HOUSE OF INTELLIGENCE
Lighting and Interior Designer
09/2020 – 02/2021
House of Intelligence is a, first of its kind, luxurious residence in Lahore, Pakistan. It is fully equipped with smart home technology, 24/7 surveillance and physically disable-accessibility design features.
Merging Cinematography with Interior Design
One of the most important things to understand in cinematography and photography is how light can be used to completely transform a scene. It holds the power to evoke emotions, dictate moods and elevate the visual beauty of a scene. This house was designed while keeping the importance of proper lighting in mind.
Using Light for Dynamic Design
More often than not, the traditional design of a house is very one dimensional and is not made with the intention of transforming with the time of day. Furthermore, the lighting only serves a utilitarian purpose, it is not used as a tool for enhancing design.
The purposeful use of lighting on the elevation of this house adds contrast and depth; this completely transforms the design of the house from a minimalistic one during the daytime into an extravagant piece of art at night.
Creating Mood with Light
In film, lighting helps to set the mood of a scene. Real life is no different.
The client wanted a classic drawing room and dining room for formal use and a more modern and playful living room for their daily use.
Since the drawing and the dining room are connected to the living room by a glass sliding door, the change from classic décor to modern décor was too abrupt, we needed some sort of a buffer to gradually blend the two types of designs.
Given that the dining room was in the middle of the drawing room and the living room, that is what we used as a buffer. Originally planned to be more of a classic dining room, we convinced the client into to making it more of a modern-classic one as it would help with adding flow to the overall design and be more practical. This change, along with the golden lighting, helped to gradually blend the three spaces together despite having three different décor styles.
Classic Drawing Room
To contrast the chocolate wood flooring in the drawing room, we selected a beautiful creamy white color for all the furniture and décor. Since this room is mostly for guests, we went with mostly white lighting that not only compliments the darker features of this room, but also energizes the vibe of the space to ensure there is never a dull moment here.
Modern-Classic Dining Room
Moving forward from the drawing room, we enter the dining room; where the golden lighting transitions the formal appeal of the classic drawing room into a more relaxed space for breaking bread. Here, we also see the creamy white modern-classic dining chairs contrasting beautifully with the chocolate wood flooring. The simplistic, yet elegant, design of the dining room adds to the overall modern-classic look of this room and acts as great buffer which allows for a gradual transition into a modern living room.
Modern Living Room
Stepping past the glass sliding doors, we enter the living room. Here we have a very minimalist L-Shape sofa in aquamarine color that brilliantly contrast the pure white Spanish tiles. Along with it, we have a very modern space-saving glass top dining table for those impromptu meals at the odd hours. Also in the opposite corner, we have a beautifully crafted lightweight settee that can be easily moved around for when you have some extra company.
To compliment the yellow light spilling over from the dining room we embedded the ceiling fixture with yellow LED's. The asymmetrical design and the illumination of the ceiling fixture adds a playfulness to the room which elevates the ambiance of the space.
Since this is where the family will be spending most of their time, the function of this room will change from moment to moment; sometimes it'll be used for watching movies or eating take-outs while other times it'll be used for relaxing and lounging. With each use the mood will be different, which is why there are WiFi enabled RGB LED bulbs all around the living room that ensure that the lighting of the room perfectly matches the mood for the night.
Finding Symmetry within Asymmetry
This residence has an elevator that opens into the lobby; this occupies a portion of the space and, in the process, makes the lobby asymmetrical. This presented itself as a design challenge since the elevator structure was very domineering in this space.
We wanted to design a dynamic lobby that has different focal points depending on where the person is standing. To achieve this we used lines and shapes as part of our floor design to add movement. This not only helped us create dynamic focal points, it also helped us find symmetry within the asymmetrical lobby.
We figured, if we just replicate the floor design onto the ceiling, we could not just achieve symmetry along the horizontal axis (a difficult feat in interior design), we could also introduce an illusion of an elongated space.
When we enter the lobby through the main entrance door, the movement created through the floor & ceiling design guides our attention to the glass doors that lead to the living room.
When we look into the lobby standing from the living room the focal point of the lobby becomes the large main entrance door. Also, from this point of view we can better appreciate the horizontal symmetry that occupies the lobby.
Curtains in stairways are sooo 2019. This is our elegant twist to blocking the light and adding some privacy.
When you look into the lobby from the drawing room, the floor design, the climbing stairs and the etched glass of the railing leads directly towards the backlit CNC cut window panel. This makes for an excellent focal point as it is something elegantly modern and unique that you do not see everyday. As I have been told by the client, this make for a great conversation starter with people who visit the house for the first time.