Reshaping Interior Contracting

-Authored by Raghav Kapur, Assistant Vice President, SILA New technologies and trends are shaping the future of Interior Contracting in an innovative and productive way, here is looking at a few of them: Smart Homes and Offices - Smart Homes and Offices are already everywhere in form of Google Homes and Amazon Echo; speak to these devices and they will dim the lights for you, turn off the television and remind you of your upcoming appointments. Offices are now also enabled with sensors, mobile apps and beacons that is helping employees perform tasks in an efficient and quicker manner. Experts predict that in future smart homes and offices with go beyond standalone devices, for e.g. inbuilt induction hobs, wireless charging for devices and more. VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) – VR is helping Project Managers/Designers in creating live experiences for their clients in form of a walk through, selecting furniture pieces, flooring variation, layouts of their commercial/residential space and more. AR also has already created its own niche, it fuses the real world and the virtual world by blanketing virtual features over the actual ones. AR infact is a feasible and more compatible version of technology as compared to VR, where you just need to download an app on your smartphone or tablet to view the possible complete version of the space. 3D Printing – The integration of 3D Printing is already being done in the design industry, the reason being that it has largely reduced the time between the conception of the idea and its implementation. It helps the designers demonstrate ideas in a miniature form without the actual building of the construction/design. Besides the fact that 3D printing is efficient and quick, it is also cost effective. From the workspace to the office layout, the design is completely detailed giving the consumer a good understanding of it and at the same time making the trend impressive enough to be incorporated for all the projects. Unconventional Spaces – The tiny house movement has taken over USA; here individuals are downsizing their living spaces to 400 square feet. The spaces are expertly engineered to fit in requirements as per the size, for e.g. stairs double up as storage units, foldable tables acting as kitchen counters and dining spaces. Similarly, portable sit/stand desks, cosy and funky chairs are trending in offices that intend to create a friendly work ambience for their employees. The objective here is to make the most out of limited space along with ensuring that the ease of living or working is provided as well. Sustainable Construction and Designs – Eco-friendly Construction is creating a mark across all the sectors. Upcycling furniture, usage of eco-friendly paints, installation of LEDs instead of CFLs, incorporating energy efficient materials and eco-friendly designs, etc. is now becoming increasingly common. The more the consumers are developing awareness, the more they are requesting for implementation of these eco-friendly products, Sustainable construction and designs is a trend that is already in implementation in interior contracting and shall continue to grow.