How to design a Duplex? | Architectural Design

Guide to designing a Duplex

Duplex is a term used for a household with different unit configurations. This term is used in different countries to convey different meanings. In densely populated areas such as Manhattan and Downtown Chicago, it refers to a single household unit spread over two floors. This is the category of Duplex design we will focus on in this article.

There are two major steps in designing a Duplex

  1. Conducting a casestudies of Duplexes
  2. Designing

Designing can be further split into three phases:

  1. Conceptual Sketching
  2. Developing Single line plans
  3. Developing Double line plans

Four things you would need for the design of Duplex:

  1. Willingness to do the live casestudies of duplexes
  2. Online research
  3. Paper, Pencil for conceptual sketching
  4. CAD software

We need to conduct case studies of individual duplexes or apartments that house duplexes. You might wonder, why is that required? Let me remind you that case studies are the backbone of our design. When we design, we begin with listing out requirements. For example, if we are designing a building and have no clue about its requirements, we might have difficulty getting the functional aspect of the design right.

Following aspects have to be studied whilst conducting a case study of a Duplex:

  • study the circulation,
  • the requirements,
  • calculate the number of people it caters to;
  • calculate the areas of individual spaces such as bedroom, bathroom, Hall, Dining, Kitchen, Utility etc.

Studying the above mentioned aspects will help you with understand the requirements for Duplex design.

Also, the study of connectivity of the spaces is very important and has to be done in order to get the functional aspect of the design right.

“Efficient connectivity is the soul of any design”.

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Recycled OR New Modern Furniture?? | Sustainable Design

Step-wise procedure for conducting a research on Furniture Design

In this article, we will discuss the steps for carrying out a research on the proposed topic. This research will help us evaluate if the concept of recycled furniture is workable and whether it could be profitable as compared to the New modern furniture made from new materials.

Step One:

Study the process of making recycled furniture. This would include studying the materials for the furniture, the factories, the energy resources required for the manufacture, amount of skilled and unskilled labour and finally the costs.

Step two:

Where have they been used? Study the successful examples of the use of recycled furniture in various countries and analyse the reasons behind their success.

It is also important to consider the negative aspects of the same. It is important to know why people wouldn’t want to prefer recycled furniture and that should be very clear.

 Dining Table | New Modern Furniture
Dining Table | New Modern Furniture

Step three:

Remember for any venture to become a success, it has to be profitable. If it is not, then nobody will care to pay attention towards it. This applies for both the consumer as well as the manufacturer.

Analysis of the profit and loss for a company manufacturing recycled materials for the furniture has to be done. It is important to know whether these run in loss or in profit which will give you an idea of  the interest that people show towards using recycled furniture.

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Design elements to focus on in Cafeteria Design

How to design a Cafeteria? | Architectural Design

In our previous article “Guide to design of Cafeteria“, we had a stepwise discussion as to how you should proceed with the design project of Cafeteria.

In this article, we will discuss all the possible design considerations you could take to make the Cafeteria design interesting.

Creation of a cool and peaceful environment. Cafeteria is a place where people come to relax and have a small chat with their friends. The soft music in the background is good enough to serve the purpose. It is completely unnecessary to give it a dramatic disco effect or have loud music.

Try and create thematic interiors. It could be anything. It all depends on how far creative you can get.

Contemporary theme for Cafeteria Design
Contemporary theme for Cafeteria Design

For example:

Contemporary theme

To incorporate this theme, you will have to have modern furniture design, funky colours used, paintings on the walls of the cafe that would depict a sense of modernism when a person steps in; also instead of just having 2D painting on the walls, you could go for 3D art work which is more intriguing and brings some life to the interior space.arrangement of tables and chairs, ceiling design, design pillars in the cafe to give a contemporary look etc.

Choice of a good colour scheme is very important in this case. It makes a whole lot of difference to the feel of the space.

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Cafeteria Design Guide | Architectural Design

Design considerations for a Cafeteria | Architectural Design Guide

We all know what a Cafeteria is like.

It is a hangout place where we all have tea, coffee and some snacks. That is all that the place provides.

Why is it important to know the function of the structure you are designing?

At the beginning of your Architectural course, you might not be very well versed with understanding the importance of  studying the function of the structure before you would want to design it.

Cafeteria in a Corporate Office
Cafeteria in a Corporate Office

So remember, UNDERSTAND and ANALYZE THE FUNCTION AND CIRCULATION BEFORE YOU DESIGN!

Step by step guide to designing a cafeteria:

Here, we will discuss the detailed steps to be followed in order to design a cafeteria.

Step One:

Visit a cafeteria. Are you finding it strange?? Well, you are bound to find it weird since you have visited the cafeteria like a thousand times.

But, this time when you visit the cafeteria, perceive it with an Architect’s point of view.

For now, you are an architecture student but you will soon become an Architect.

Alright now, let’s come to the point.

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