Why architecture and interiors should be one decision

Camilla Monk · Architecture Ventures

Because every architectural choice is an interior choice, and vice versa. The wall position decides the joinery; the window decides the colour; the kitchen’s geometry decides the plan around it. Splitting them between two firms — or two project phases — is where houses lose their coherence.

The conventional sequence runs: architect designs the shell, builder builds it, interior designer arrives to “finish” it. By then the decisions that matter most to daily life — where the light lands, how rooms connect, where storage lives, what the kitchen can be — were made by someone not thinking about them.

Designed together, the disciplines trade favours constantly. A window drops its sill because a window seat is coming. A wall thickens to swallow a run of joinery. The kitchen island’s length sets the rhythm of the beams above it. None of these are expensive decisions at drawing stage; all are impossible later.

You can see the result in my practice’s work: kitchens that look inevitable in their rooms, landings that became libraries, boot rooms that protect everything around them. The award on my own home was an interiors award — won by architectural decisions.

Practically, one integrated appointment also means one point of accountability: no gap between firms for details to fall into, no “that’s the other designer’s scope”.

Where this leads: This is the flagship appointment: Architecture & Interior Design Combined — architecture and interiors as one.

Why architecture and interiors should be one decision

One house, one vision