Cruise & Ferry Interiors 2020

8 0 FEATURE Health and well-being through design Vacations inherently enhance health and well-being, but what role does interior design play in enriching the physical and emotional welfare of guests onboard cruise ships? Jon Ingleton asks executives from IFI W henever a person enters a room – whether on land or at sea – they should instantly be able to form a personal connection with that space. The easiest way for an interior designer to ensure that this happens is to engage all five human senses, according to Titi Ogufere, president of International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) from 2020-2021. “When designing an interior space, there is a tendency to dwell heavily on the visual implications, but I believe in designing a robust sensory experience and sight is just one of five human senses,” she explains. “I also like to engage the senses of sound by playing with both silence and soothing noises, touch by experimenting with textures and smell by using natural and organic aromas, which can also stimulate the sense of taste. When all the senses are engaged, the experience of occupying a space becomes much more immersive and compelling.” However, Ogufere takes a subtly different approach to engaging the senses depending on what type of space she is designing. “A private space is designed to choreograph the harmony of individual occupation, so I aim to create individualised sensory experiences that translate into personal sanctuaries,” she says. “By way of contrast, when I design public spaces, I want to choreograph harmonised human interactions.” This is where passenger ship designers can take inspiration from land-based spaces. “Hotels, for example, are designed with prolonged human occupation in mind, so spaces are created to be spontaneous and dynamic, but they also offer small elements of design to encourage certain behaviours, such as immersive social experiences or more intimate encounters,” she says. “In the same way, cruise ships can be designed to manipulate the thresholds between private and public, interior and exterior, and sensory “I believe in designing a robust sensory experience and sight is just one of five senses” Titi Ogufere