Why a house design isn't enough

and why beautiful architecture doesn't necessarily mean a good interior

In practice, the design of a house and its interior are often separated

In an ideal world, the house and its interior design are created as a single entity. In real-world projects, however, they are often separated. The architect handles the structure, layout, facade, and hundreds of related technical decisions. Meanwhile, the client handles everything else—and this phase alone is quite demanding.

By the time the house is “finished,” energy often runs out. The interior design is put off until later. It begins to be addressed without context, without continuity, without someone to hold it all together. You know the result: the house works from the outside, but the interior comes together gradually, as individual decisions are made.

It’s not a mistake. It’s a phase of the project

This isn’t a criticism of architects. It’s the reality of the process. Designing a house is demanding. Layout, structure, coordination, details. It makes sense that most of the energy goes into those areas. The interior design of the house is then often left “for later.” Sometimes intentionally, sometimes simply because there’s no capacity left for it. Moreover, not every architect wants to tackle the interior in detail. Some set it up only in broad strokes, while others leave it entirely up to the client.

The result isn’t that the house design is bad. Rather, it’s that the interior wasn’t created as a fully-fledged part of the whole.

The building architect and the interior architect. It’s all about collaboration.

Bringing an interior architect into the project can seem like a complication at first. Like interference in someone else’s work. In reality, it works differently.

The architect designs the whole from the outside. The interior architect designs the whole from the inside. We don’t “fix” architecture or try to rewrite it. We build on it.

When these two layers meet well, the project becomes more precise—not more complicated. And in the end, even the original architects often confirm that.

When does an interior architect join a project?

We join projects once the house has already been designed or is currently under construction. Sometimes, we get involved when it becomes apparent that the interior design lacks a clear direction.

Typically:

• the house has been designed, but the interior design hasn’t been addressed yet
• construction is underway and the first “quick” decisions are starting to be made
• the client feels that the interior is coming together haphazardly

It’s not an ideal moment. But it’s a realistic one. We do not interfere with the house’s architecture. We respect it. We work with what has already been created. However, we treat the interior design as a full-fledged layer of the project, not as furnishings to be added at the end.

We describe in detail when it is ideal to start addressing the interior design of a house in the article When to Start Addressing the Interior of a House

Villa Lučiny – Working with the Building’s Structure in the Interior

At Villa LUČINY, the building’s design was clearly defined, but the interior design was originally intended to be safe, even overly subdued—a white interior and wooden floors. We took the opposite approach and used the building’s structure as the foundation for the interior.

We left the concrete sections unplastered; we did not conceal the ceiling behind drywall, but instead added an acoustic membrane printed with a pattern based on the actual texture of the concrete. The wooden floor was replaced by a distinctive artistic trowel finish, and we also fundamentally changed the staircase—we designed it to cantilever from the load-bearing wall, with the upstairs railing designed as a continuation of the exposed concrete instead of the originally considered white wall and glass.

We also made slight adjustments to the exterior. We replaced the classic white plaster with STO textured plaster in a light gray, warmer shade, which gave the house a more earthy look. Connecting the interior with the garden was also important to us: in collaboration with a landscape architect, we designed the outdoor spaces to flow seamlessly into the interior, and the Corten steel elements in the garden thus correspond to the Corten steel railing of the main staircase in the living area.

The house remained the same. But we transformed both the interior and the adjoining exterior from a neutral design into a distinctive, contemporary whole.

Ohnivcova Villa – details that can’t be added later

At the OHNIVCOVA villa, we once again worked with exposed concrete and let it truly shine in the interior. The concrete ceilings gave the space a distinctive character while also making it cozier. It may sound counterintuitive, but exposed concrete can actually create a more intimate atmosphere than a white drywall ceiling.

This clearly shows why the interior design of a house must be addressed early on. The wiring for the light fixtures had to be prepared from the upper floor so that the ceiling remained clean, without additional drilling and without visible wiring.

The second key element was the staircase. We designed it as a single concrete monolith, and it was necessary to precisely determine the positions of the light fixtures on the steps and the railing mountings in advance. It runs through three floors as a continuous railing, allowing the staircase to stand out while also serving as a safety feature for children. The interior here isn’t simply tacked onto the finished house. It is created alongside it.

Villa Osice – When the Interior Complements the Original Architecture

This older villa project OSICE still works well today. It is also important to us because it was here that we first met the house’s architect, who initially viewed us with some skepticism. After completion, however, he came to thank us for successfully finishing the project. This is exactly the kind of situation we’re talking about: having another architect on the project doesn’t have to be a problem, but rather a well-managed continuation.

The client contacted us when the project had stalled on a specific detail—the arched wall by the closet. We proposed minimalist curved smoked glass here, which solved the problem without unnecessary ostentation.

But it didn’t end there. We opened up the originally compartmentalized layout into a single living space. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are now connected to the stairwell, which has become the true heart of the house. In the middle, a single load-bearing pillar remained—concrete, but clad in wood, so that instead of a structural element, it began to function almost like a piece of furniture.

It was here that we first fully worked with exposed monolithic construction. From the start, the house was designed as two interlocking masses—one brick, the other monolithic. We left the brick part plastered, while the monolithic part was left exposed. The contrast between the clean plaster and the raw concrete then created one of the main motifs of the entire interior.

What was monolithic remained visible. And thanks to this, the interior did not feel like an added layer, but like a natural continuation of the house.

Why a house design isn’t enough 

A house design addresses the architecture, layout, and structure. An interior design, however, addresses how people actually live in the space. If the interior isn’t developed alongside the house, it’s often addressed too late and lacks coherence. The result is a house that works on the outside but not on the inside. House design is the foundation. You can’t do without it. But it isn’t enough on its own.

Only when the interior design of the house is finalized does the house begin to function as a whole. Not just as an architectural object, but as a space for everyday life.

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by Radka - 27. 4. 2026