Sarah Hooker- Our Job is More Than Beauty

 The planning process of Interior Design is not just jumping into pretty renderings—real design kicks off with solid structure: pulling together the right team (designers, architects, consultants), writing a clear design narrative that captures the client’s vision and goals, building a realistic timeline with due dates in mind, assigning specific roles and responsibilities to team members, and diving into schematic design. Skipping any of that early stuff almost guarantees chaos and a bad result later on. She really helped open my eyes to see just how important documentation is, specifically the three big drawings that carry a project. First, the Life Safety Plan, usually at 1/8” scale, maps out occupant loads, egress paths, max travel distances to exits, locations for fire extinguishers and illuminated exit signs, rated walls, and permanent fixtures like plumbing and millwork. These plans are more for codes. Next, the Dimensioned Floor Plan (also typically 1/8”) precisely locates every wall partition, door swing, window, built-in cabinet, and piece of custom millwork, while calling out fire blocking, section cuts, and references to enlarged plans. Then come the Interior Elevations which are my personal favorite. They’re normally drawn larger at 1/4” or 3/8”, which allows a designer or even whoever views the elevations to zoom in on heights, exact materials, appliance placements, lighting fixtures, and other needed details so that everyone can be on the same page. Way finding really was big for me though. It’s making sure occupants can navigate intuitively with signage, flooring changes, landmarks, and/or shifts in color or materials that guide you without the occupant having to think about it. I’m the type of person who still gets turned around in my own dorm sometimes, so this really spoke to me. Because of this presentation every project I work on going forward is going to have way finding from the start. I’ll be asking myself how would a first-time visitor feel confident moving through this space. I loved her presentation because it really was driving in how it’s a designers role to keep people safe and secure in a space.