Lizzie- Interior Design: National Design Academy Comp

In June I entered the National Design Academy Competition, the brief was to design a million penthouse house apartment for a new development in Nottingham.The £1million penthouse was located within the RiverCrescent development in Nottingham and is privately owned. It was bought as a shell to be fitted out as a rental investment. The rental value is expected to be £5000 per month which needed to be reflected in the quality of the design. The client provided a budget of £100,000 to design the interior of the Penthouse. He had a preference for contemporary style, innovative ideas, practicality and longevity of design.

The brief of Spaces :

• Open plan living area: This is the main living area and consists of a living and dining area. Each area will be used for entertaining and must seat up to 8 people. The open-plan living area includes the kitchen and leads out onto a large terrace area which should also be considered in your design and budget.

• Bedrooms: There are 3 bedrooms, the master suite must include a dressing room. All wardrobes should be fitted and not freestanding. Bed linen and accessories should be included in the budget.

• Bathrooms: All bathrooms have been specified and installed by the client, please allocate £10,000 from the budget for this.

• Home office space: A home office area should be located within the Penthouse.

• Hallways: A budget should be allocated for the decoration and dressing of all hallways.

This was my first competition and I am really pleased that I was shortlisted in the top 20 entries, it was a available experience, learning a lot about budgeting for a brief especially.

(i have posted some of my boards and design rationale for the project)