Approached by an investment company

that saw an opportunity for a new hotel

in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.Approached by an investment company
that saw an opportunity for a new hotel
in the World heritage site of the middle
Rhine valley, herrmanns Architects
responded with the idea of reproducing
iconographically a building that represents
the regions topography. says henner
herrmanns: The river meanders through
the valley, which owes its special curved
appearance to the natural formation of the
river landscape.
The building itself will be partially
buried in the landscape, with 120
bedrooms enjoying panoramic views on to
the river. landscaping sets up a rhythmic
counterpart to the rivers gentle curves.
elegant finishes and natural materials,
sourced locally, will create a calming and
sophisticated backdrop to the tranquil
setting. says herrmanns: The landscape
of the middle Rhine Valley has an
extraordinary cultural richness that is well
worth preserving. on the other hand, we
cant live only in medieval castles. our
project was to combine modern comfort
and modern infrastructure with a romantic
spell. A large spa with sauna and indoor
and outdoor pools are included in the
design, as is a shopping area.
With investors now happy that all
criteria have been met, herrmanns sees
a high chance of realisation of the
project, in 2015/16.
perceived seriousness of architecture and the
recognition you receive. Interior design
respectability may seem to suffer from not
having professional regulation but a recent
positive move, addressing the subjects
seriousness, is that the Royal College of Art
has just formed a new interior design course
that is independent of architecture (it is in its
second year and the current gender balance is
67 per cent female, 33 per cent male). In part
this is in recognition of the increasing status of
the theory and practices of the subject in the
UK and in Europe. Do interior programmes
need more of this independence and validation?
The traditional perceptions of the subject
and the resulting gender imbalance on interior
courses concern me greatly. The research seems
to indicate that boys and girls are still receiving
out-dated messages on gender roles, such as
boys do architecture and girls do interiors.
Where are these stereotypes coming from?
This is a growing dialogue and I am interested
in how we are trying to change gender
perceptions. How are we marketing our
discipline to schools? Whose responsibility is
it to be marketing our industry? I recently went
to Scarborough College and gave a presentation
on interior design to A-level art students.
I invited students to stay on afterwards to ask
questions and look through my portfolio of
work. The feedback from the head of art was
that many students, male and female, who had
not considered interior design as a career path
before now did.
As well as supporting undergraduate
programmes, could design agencies and
individual practices help more by working with
schools on projects that try to inspire 11 to
16-year-olds, boys and girls, to realise the
possibilities that a career in interior design could
offer? Interiors does not have as many iconic
designers as architecture for school pupils to
aspire to. As designers and educators we have to
take a more proactive role by getting out of the
office, seeking the talent in schools and
foundation courses, and speaking passionately
about the importance of creativity and our
industry. Having such a skewed gender
imbalance in the academic environment may be
harming the diversity and not stimulating the
discourse that should take place on our interior
programmes.
Mark Gower, designer and programme director,
interior design, Regents University, London Visit the FX new website design
curial.com the supersite for the
design and architecture industries
And follow us on Twitter:
TWEET@fxdesignmag
14 August 2014 designcurial.comInterior design undergraduate degree
programmes up and down the country have
a gender imbalance. The latest figures, provided
by member institutions of the learned society
Interior Educators, show that, on average, for
every 100 female students enrolled on an
interior design degree course there are 22 male
students. Interior programmes that go by names
other than interior design, such as interior
architecture or spatial design, are slightly less
imbalanced, with 36 males to 100 females.
As a programme director of interior design
BA(Hons) at Regents University these figures
are not a surprise, but I am interested in why
this imbalance exists and how we respond to it.
There are traditional perceptions people
have about the nature of the subject. There
is a widespread lack of understanding of what
interior design, as an academic subject and as
a career, actually involves. The populist view
is that an interior designer solely deals with the
domestic interior, dealing with residential
decoration, ornamentation and taste. My first
task generally at open days, and even at the
orientation of new students, is to dispel this
myth and explain that our fast-moving
discipline sets out to improve spatial experiences
in many different fields, such as architecture,
retail, exhibition, leisure and work.
Interior design also has a complex and
paradoxical relationship with architecture. Some
see the three years it takes to study interior
design as an easier option than studying
architecture. Architectural training is in three
parts, the latter being gained while in practice.
At the end of their five years of full-time higher
education graduates gain the Royal Institute of
British Architects Part 2. On the other hand
there are some who are attracted by the
perceived seriousness of architecture and the
recognition you receive. Interior design
respectability may seem to suffer from not
having professional regulation but a recent
positive move, addressing the subjects
seriousness, is that the Royal College of Art
has just formed a new interior design course
that is independent of architecture (it is in its
second year and the current gender balance is
67 per cent female, 33 per cent male). In part
this is in recognition of the increasing status of
the theory and practices of the subject in the
UK and in Europe. Do interior programmes
need more of this independence and validation?
The traditional perceptions of the subject
and the resulting gender imbalance on interior
courses concern me greatly. The research seems
to indicate that boys and girls are still receiving
out-dated messages on gender roles, such as
boys do architecture and girls do interiors.
Where are these stereotypes coming from?
This is a growing dialogue and I am interested
in how we are trying to change gender
perceptions. How are we marketing our
discipline to schools? Whose responsibility is
it to be marketing our industry? I recently went
to Scarborough College and gave a presentation
on interior design to A-level art students.
I invited students to stay on afterwards to ask
questions and look through my portfolio of
work. The feedback from the head of art was
that many students, male and female, who had
not considered interior design as a career path
before now did.
As well as supporting undergraduate
programmes, could design agencies and
individual practices help more by working with
schools on projects that try to inspire 11 to
16-year-olds, boys and girls, to realise the
possibilities that a career in interior design could
offer? Interiors does not have as many iconic
designers as architecture for school pupils to
aspire to. As designers and educators we have to
take a more proactive role by getting out of the
office, seeking the talent in schools and
foundation courses, and speaking passionately
about the importance of creativity and our
industry. Having such a skewed gender
imbalance in the academic environment may be
harming the diversity and not stimulating the
discourse that should take place on our interior
programmes.
Mark Gower, designer and programme director,
interior design, Regents University, London Visit the FX new website design
curial.com the supersite for the
design and architecture industries
And follow us on Twitter:
TWEET@fxdesignmag
14 August 2014 designcurial.comInterior design undergraduate degree
programmes up and down the country have
a gender imbalance. The latest figures, provided
by member institutions of the learned society
Interior Educators, show that, on average, for
every 100 female students enrolled on an
interior design degree course there are 22 male
students. Interior programmes that go by names
other than interior design, such as interior
architecture or spatial design, are slightly less
imbalanced, with 36 males to 100 females.
As a programme director of interior design
BA(Hons) at Regents University these figures
are not a surprise, but I am interested in why
this imbalance exists and how we respond to it.
There are traditional perceptions people
have about the nature of the subject. There
is a widespread lack of understanding of what
interior design, as an academic subject and as
a career, actually involves. The populist view
is that an interior designer solely deals with the
domestic interior, dealing with residential
decoration, ornamentation and taste. My first
task generally at open days, and even at the
orientation of new students, is to dispel this
myth and explain that our fast-moving
discipline sets out to improve spatial experiences
in many different fields, such as architecture,
retail, exhibition, leisure and work.
Interior design also has a complex and
paradoxical relationship with architecture. Some
see the three years it takes to study interior
design as an easier option than studying
architecture. Architectural training is in three
parts, the latter being gained while in practice.
At the end of their five years of full-time higher
education graduates gain the Royal Institute of
British Architects Part 2. On the other hand
there are some who are attracted by the
perceived seriousness of architecture and the
recognition you receive. Interior design
respectability may seem to suffer from not
having professional regulation but a recent
positive move, addressing the subjects
seriousness, is that the Royal College of Art
has just formed a new interior design course
that is independent of architecture (it is in its
second year and the current gender balance is
67 per cent female, 33 per cent male). In part
this is in recognition of the increasing status of
the theory and practices of the subject in the
UK and in Europe. Do interior programmes
need more of this independence and validation?
The traditional perceptions of the subject
and the resulting gender imbalance on interior
courses concern me greatly. The research seems
to indicate that boys and girls are still receiving
out-dated messages on gender roles, such as
boys do architecture and girls do interiors.
Where are these stereotypes coming from?
This is a growing dialogue and I am interested
in how we are trying to change gender
perceptions. How are we marketing our
discipline to schools? Whose responsibility is
it to be marketing our industry? I recently went
to Scarborough College and gave a presentation
on interior design to A-level art students.
I invited students to stay on afterwards to ask
questions and look through my portfolio of
work. The feedback from the head of art was
that many students, male and female, who had
not considered interior design as a career path
before now did.
As well as supporting undergraduate
programmes, could design agencies and
individual practices help more by working with
schools on projects that try to inspire 11 to
16-year-olds, boys and girls, to realise the
possibilities that a career in interior design could
offer? Interiors does not have as many iconic
designers as architecture for school pupils to
aspire to. As designers and educators we have to
take a more proactive role by getting out of the
office, seeking the talent in schools and
foundation courses, and speaking passionately
about the importance of creativity and our
industry. Having such a skewed gender
imbalance in the academic environment may be
harming the diversity and not stimulating the
discourse that should take place on our interior
programmes.
Mark Gower, designer and programme director,
interior design, Regents University, London Visit the FX new website design
curial.com the supersite for the
design and architecture industries
And follow us on Twitter:
TWEET@fxdesignmag
14 August 2014 designcurial.comInterior design undergraduate degree
programmes up and down the country have
a gender imbalance. The latest figures, provided
by member institutions of the learned society
Interior Educators, show that, on average, for
every 100 female students enrolled on an
interior design degree course there are 22 male
students. Interior programmes that go by names
other than interior design, such as interior
architecture or spatial design, are slightly less
imbalanced, with 36 males to 100 females.
As a programme director of interior design
BA(Hons) at Regents University these figures
are not a surprise, but I am interested in why
this imbalance exists and how we respond to it.
There are traditional perceptions people
have about the nature of the subject. There
is a widespread lack of understanding of what
interior design, as an academic subject and as
a career, actually involves. The populist view
is that an interior designer solely deals with the
domestic interior, dealing with residential
decoration, ornamentation and taste. My first
task generally at open days, and even at the
orientation of new students, is to dispel this
myth and explain that our fast-moving
discipline sets out to improve spatial experiences
in many different fields, such as architecture,
retail, exhibition, leisure and work.
Interior design also has a complex and
paradoxical relationship with architecture. Some
see the three years it takes to study interior
design as an easier option than studying
architecture. Architectural training is in three
parts, the latter being gained while in practice.
At the end of their five years of full-time higher
education graduates gain the Royal Institute of
British Architects Part 2. On the other hand
there are some who are attracted by the
perceived seriousness of architecture and the
recognition you receive. Interior design
respectability may seem to suffer from not
having professional regulation but a recent
positive move, addressing the subjects
seriousness, is that the Royal College of Art
has just formed a new interior design course
that is independent of architecture (it is in its
second year and the current gender balance is
67 per cent female, 33 per cent male). In part
this is in recognition of the increasing status of
the theory and practices of the subject in the
UK and in Europe. Do interior programmes
need more of this independence and validation?
The traditional perceptions of the subject
and the resulting gender imbalance on interior
courses concern me greatly. The research seems
to indicate that boys and girls are still receiving
out-dated messages on gender roles, such as
boys do architecture and girls do interiors.
Where are these stereotypes coming from?
This is a growing dialogue and I am interested
in how we are trying to change gender
perceptions. How are we marketing our
discipline to schools? Whose responsibility is
it to be marketing our industry? I recently went
to Scarborough College and gave a presentation
on interior design to A-level art students.
I invited students to stay on afterwards to ask
questions and look through my portfolio of
work. The feedback from the head of art was
that many students, male and female, who had
not considered interior design as a career path
before now did.
As well as supporting undergraduate
programmes, could design agencies and
individual practices help more by working with
schools on projects that try to inspire 11 to
16-year-olds, boys and girls, to realise the
possibilities that a career in interior design could
offer? Interiors does not have as many iconic
designers as architecture for school pupils to
aspire to. As designers and educators we have to
take a more proactive role by getting out of the
office, seeking the talent in schools and
foundation courses, and speaking passionately
about the importance of creativity and our
industry. Having such a skewed gender
imbalance in the academic environment may be
harming the diversity and not stimulating the
discourse that should take place on our interior
programmes.
Mark Gower, designer and programme director,
interior design, Regents University, London Visit the FX new website design
curial.com the supersite for the
design and architecture industries
And follow us on Twitter:
TWEET@fxdesignmag
14 August 2014 designcurial.com