with sparkles and shines, ” said the director of White Spade Sdn Bhd., Mr. JC Lau when he was asked about the meaning behind the name given to his company.

The logo is made out of the alphabet ‘W’ and ‘S’, the ‘S’ is enlarged so that it looks like a spade. As for the background, which is white in colour, it means clean and pure, allowing creativity and brainstorming to run as wild as one can. While the word “Spade”, “it’s just like a digger, we want to dig deeper, and go as deep as we can to the bottom ground and build a base, a foundation, which is strong enough to maximize each and every interior designer’s creativity in our company,” said Mr. JC Lau.

DIRECTOR

Mr JC Lau

PARTNERSHIP

Mr Awang

DRAWING TEAM - Consists of 10 workers - Produce rough sketch according to client’s requirements - Present sketch and conceptual drawing for clients

DESIGNING TEAM

- Consists of 10 workers - Produce 3D visualization - In charged in material & colour selection

FINANCIAL TEAM

- Consists of 10 workers - Control the finance & budget of the company - Manage the expenses of the company

ORGANISATION CHART

Although it has only been 2 years of operation and business, but White Spade had accepted and accomplished around 20-30 or more projects from different backgrounds, such as the residential area, mini shoplot, single rooms, furniture design and a 18-storey-hotel-building. Check out the photos of the completed projects below and be prepared to be amazed by their simple yet stylish and stunning design !

Residential area at The Hills, Seremban

A trigonometry design of the triangular lighting that matches with the chair, giving it a sparks of uniqueness out of a simplicity and grey tone surrounding.

The Sombre Tone Grey is most favored by modern designers. Concrete, stainless and flagstones --- natural grey materials. Why the grey tone ? Modernists believe that only dull colours in the absence of furnishings can show the true beauty of the space and best serve the functionality. In Tadao Andro’s theory, the first thing the eyes come into contact with is plain concrete wall. The same goes for the interios-natural coloured floor showing light veins, huge windows with black frames, and furniture of grey cotton and wood. The entire created space is unadorned and spacious.

“Let the space speaks for

itself ”

- JC Lau -

People are welcomed to discover the beauty of a building without ostentatious influences --- a typical modernistic style.

What is the GOAL of White Spade ?

“ Our goal is to apply and promote healthy

practice, that is to have the core of ethics and business morality rather than focusing on the profits that we could make. Besides, we respect every designer’s ideas, concept and perceptions, as design is always something unique, flexible and free, something that is out of the box, not just squares and circles. Also, our company would definitely wish to have more and more young and hot blood that has the potential, passion, dedication and determination in interior

designing. ”

“ We haven’t got any awards or

achievements so far, we’re still in the progress of strengthening our skills in

drawings, designing, exploring, generating and developing more ideas

and concepts that is practical and at the same time attractive and interesting

enough to sell it to not only the locals but also all over the world. We’ll keep

working hard and give our best shots to

all the opportunities given. ”

“ SUCCESS is where preparation and opportunity meet, so, yeah, that’s kind of like our slogan, spirit and motivation to never stop trying to improve

and make ourselves BETTER.”

Lau Jing Cheng Born in Malaysia (Penang) in 1987; Graduated in Interior Design from Raffles Design Institute in 2007. Started working after spending 2 months looking for vacancy. His first working company was Unit One, an interior and architectural studio at Solaris Dutamas. Four years later, he left the company and began planning to start his own business in 2012 at Petaling Jaya.

Finally, he founded his own Design Agency in 2013, given the name ‘White Spade’ with meaning and stories to tell behind it. At the age of only 26, Mr. JC Lau is now working as the director of White Spade Sdn. Bhd., handling projects not only from the residential area but also hotels, bars, restaurant and trendy shops.

3D VISUALISATION BY WHITESPADE To give clients a better understanding of how the project outcome will be.

“As much as the 3D rendering is essential to most of the clients, I do know of a few designers who do not provide 3D renderings to client as they are able to sell their design intent without them. Unlike most designers who sell styling or aesthetic, these particular designers go downright to the core and sell what is deemed the most important aspect of design - spatial quality and programmatic design.” -JC LAU-

3D VISUALISATION

BY WHITESPADE

RESIDENTIAL PROJECT Mr. JC Lau pointed out that residential projects are much more challenging than commercial projects because residential project may take a longer time, in which about 6 months to 1 year for completion. Also, the work needed to be done after construction actually take quite some time to ensure that everything is completely fine and perfect in their position, because some clients may be picky and particular on certain aspects as they usually will check through all the tiny pieces of work and go asking for changes and improvement to be made. Besides, when it comes to a daily affair, most often find inconvenience as their lifestyle doesn't seem to go with their desired design of the space. “A lot of changes needed to be made to fit their requirements. And those changes seem endless sometimes,” said JC Lau.

COMMERCIAL PROJECT

As for commercial projects, Jc Lau had highlighted that there is always a hierarchy in the field. The tough part for this kind of project would be the need to be approved by a few consultants, not just one, for their drawings and all their

work. They'd have to get the approvals from several parties before they can finally begin the construction.

Residential Project RM 150 per square feet

Commercial Project RM 200 – RM 250 per square feet

RANGE

OF

COST

JC Lau has completed quite a number of projects which is of different nature and background. However, the major one would be for residential and commercial. For example, the double-storey house at Serai Saujana, Shah Alam (residential), and Puteri Pacific Hotel (commercial).

SERAI SAUJANA

Project Description

This is one of the houses located at Serai Saujana, Shah Alam, Selangor, a double-storey house. WhiteSpade took charge for the interior design of this house and completed it in year 2013.

Client : Tn. Haji Rozan b. Mohd Sa’at

THE PUTERI PACIFIC HOTEL Project Description

Puteri Pacific Hotel is located at Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in the heart of the city’s bustling commercial, shopping and

administrative centre. It is a four-star hotel which is wholly and specially designed by White Spade.

There are 500 city or straits-view guestrooms and other leisure facilities such as the swimming pool, saunas, spa and fully-equipped gymnasium. The grand opening of The Puteri Pacific Hotel was on 2012.

THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN INTERIOR DESIGNER “There're basically five design phases in a project and for each phases, we do have different roles to play and responsbilities to be

taken in order to ensure that the project could be completed without any disruption,” said JC Lau.

Design Phases : i. Concept & Schematic Design

ii. Drawings & Documentations

iii. Tender & Awarding

iv. Project Implementation

v. Defect Rectification & Handover

i. Concept & Schematic Design phase

JC Lau would have to meet up with the clients to understand the project brief, requirements and also, the main concern of all, the budget and cost limit stated down by the clients. With all that taken into account, he will then have to prepare a story board or presentation slides to sell his design ideas to the clients. Basically, it includes some reference photos, simple layout plan which is to ensure that the spaces are workable, some rough sketches and also a few samples of the material planning to be used. And finally, 3D rendering is also involved, to give the clients an overall visual impression of the space designed.

SERAI SAUJANA

DRY KITCHEN

PUTERI PACIFIC HOTEL

Layout plan of the main lobby

Examples

of layout

plan of the

rooms

SKETCHES To provide a better visualisation

ii. Drawing & Documentations After obtaining the approval for the conceptual design and plan, JC Lau, together with his studio team will then begin with the construction drawings which comprises various plan drawing such as the layout of the space, the design for the ceiling, mechanical and electrical system for the electrical appliances such as the fan and lighting, the interior elevation and section drawing, and also drawings that includes all the construction details. JC Lau emphasized that it is essential that an interior designer provide accurate dimensions and specifications as all costing will be calculated based on all these drawings.

DETAILS AND ELEVATIONS

OF

BATHROOM

DETAILS

OF

CARVING

MOTIVE

DESIGN

DETAILS

In the mean time, JC Lau will have to prepare documents such as the loose furniture sheets, material selection sheets, fabric and colours sheets and etc to provide various choices and better options for the clients to decide on their desired design. Later then, he will start contacting with the material suppliers in order to obtain some samples and catalogues for items which specialized in certain material selection. Besides, all the drawings prepared by the interior designer will be submitted to the clients so as to get their approval.

ITEM QTY RATE AMOUNT (RM)

1.

2.

3.

Bill Of Quantities

To :

Approved by,

__________________

White Spade Sdn. Bhd.

iii. Tender & Awarding Upon obtaining the approval from the clients, JC Lau explain that he will proceed to prepare the tender documents based on all the drawings and paperwork, namely Bill of Quantities (BQ) and Tender Contract. He will contact with a few Main Contractors which are potentially reliable, and send them invitation for the participation in the tender. JC Lau will also conduct a briefing and tender interview sessions individually with each contractors where each of them will be handed all the drawings and important documents.

Within two weeks, the main contractors will submit their quotations to the interior designer for comparisons of prices to be made. JC Lau will then analyze the prices and cost based on the quotations, following which he will submit the comparison report to the clients, along with recommendation towards selection of main contractors. Once the clients have finalized his/her decision, the Letter of Award will be prepared to the selected main contractor.

iv. Project Implementation

The nominated main contractor will commence work on site and begin the construction process. The interior designer also has to conduct periodical site visits, in order to ensure the work is done according to what they have planned and designed. At this juncture, clients might request for certain design changes, reduction on cost, additional items and other requirements of which an interior designer will need to attend to, so as to ensure their work progress in a smooth flow and to complete everything before the given deadline.

v. Defect Rectification & Handover

Construction work is normally completed two weeks before the handover date and in common cases, the work may not be perfect. So, the interior designer will conduct site inspection sessions, in which he will walk through the entire site to find out the flaws and errors. Then, he will prepare a defect list with instructions to be delivered to the main contractors so that they are able to carry out rectification work accordingly and also, have them completed everything before the handover date. Finally, the site will be handed over to the client to commence their business or to be operated for personal use.

Questions & Answers

2. Detail design usually determine the overall effect, and what is your attitude toward this? The practice of working on good detailing is essential to both the design and the previous point on sustainability. Design that are detailed and well built will last longer and hence become more efficient for the user. Leaving detailing up to the construe is a disaster but one must work as a team on-site to acknowledge now and again that what seemed to be right on the screen could be improved in the one-to-one environment.

1. "Crossover”is very popular in different design areas nowadays , and what is your view towards this and are there such design elements in your works ?

Our definition of “ crossover ” is the ability to delve into all areas of design such as interiors, architecture, product design, graphic design etc. Although our practice predominantly focuses on interior design , we have been crossing over into the areas of architecture and product design. This has been an exciting new journey that is not only producing various opportunity , but also expanding the creative part of the company. We also found that it is to keep the practice fresh and ever-solving. A good designer should be able to traverse into many different areas. We have been working on a range of rugs , a lounge collection and a complete timber based furniture collection.

3. How can you deal with the different opinions between your design and your client’s demand ? As practitioners, we always try to proactively expand the rules of business development for our firm . We have cultivated relationships with the developers and also independent sources of financing, giving us a greater degree of control over both our projects in general, increasing the likelihood of realisation. We have acted as developers ourselves for both affordable housing and interiors.

4. How can you balance the practical and artistic feature of the interior space ? This can be done by studying the setting, and the past, tradition and the product you wish to sell clientele and committing. Some disregard the importance of these elements that form the pillars of the design. Structuring the space according to its setting, then decorate it with items of local price, and later hint of the clientele. One rule we should consider about is to NEVER impose your “ fashionable ” design on those who have a traditional way of life.

5. As a successful designer ,in your opinion, what professional quality is a must ?

Passion, commitment and integrity are some of them. A good designer is a passionate person who would listen to the client’s demand, ides or expectation. It is very important to set the design concept towards the right direction. In the design process, designer should make the client’s acquainted with what is going on and how to solve the current problems. A good designer should be responsible for his client’s , and should design the best, sustainable, healthy and enjoyable project. In addition, a good designer should give his client’s the precise information in order for them to know how the process is going on.