X-Y-Z of Ornare: Tectonic Articulations in Interior Design Practices

The studio enabled the skill of designing the ornamentation as a part of design process. The studio focused on the role of ornamentation to bind the visual and structural aspects of the design. Ornamentation is more than just being an additional layer of visual aesthetics applied to an element. Ornare (Latin) means to equip, adorn. Ornamentation today has evolved from being a surface level intervention to being the grammar holding the structure of the design. The studio focused on ornamentation as a medium to represent syntax between the structural, functional and visual aesthetics of a built environment through making and expression. Established design knowledge of the field needs systematic and structured explorations through evolving definitions of ornamentation. Module 01 focused on development of a process to develop the ‘ornamenting a design process’. Module 02 was an immediate application and evaluation of developed ornamentation. It simultaneously modulated and scaled spatial relationships between selected program and typology of built systems. This was done through a design exercise. Module 03 derived a complex spatial system that transformed the selected site into ‘A Place for Ornamentation’, which was done through the final design project.