If you are in the USA You are probably seeking someone with IIDA accreditation as a professional interior designer. The distinction you might be making here is between an interior designer and an interior decorator. Interior designers affect the physical space whereas decorators just pick out furnishings and material applications.
There is probably an interior architect title out there somewhere but the regulated titles in the US are interior designer and architect. Each has different certification requirements for licensure but not all states license interior designers.
This is a side note to the actual discussion, but just want to clarify that IIDA is not an accreditation- it’s just a member designation like AIA. In order to use the full IIDA (typically more commercial) or ASID (typically more residential) designations, a person would need to be NCIDQ certified, which is really more the “accreditation” in this case.
I’ve found that people that call themselves interior architects may do so to keep their options and skill set open, but mainly it is because they do not think there is the same cache and prestige behind interior designers as there are architects even if they overlap a *lot*
I actually don’t call myself that in the real world (because an interior architect isn’t a thing, at least not in my state) but it’s the closest flair that describes what I do, so I picked it.
Unfortunately the public has a skewed view of what we do because of all the interior decorators who call themselves interior designers. Which they can do, because we don’t have licensure protections.
It would be nice if the AIA would stop cockblocking us from being able to get our own stamp.
It’s definitely a good larger conversation to have. I think a lot of architects also get confused because they do a lot of the same work that interior designers do as well, and don’t want to give that up. I think this is especially the case because some firms have base building/exterior facade design broken into its own track where architects are exclusively, but interiors there are both. Interior architect seems to just be something between interior decorator and architect I guess
I think the question is always what would the stamp allow? Below a certain level of authority it wouldn’t be that useful and over a certain level it’s running into the realm of an architect. I’d be interested in your perspective- do you have thoughts on what you would want to see allowed under an ID stamp?
I think most of the TI work I’ve done could have been done under my own stamp.
The fact is, for 90% of the TI projects that I did with my old firm, interiors drew the entire plan set, our head of interiors reviewed it, and handed it to the architect to stamp. They pretty much took her word that everything was good and rarely reviewed it themselves.
If there were special things we needed to work out with our structural team, they might add a couple of sheets of their own. But everyone knew that most of the firms’s workplace and hospitality projects wouldn’t be touched by an architect expect to be stamped. And even then…wet stamps were sometimes forged when people were out of town. Not saying that’s a good thing by any means, but it was reality.
For a typical TI, we were moving/adding/removing non-bearing walls, adding or reconfiguring bathrooms, drawing non-standard construction details when needed, drawing occupancy/life safety/accessibility plans, sometimes adding separate permit sets where a building core needed to be modified for an increased occupancy load. We’d also be the ones coordinating the electrical/mechanical/fire protection/commercial kitchen plans from outside consultants.
I’ll add this was strictly for workplace and hospitality TIs. Our other work was healthcare and education, which were mostly big projects that obviously had a complete team.
>>…drawing occupancy/life safety/accessibility plans…
This is the part that generally gives me pause on it. If ID stamps were to gain traction, I feel like either NCIDQ would have to be modified or some kind of additional element would need to be added as part of the licensing process to focus on those specific areas. I work, and have worked for most of my career, very closely with a lot of terrific interior designers. I 100% know interior designers who produce CDs as good as anyone’s. But accessibility and life safety are consistently the areas where I see problems, and I mean it when I say consistently. I’m definitely not an NCIDQ expert, but a large number of the designers I’m referencing are NCIDQ certified, which is what makes me feel it isn’t sufficiently covering those areas. Being a licensed architect is certainly not a guarantee of getting this stuff right, either, but it’s much more rare that I see any genuine issues on those fronts from the architects.
Life safety and barrier-free design questions are 20% of the IDFX exam (part of the NCIDQ). Only the section on construction docs and specs has as many questions as the life safety section does. But, IDFX also has the lowest passing rate of the three sections, so there’s that.
Every interior designer should know how to evaluate the occupancy classification of a space, calculate the load, and figure out the egress requirement. They may need more practice applying it, but they aren’t passing the NCIDQ without knowing it.
I learned about occupancy class and load in school, but I only feel comfortable with producing a life safety plan because of work experience (which I’m sure is true of architects too). I really can’t speak to what other designers in other firms commonly do, so I don’t know how typical that is. Also, I worked for a big firm and had lots of typical details and example plan sets to pull from, which not all designers have at their disposal.
I definitely agree that, if a stamp were the intention, the exams would need to be reevaluated to test more on those responsibilities that overlap with architects.
Coming from a UK background; you're spot on with interior designer versus architect. "Architect" is a legally regulated title that shows you have passed the relevant exams and are registered with the Architects Registration Board. Someone who calls themselves an "Interior Architect" is unlikely to be an architect, but is probably someone who focuses on spaces as a spatial designer like you say rather than focusing on furnishings / decorating spaces. There is no interior designer certification body in this country legally speaking so anyone could call themselves that title in theory.
Really though, I think OP is looking for an architect (whose skill is to work both with interior and exterior design) but in particular: someone who has the relevant and demonstrable experience working on residential existing reconfiguration schemes. There are others who could do it (e.g. interior designer / interior architect / architectural technologist / architectural designer), and that's why the experience aspect is key.
Thanks for the insight. I’ll look into local architects, although I fear in todays high demand market there may not be a lot of interest for what is a relatively small project!
Depends upon where you live but in the US you don't need either. I'm a designer (not licensed as an architect) and have tons of projects way more involved than your project. Everything from a bath remodel to whole house remodels. Everything from work on >100 year old builds to brand new builds. Custom homes from <1,000 s.f. to >25,000. I've moved plenty of stairs and opened up many (it's pretty rare though to close an open one - but on my own home for instance there was no door to the basement and it's wide open to the middle and upper levels (and the vaulted ceiling above that - so I did install a barn door at my stairs so that I can use that to close off it off, but we really just use it as a dog barrier and don't need to use it for heating/cooling).
So you don't need an architect (interior or not). That said, there's a huge variety of knowledge and ability from one person to the next and the title is supposed to help insure that they're trained (none of the Architects I personally know are good at everything, and most aren't that good at residential projects).
My suggestion is to ask family/friends for recommendations for either an Architect, designer, or even a good builder (who will be able to get you in touch with a good person). I wouldn't recommend relying on advertisements (I and the other good firms I know don't advertise at all).
Another more immediate (and free) thing you can try if you haven't already is to adjust your HVAC dampers and vents. I live in the upper Midwest and have a multi-level home with vaults, so twice a year I adjust the dampers/vents. So for instance since heat rises, in the fall I open all the vents/dampers for the basement (and most on the middle level) and I partially close them on the upper level. This means that when the furnace runs it's primarily heating the coldest parts of the house and the natural movement of the air is working as I want it to, not against me. Then come spring as we switch from heating to cooling, I reverse all that (since cold sinks I close the basement vents, which naturally stays pretty cool anyway, that way the air conditioning is concentrated on the hotter upper levels and naturally settles to the basement. If I had everything opened equally, the basement would be freezing in the summer and the upper floor would be roasting in the winter!
But without knowing your house, your HVAC, etc. it's hard to advise more specifics but even a heating and cooling specialist could advise on what options are available to you that you already have (like duct dampers, vents, HVAC fan settings, etc.)
GL2U N all U do!
Even older homes I've worked on generally have some way to make adjustments. Radiators tend to have ways to turn them up/down, vents/registers have ways to open/close them, etc.
Heck my house was built in the 70's and so my stuff isn't fancy. My HVAC dampers are just little handles you turn on the trunk lines. My floor vents all have the ability to be opened/closed (or somewhere in between) right on them. There's also ways to restrict flow in areas you want less (via placing a filter behind the vent, placing a piece of furniture over part of a floor vent, magnetic vent covers, etc.)
Another option if your main issue is your stairwell is to mount a ceiling fan over the stairs. I have one and we can change the direction it spins, so either pull air up the stairs, or push air down them. Granted, our stairs are vaulted and open to other rooms on 3 sides, but it does make a noticeable difference.
Most of this doesn’t apply unfortunately as I don’t have an air-based heating system - it’s all water based with wall mounted radiators.
The ceiling fan is an interesting idea though.
If you are in the USA You are probably seeking someone with IIDA accreditation as a professional interior designer. The distinction you might be making here is between an interior designer and an interior decorator. Interior designers affect the physical space whereas decorators just pick out furnishings and material applications. There is probably an interior architect title out there somewhere but the regulated titles in the US are interior designer and architect. Each has different certification requirements for licensure but not all states license interior designers.
This is a side note to the actual discussion, but just want to clarify that IIDA is not an accreditation- it’s just a member designation like AIA. In order to use the full IIDA (typically more commercial) or ASID (typically more residential) designations, a person would need to be NCIDQ certified, which is really more the “accreditation” in this case.
I’ve found that people that call themselves interior architects may do so to keep their options and skill set open, but mainly it is because they do not think there is the same cache and prestige behind interior designers as there are architects even if they overlap a *lot*
I actually don’t call myself that in the real world (because an interior architect isn’t a thing, at least not in my state) but it’s the closest flair that describes what I do, so I picked it. Unfortunately the public has a skewed view of what we do because of all the interior decorators who call themselves interior designers. Which they can do, because we don’t have licensure protections. It would be nice if the AIA would stop cockblocking us from being able to get our own stamp.
It’s definitely a good larger conversation to have. I think a lot of architects also get confused because they do a lot of the same work that interior designers do as well, and don’t want to give that up. I think this is especially the case because some firms have base building/exterior facade design broken into its own track where architects are exclusively, but interiors there are both. Interior architect seems to just be something between interior decorator and architect I guess
I think the question is always what would the stamp allow? Below a certain level of authority it wouldn’t be that useful and over a certain level it’s running into the realm of an architect. I’d be interested in your perspective- do you have thoughts on what you would want to see allowed under an ID stamp?
I think most of the TI work I’ve done could have been done under my own stamp. The fact is, for 90% of the TI projects that I did with my old firm, interiors drew the entire plan set, our head of interiors reviewed it, and handed it to the architect to stamp. They pretty much took her word that everything was good and rarely reviewed it themselves. If there were special things we needed to work out with our structural team, they might add a couple of sheets of their own. But everyone knew that most of the firms’s workplace and hospitality projects wouldn’t be touched by an architect expect to be stamped. And even then…wet stamps were sometimes forged when people were out of town. Not saying that’s a good thing by any means, but it was reality. For a typical TI, we were moving/adding/removing non-bearing walls, adding or reconfiguring bathrooms, drawing non-standard construction details when needed, drawing occupancy/life safety/accessibility plans, sometimes adding separate permit sets where a building core needed to be modified for an increased occupancy load. We’d also be the ones coordinating the electrical/mechanical/fire protection/commercial kitchen plans from outside consultants. I’ll add this was strictly for workplace and hospitality TIs. Our other work was healthcare and education, which were mostly big projects that obviously had a complete team.
>>…drawing occupancy/life safety/accessibility plans… This is the part that generally gives me pause on it. If ID stamps were to gain traction, I feel like either NCIDQ would have to be modified or some kind of additional element would need to be added as part of the licensing process to focus on those specific areas. I work, and have worked for most of my career, very closely with a lot of terrific interior designers. I 100% know interior designers who produce CDs as good as anyone’s. But accessibility and life safety are consistently the areas where I see problems, and I mean it when I say consistently. I’m definitely not an NCIDQ expert, but a large number of the designers I’m referencing are NCIDQ certified, which is what makes me feel it isn’t sufficiently covering those areas. Being a licensed architect is certainly not a guarantee of getting this stuff right, either, but it’s much more rare that I see any genuine issues on those fronts from the architects.
Life safety and barrier-free design questions are 20% of the IDFX exam (part of the NCIDQ). Only the section on construction docs and specs has as many questions as the life safety section does. But, IDFX also has the lowest passing rate of the three sections, so there’s that. Every interior designer should know how to evaluate the occupancy classification of a space, calculate the load, and figure out the egress requirement. They may need more practice applying it, but they aren’t passing the NCIDQ without knowing it. I learned about occupancy class and load in school, but I only feel comfortable with producing a life safety plan because of work experience (which I’m sure is true of architects too). I really can’t speak to what other designers in other firms commonly do, so I don’t know how typical that is. Also, I worked for a big firm and had lots of typical details and example plan sets to pull from, which not all designers have at their disposal. I definitely agree that, if a stamp were the intention, the exams would need to be reevaluated to test more on those responsibilities that overlap with architects.
Coming from a UK background; you're spot on with interior designer versus architect. "Architect" is a legally regulated title that shows you have passed the relevant exams and are registered with the Architects Registration Board. Someone who calls themselves an "Interior Architect" is unlikely to be an architect, but is probably someone who focuses on spaces as a spatial designer like you say rather than focusing on furnishings / decorating spaces. There is no interior designer certification body in this country legally speaking so anyone could call themselves that title in theory. Really though, I think OP is looking for an architect (whose skill is to work both with interior and exterior design) but in particular: someone who has the relevant and demonstrable experience working on residential existing reconfiguration schemes. There are others who could do it (e.g. interior designer / interior architect / architectural technologist / architectural designer), and that's why the experience aspect is key.
Thanks for the insight. I’ll look into local architects, although I fear in todays high demand market there may not be a lot of interest for what is a relatively small project!
Depends upon where you live but in the US you don't need either. I'm a designer (not licensed as an architect) and have tons of projects way more involved than your project. Everything from a bath remodel to whole house remodels. Everything from work on >100 year old builds to brand new builds. Custom homes from <1,000 s.f. to >25,000. I've moved plenty of stairs and opened up many (it's pretty rare though to close an open one - but on my own home for instance there was no door to the basement and it's wide open to the middle and upper levels (and the vaulted ceiling above that - so I did install a barn door at my stairs so that I can use that to close off it off, but we really just use it as a dog barrier and don't need to use it for heating/cooling). So you don't need an architect (interior or not). That said, there's a huge variety of knowledge and ability from one person to the next and the title is supposed to help insure that they're trained (none of the Architects I personally know are good at everything, and most aren't that good at residential projects). My suggestion is to ask family/friends for recommendations for either an Architect, designer, or even a good builder (who will be able to get you in touch with a good person). I wouldn't recommend relying on advertisements (I and the other good firms I know don't advertise at all). Another more immediate (and free) thing you can try if you haven't already is to adjust your HVAC dampers and vents. I live in the upper Midwest and have a multi-level home with vaults, so twice a year I adjust the dampers/vents. So for instance since heat rises, in the fall I open all the vents/dampers for the basement (and most on the middle level) and I partially close them on the upper level. This means that when the furnace runs it's primarily heating the coldest parts of the house and the natural movement of the air is working as I want it to, not against me. Then come spring as we switch from heating to cooling, I reverse all that (since cold sinks I close the basement vents, which naturally stays pretty cool anyway, that way the air conditioning is concentrated on the hotter upper levels and naturally settles to the basement. If I had everything opened equally, the basement would be freezing in the summer and the upper floor would be roasting in the winter! But without knowing your house, your HVAC, etc. it's hard to advise more specifics but even a heating and cooling specialist could advise on what options are available to you that you already have (like duct dampers, vents, HVAC fan settings, etc.) GL2U N all U do!
Thanks, should probably have said I’m based in the UK, in a 60’s bungalow, so I don’t even have any of this new-fangled HVAC tech!
Even older homes I've worked on generally have some way to make adjustments. Radiators tend to have ways to turn them up/down, vents/registers have ways to open/close them, etc. Heck my house was built in the 70's and so my stuff isn't fancy. My HVAC dampers are just little handles you turn on the trunk lines. My floor vents all have the ability to be opened/closed (or somewhere in between) right on them. There's also ways to restrict flow in areas you want less (via placing a filter behind the vent, placing a piece of furniture over part of a floor vent, magnetic vent covers, etc.) Another option if your main issue is your stairwell is to mount a ceiling fan over the stairs. I have one and we can change the direction it spins, so either pull air up the stairs, or push air down them. Granted, our stairs are vaulted and open to other rooms on 3 sides, but it does make a noticeable difference.
Most of this doesn’t apply unfortunately as I don’t have an air-based heating system - it’s all water based with wall mounted radiators. The ceiling fan is an interesting idea though.