Interior Narratives of Knole

The students were required to create artefacts and interior interventions that challenged and extended the visitors experience of this historically rich room.

Date: 12 March 2014

The students were required to research, record, celebrate, criticise, adapt, interpret, invent, respond and create artefacts and interior interventions that challenged and extended the visitors experience of this historically rich room.The Reynolds Room at Knole House is a single volume space, once used as a drawing room. The room is passed through and viewed by the many visitors to Knole. But do they really interact and fully understand the space and the artefacts which it houses?

The students from The Cass were asked to design an interior intervention or installation which would encourage the visitors to move beyond the passive observer into an active participant with the interior space.

Through the study of interiors of cultural significance designers are able to understand the theories and context that inform the aesthetic of object or space. Through a process of research, analysis and evaluation, sites of cultural interest can inform and enrich the way in which Interior Designers can develop contemporary design concepts

By researching the history of Knole, the Sackville West family, the paintings and artefacts within the room the students have created a variety of spatial narratives which have informed the individual design language of their interior interventions.