Annie Chu Explores the Human Experience of Interiors with Architect Magazine
Professor Annie Chu, FAIA was recently featured as part of the series AIA Voices with Architect Magazine. In the feature, Annie explored the relationship between interiors, architecture and human experience. Referencing statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency that say we spend more than 90% of our day indoors, Annie looked at why architects should think more seriously about these spaces and the human scale.
As a self-described champion of interior architecture, Annie a founding pricnipal of Chu+Gooding Architects in Los Angeles. As the article states, she leads both her practice and her students with the guiding principle that—despite the mindset of many “traditionally trained” architects—interiors are so much more than just a collection of materials, finishes, and furniture.
“I gravitated to architecture when I entered Rouen Cathedral in 1979. I felt the immense heft and volume of the stone-hewed interior; it planted a seed. In 2014, at my first visit to La Tourette, I walked into the chapel, sat down, and wept; the interior experience was searingly profound. Perhaps those of us who entered architecture because we feel spaces, as compared to those who approach it from primarily an intellectual place, will be drawn to interiors.”
Annie goes on to touch on the broad range of disciplines engage: structure, materials, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, acoustics, lighting, well-being, sustainability, psychology, transportation design, biology, chemistry, color, and much more. In her own words, “I’d call interiors a fathomless and promiscuous discipline: synthesizing an abundance of needs and expertise to deliver layers and systems for the most scrutinized and impactful 90% of your day. It is time to recommit to the noble mission of architecture as art-plus-service by advancing the design of the continuum of spatial experiences.”