A Collaborative Dance

The Client, the Architect, and the Interior Designer:

Every project begins with a client. The architect and interior designer may bring the vision and the tools, but it’s the client who provides the brief, the site, and the budget, the essential ingredients that shape the soul of any project.

In residential work, the identity of the client varies widely. It might be a developer viewing the home as a commercial asset, or a family creating a space filled with personal meaning. It could be someone rebuilding after a devastating event, such as the fires in Los Angeles, where entire neighbourhoods are being reconstructed, not just physically, but emotionally and socially.

Before delving into the specific roles of architect and interior designer, it’s useful to pause and reflect on a foundational distinction: the difference between a house and a home. A house is functional. A home is emotional. It holds memories, history, and identity. For a project to succeed, it must serve both roles.

The Architect and The Interior Designer: Partners in Shaping Experience

Architects design spaces that respond to site, budget, and function. They bring artistry to light, materiality, movement, and form. They sculpt the atmosphere of a building, setting the tone for how it feels to enter, dwell, and move through a space.

Interior designers, on the other hand, bring these spaces to life with texture, colour, furnishings, acoustics, and personality. They tune into the client's lifestyle, aspirations, and emotional connection to place. It’s a process that is best begun early. While architects often have a strong aesthetic vision, interior designers offer complementary skills that dig deeper into the lived experience of the home.

Especially in cases where the home represents a new beginning—such as post-disaster rebuilding, it’s essential to understand how a person wants to live, not just how a house should function.

Questions like:

Is this a visually calm, minimal space?

Or is it vibrant and full of collected memories?

How much is enough? How much is too much?

These are conversations that must happen early between client, architect, and interior designer. It's all about alignment, creating shared understanding and trust.

The Power of Listening

Meaningful design starts with relationship building. We call these life exchanges—time spent with the client to understand what matters most to them. We ask questions, listen actively, and explore not just what they want, but why they want it.

This isn’t about creating a show house. It’s about crafting a place for living. For resting. For being. When the design team and client are aligned in purpose and vision, the resulting home is deeply authentic.

Sustainability and Health: Shared Values in Modern Design

Another key area where architects and interior designers align is in sustainability, specifically, reducing or eliminating toxic materials. The construction and interiors industries have historically contributed heavily to carbon emissions and indoor air pollution. Thankfully, that’s changing.

With careful product selection and material transparency, it’s possible to build homes that support health and well-being, spaces that feel fresher, breathe better, and align with values of clean living. A zero-toxin home is more than an eco-statement, it’s a lifestyle commitment to wellness.

Behind the Scenes: The Reality of Residential Interiors

In the world of design publications, not everything is as it seems. Many homes are staged with hired furniture for glossy shoots. What the public sees isn't always what the client lives with. Once the cameras are gone, the real furniture and real life moves in.

This disconnect highlights a deeper issue: when the designer’s image becomes more important than the client's lived experience. A more honest approach might be to photograph the architecture as it truly is, allowing the client’s choices and lifestyle to complete the story.

Scale, Function, and Flow

Interior design goes beyond aesthetics, it's about how spaces feel and function. Every piece of furniture has scale, and when it doesn't suit the room, the space can feel either overwhelming or underwhelming. Good design considers circulation: how people enter, move through, and use a space daily. It’s not just about fitting things in, but giving them room to breathe. A well-designed space feels balanced, natural, and responsive to the way people live.

The Final Dot: Trusting the Intuitive Process

There’s a story from an artist at the Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual and sustainable community in the north of Scotland. He painted using only dots, each one deliberate. He knew his work was finished only when, days later, he dreamed of where to place the final mark. That kind of intuitive understanding, the moment when you feel that a the creative work is done applies equally to architecture and interior design.

There’s often wisdom in waiting. Before rushing to fill a space, observe how light moves through it, how the temperature shifts, how people naturally circulate. Allow a home to speak before you fill it.

Storage: The Quiet Foundation

Great homes aren't just filled with beautiful things, they’re organised to support everyday life. Thoughtful storage allows spaces to remain clean, adaptable, and focused. It’s what makes seasonal changes or lifestyle shifts seamless, whether it’s clearing space for a holiday tree or transitioning a room into a workspace. Storage isn't extra, it's essential to making a home feel calm, intentional, and liveable.

Designing for Real Life

The way we live is evolving. Property is more expensive. Many young adults stay in the family home longer. More people work from home. The home must now be multipurpose, fluid, adaptable, and built for the complexity of modern life.

Ultimately, the best outcomes happen when the client, the architect, and the interior designer work as a team. When their values align and communication is open, the result is more than a structure or a style, it’s a deeply personal space with heart, purpose, and longevity.