Introduction

Interior design in design practice is a phenomenal career. The profession involves the creation of indoor spaces that are aligned to the client’s specifications. Typically, interior design professionals usually visit and tour spaces to create design plans, plan renovations, provide estimates of costs, supervise projects during the construction course, and work closely with clients to find design aspects that match the clients’ styles. It is also relevant that the practitioners in the interior design profession focus on making interior spaces functional, safe, and authentic. They do this by determining the requirements related to space and choosing decorative items, including lighting, colours, and materials. What is more, these subjects read blueprints while maintaining building codes and inspection regulations, besides the universal accessibility norms or standards. The profession has evolved over the years due to the emergence of a host of influential factors primarily triggered by the covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on the profession and discuss how an interior designer can assist in addressing the new challenges that have come to the fore while mitigating the effects on business.

Discussion

Covid-19 has had significant effects on interior spaces. One of the essential effects of the pandemic is that interior designs are now focusing more on entryways, foyers, and mudrooms. Indeed, Squier (2022) claims that in the current times, foyers, entryways, and mudrooms are getting much more attention than in the past as people become more acquainted with the need for maintaining sanitary areas, not to mention a clear division between outdoors and indoors. The essence of this development is that the interior space will gain in terms of aesthetics and functionality. The author gives the example of the interior design of the Artery Residence. As such, the facility has a large wooden door that welcomes visitors. The foyer serves as a buffer zone to the primary living areas. The foyers, mudrooms, and entryways are not new phenomena. Instead, they emerged as a result of past pandemics. Nevertheless, with the Covid-19, the facilities have grown and become much more functional. The greater emphasis on the mudrooms, foyers, and entryways has resulted in new demands. For example, Insight Consulting Australia (2021) expressed that the emphasis on foyers has led to new demands to put greater consideration on vulnerable young people. Traditionally, foyers formed a natural space for large meetings and assemblies, while lighting is often used to mark the meeting zones. However, distinct demands will arise. As a result, the foyer’s design will shift away from the traditions. As such, rather than being scaled to hold large meetings, the foyers’ dimensions will be reduced in alignment with the changing function of the facility.

Another key change in the interior design due to the onset and persistence of the current pandemic is the installation of office stations. A report by Foyr (2022) revealed that it is always advisable that people should not bring their offices home. Therefore, the interior designs of residential homes have always been such that they are used for recreational purposes, including taking a nap. However, the current pandemic has changed this status quo. Foyr (2022) and Lerner (2021) both claim that homes are being converted to office spaces in recent times. The agency claims that the pandemic has resulted in interior designers allocating spare rooms. Where impossible, these professionals are remodelling every available space inside the clients’ homes to fit an office desk or even a study corner. As a result, several demands have emerged. For example, interior design professionals have been compelled to redesign some rooms to accommodate office work, including heavy office usage. Therefore, unlike the past, rooms or home spaces reformulated to accommodate home-based office work have designated spaces for office technologies such as printers and personal computers.

The interior designs have also changed in the face of the ongoing pandemic in the notion that they have now adopted biophilic designs. Shamaileh (2021) confers that the interior designs are now characterized by sliding doors as well as large windows that bring the outside in nature and greenery-inspired colors. Consequently, the internal design being pursued today is one that enhances the connection of people to the environment as a way of boosting the physical and mental wellness of the people while inside their homes. The past pandemics, such as influenza, were responsible for this new status quo. While this is the case, during Covid-19, the biophilic interior designs have become even more meaningful today, hence their rising prominence, espe