Circumstances have radically changed around what works for teenagers in their personal home environments, since even just 10 or 15 years ago. As they have advanced, so have the tools of their age culture.
I have briefly discussed, in past articles, the advantages of accommodating kids’ interests when planning an Interior design project, and that importance seems to be becoming more and more significant. As communication electronics continue to advance and become more complex, compact and sophisticated, so are our younger generations becoming more and more skilled, efficient and competent with the technology. And it seems to be escalating at much earlier ages! We must accommodate these shifting realities in our homes, recreational and business environments.
In terms of relevant Interior space, it seems the reality has become: less is more!
Our home environments are just emerging from a severe series of critical impactions! And, some of it will be ongoing! To reiterate, the Pandemic brought huge challenges involving the contrasts of forced isolation along with the need for families to double up, businesses to radically revise operations, and communities to become both tolerant and innovative! Additionally, climate evolutions now greatly impact all environments – Interior and Exterior.
In the aftermath, the Interior design industry has carefully studied the contrasts, the lessons and the opportunities the Pandemic’s restructuring provided. Climate change has had broad impacts on how we build, modify and configure our space in all aspects.
One huge focus has involved our youth sector. Schools and creative home instruction was immensely challenged. That doubling up, that I referred to earlier, caused families to get along with less space per person in residence. In some ways there was initial resistance – but, as is the case with a lot of forms of inconvenience, families in many cases realized that less space per person, per se, also had definite advantages!
Interior space conversion has become a central consideration for many households. Interior space redistribution and reconfiguration is bringing newly realized advantages. There are very specific characteristics today in how teens, in particular, manage their communication, their educational responsibilities, their recreation and their socialization.
It’s essential to accommodate the new trends, needs, tools, patterns and resultant attitudes of this segment of our youth that is on the brink of adulthood! After all, they are our future leaders! An important key to success in facilitating their congenial and compatible development is providing a personal environment that fits!
Those large rooms with space to scatter all their paraphernalia have, in many ways, become obsolete. In the light of what now dominates youth attention, communication facilitation, learning resources, socialization, information storage and retention, gaming (and a dozen other distractions), tighter and more efficiently organized personal space is the new mandate.
It may be the time to look at how your traditional space is actually being used, and how much of it is grossly under-used. Or, how that space could, with reconfiguration, answer other needs not believed feasible in past considerations.
Paraphernalia, for our older kids, has whole new faces! Sports equipment and clothing volume displacement hasn’t changed much in terms of youth environments and storage are concerned; but, just about everything else has gotten a lot smaller! Some big bedrooms now could nicely convert to two new, compact environments (for instance!).
There are simple solutions for accommodating today’s functional realities where our past paradigms no longer match up. Creating tighter, more efficient revised Interior space on the one hand, brings an opportunity for new use for gained Interior spaces, on the other!
Interior space revision is a skill your creative and innovative Interior design team has well in hand – and help is on the way!
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.
