Three Key Components of Commercial Design

Robin Pasley is an interior designer who prioritizes life safety, functionality, and aesthetics in her commercial design projects. Even when designs must change for code requirements, Pasley Commercial Interiors focuses on problem-solving to maintain design vision. Robin is currently reworking a plan to keep a necessary exit door while preserving the layout. Her approach weaves life safety principles throughout the design process.

Transcript

Randi Lynn Johnson 00:00

When it comes to the success of a small business, the focus is most often on innovative products, smart digital marketing and robust customer service. seldom does the spotlight fall on one of the most potent but overlooked aspects of business development. Interior design, interior design can be the silent architect of a business's growth. A strategic investment that speaks volumes about your brand converts casual visitors into loyal customers and boosts your bottom line. In an era where customer experience is king. Every element of business including the aesthetic appeal and functionality of a space can heighten or diminish the perceived value of a brand.

Randi Lynn Johnson 00:43

All right, so it's time to formalize an approach that embeds life safety planning into the very DNA of commercial interior design. Thankfully, your PCI podcast team has created a three part framework that's going to serve as a roadmap to weave life safety principles into every facet of your design process. So Robin, you're gonna get us started and thinking, what are the things like the basic things when it comes to life safety.

Robin Pasley  01:07

So number one is making sure that there is an exit close enough to you to get out, and that the door is swinging the right direction. So that's one of the things we do in code study is making sure that we have a limitation on how far the farthest point of an interior space can be from an exit door into the corridors and then out to the exit of the building. That's our first thing that's about the path of travel. The second thing would be signage and fire systems, you know, things that blink and flash and signs that say exit here, those are necessary. They're there, there's requirements on how many of those have to be in a visual point in a corridor in a room and, and the emergency frog lights that come on and light the space. And those mean, this is all we work in conjunction with, of course, the people that are in their specialties, like the mechanical and electrical and plumbing engineers, they're also working in this. There's fire engineers, too, that work on this sprinkler systems, but our knowledge bases required to know what needs to be in that area. And then we work with them to finalize all of that. And the third thing that a lot of people don't know, is down to the materials and the furniture. So understanding what wallpapers are, what wall coverings can give up, they have to be fire rated, if they're going into commercial building, it's different than your house, I could put some things in your house, I can't put in a commercial building, because they just aren't rated for that same thing with furniture, there are fabrics and finishes, there's even foams that are allowed to be in commercial spaces, or at least are approved for usage in a commercial space. Okay, because of their flammability.

Randi Lynn Johnson 02:53

So Robin, can you tell us in a practical real world example of how you have done this both and approach where you're prioritizing life safety, making sure it's functioning, right.

Robin Pasley  03:07

But it also looks good, right? Sure, I'm working on a project right now, that would have been really great to have a door missing from this wall, because then we could have done some more fancy wall coverings, but we have to have the door there for life safety code. So we're just reworking our design plan, in order to keep the door where it is, it's also a cost savings for our client to not have to move the door. But also not compromise the design, we're just gonna rework where things land on that wall, so that we can make sure that they can escape if they need to. But also so that, you know, the design is not compromised.

Randi Lynn Johnson 03:48

So you can pivot, you're really good at seeing it and begin able to say we're gonna make it work.

Robin Pasley  03:55

Yes, we can make it work. And that's part of, I think, the problem solving side of design, I am attracted to puzzles naturally, because I love problem solving. And that's 80% of my job is problem solving. And this is part of that, you know, we have to comply with safety. But we also want the spaces to be really highly functional for the end user. And also beautiful. And to me, that's kind of the ranking number one is safety and code compliance. Number two is functionality. And number three is beauty. And this is, you know, this is also in relationship to if we're on the safety conversation. You know, we do a lot of medical, so understanding, you know, self healing surfaces and antimicrobial surfaces, and I mean, specking into a project, making sure that all of our seating has an antimicrobial finish on it. That's one of the things we do we want everything to be bleach cleanable because they're working in those environments, and sure enough…

Robin Pasley  04:51

Well that's part of it is that as a designer, if you're not fully aware of all of those depths, that list of details that's in fabrics back if you don't know what you're looking for, then you might specify something and they go into bleach, clean it and all of a sudden, there's an the fabrics not holding up or it's starting tomorrow because of that, you know, chemical being used on it. Well, you just specify the wrong fabric.

Randi Lynn Johnson 05:16

A lot to think about Robin, thank you. You're well is entertaining and enlightening.

Robin Pasley  05:24

Thanks a lot for having me. I guess it's my show. 

Randi Lynn Johnson 

Yeah, it is your show. Thanks a lot. Listen to me. Thanks for listening to me.

Interior Design isn't an extravagance reserve for big brands. It is a tangible investment that can yield in measurable returns. In an increasingly competitive market. The merits of this strategic approach can make all the difference and not just surviving but thriving, passively

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