In the ninth episode of De Architect podcast series ‘Over Architectuur Gesproken’, Elise Zoetmulder talks about her playful working methods and the importance of spatial experience within buildings. As a child, she visited so-called ‘boring playgrounds’ with funny windows and ‘cool water caves’ with her mother Jeanne Dekkers. These places turned out to be Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp Chapel and Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals. ‘In my early years, I built an intuitive architectural database,’ she says. ‘My mother taught me a lot with her playful perspective on the built environment.’
In the podcast, Elise also explains how ZOETMULDER approaches design by combining different scales. She refers to Edward Hall’s diagram of Proxemics and uses Hotel De Botanica as an example. ‘If we hadn’t approached the interior and architecture as a single, integrated project, the building would have turned out completely differently,’ she explains. For example, the position of windows is completely coordinated with the sofas and tables in the rooms. Despite these complex frameworks, Elise emphasizes that the purpose of a commission must always remain clear. clear. In the sensory living concepts she designed for BAM living, the sensory experience is the main goal.
In the same episode, Elise answers the question: What is an interior architect?
‘It’s a profession you can define for yourself,’ she explains. Architects and urban planners also work in this field, expanding their roles just as interior architects do. As a board member of BNI, Elise notes, ‘All board members approach the field differently.’
Elise herself approaches her work from the human scale, moving from the inside out, while her co-founder of ZOETMULDER, Anton Zoetmulder, takes an architectural approach, working from the outside in. ‘Collaborating with the architectural discipline has helped me better understand what interior architecture means to me,’ she says.
Elise’s approach shows how interior architecture and architecture are inseparable linked. By taking an integrated approach that brings together interior, architecture and human scale, she emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision.
Listen to the podcast episode here
Want to learn more about ZOETMULDER’s vision? Discover: ‘Research Beauty as Experience – The Toolbox’, ‘Research Social and Green living’ and ‘Research Sense & Care’
