Commercial Vs. Residential Design

I have been fortunate enough in my long career to design both commercial and residential design on interior spaces...

If I look back on the volume of work that I’ve had a part in, it’s actually quite surprising... I’m clearly pretending I’m not 50 and have been working for 20 years...

I’ve worked in almost every state in this country on a commercial level, several projects in Montreal... that’s another blog all to itself... all over the Southeast, up the East Coast... New York and The Mid-West... phew and I wonder why I go to bed at 8:45 pm...

When it comes to commercial vs. residential design, can you guess which is my favorite? To be honest I like both commercial and residential design the same.

Commercial design requires a different skill set than residential... you are designing to a global market within the project criteria... whether it’s student housing, senior living, multi family or bars and restaurants... the project always begins with the question... how they are going to use this space... we typically start with an empty shell and then we create the magic inside of it...

In residential design you start with the same question... how does the client use their space and what do they want out of their new space... it is a much more personal process... you are working to an audience of a family, usually no more than 5, unless you count the four legged variety and you also have to design to them...

Perhaps it is this variety that keeps me designing for both...  the benefit of my technical knowledge and space planning is a huge benefit to my residential clients and my intimate knowledge of how my residential clients live is a great benefit to my commercial clients... I think my biggest assets is my understanding of how a space should feel and being able to translate that comfort and ease into the physical space.

Happy Designing