Modern style in interior design: not a set of devices, but an architectural foundation

What is modern style in interior design?

Modern style in interior design is recognised by how the space is put together. In our practice it's usually built on a few principles:

• Architecture matters more than decor. It is proportion, line and plane that do the work, not applied elements.
• A palette with no mandatory canon. A modern foundation allows both neutral and saturated colours. In our projects the tone is usually set by a few closely related shades, with contrast introduced sparingly, through light, texture or a single object.
• Large, unbroken planes and expressive materials. Natural stone, wood and veneer sit alongside matte paint, glass and metal, with a minimum of joints and decorative overlays.
• Built-in storage. Freestanding wardrobes give way to built-in systems, niches and fronts flush with the wall.
• Light is designed as part of the architecture. The general, task and accent lighting scenarios are tied to the furniture layout, not added on after the interior has been signed off.

It's worth saying what's not on this list. Modern style doesn't require white or beige walls, an absence of decor, an open floor plan, handle-less fronts, or concrete. These are common devices, not conditions: saturated colour, art and objects with a history are all compatible with a modern foundation. A device goes out of fashion over time; the principle stays.

That's why a mid-century armchair, a classical surround and contemporary art can all coexist here. The foundation judges an object by scale and material, not by origin.

Why modern style works as a foundation

In the popular image of design, style was long the first question: classical, minimalist, Art Deco, with everything else then falling in behind the chosen name. In our practice these questions are resolved in parallel: functional requirements and the way people actually live set the first constraints on the layout, while the stylistic concept develops alongside them, refining proportions, materials and the character of the space. Most of our residential projects are built on a modern foundation: it shapes the layout, the storage, the building services and the architecture of the space. A signature layer is then added on top, with carefully tuned proportions, natural textures and an attention to detail in which a classical training shows. This logic is explored in more detail in the guide to interior styles.

The practical value of this kind of foundation lies in its capacity. When long-lasting decisions are concentrated in the layout, the proportions and the built-in furniture, it can absorb both objects with a history and things bought ten years later: it's the top layer that gets refreshed, not the foundation. In an interior assembled to a strict historical canon, an object that doesn't fit visibly unsettles the composition: it has to be adjusted to the overall rule rather than simply put in place.

Tellingly, clients often frame their brief without naming a style at all. Instead they say: they want it to feel calm, not to get tiring after three years, not to look like a hotel. All three are requirements about how the space is put together. That's where a modern foundation comes from: people arrive at it through the conditions of their life, not through a picture from a mood board.

What this looks like on real projects

A 180 m² apartment in the city centre is an example of modern style taken down to the smallest nuance. The clients themselves have spent more than twenty-five years in the interiors industry, and asked for restraint without contrivance. The interior is built on clean proportions and a subtle palette: accents are carried by light and texture rather than blocks of colour. The living room is arranged around the fireplace and the art, the bedroom has a dedicated lounge area by the panoramic windows, and the bathroom features large-format Calacatta-pattern porcelain stoneware and a window, a rare feature for a bathroom in an apartment.

A 114 m² apartment shows that light can also be an argument for the layout: glazing on three sides made it possible to distribute sunrise and sunset between different functional areas. Depth comes from a dark ceiling frieze, mirrored reveals where the areas meet and floor-to-ceiling doors: ways of working with the plane, not decoration.

A 145 m² apartment. Here, brass, golden marble and walnut were added to a neutral palette that emphasises the scale of the bay windows, an accent the foundation absorbed without losing coherence. These materials, together with microcement, run through every room, from the entrance hall to the bathrooms. That continuity is exactly what keeps an interior from falling apart into separate rooms.

A 198 m² apartment. The larger the floor area, the more important consistent materials become. Marble and wood run through the whole interior, from the entrance hall floor to the kitchen splashback and bathroom details, while a neutral grey-beige backdrop is enlivened by targeted colour accents: blue in the master bedroom, pink in the kitchen, green in the bathroom. The discipline of the foundation keeps these accents under control: they read as the owner's character, not as inconsistency.

A 164 m² apartment shows that calm doesn't mean characterless. Warm greige, brass and natural wood hold the palette together, two bay windows, in the living room and the study, act as an architectural frame, and custom furniture with built-in storage removes visual noise. The result is restrained but not empty: Calacatta marble and brass details add exactly as much richness as the foundation can carry.

How modern style differs from related styles

From minimalism: by what it allows. Minimalism demands greater visual discipline: stray objects and open storage have a more visible effect on the composition. A modern interior allows colour, art, texture and objects with a history, and doesn't require the owners to maintain emptiness as a condition of the concept.

From contemporary style: more a matter of terminology than technique. The two words are often used almost interchangeably, and there's little point arguing over them. The difference shows up in the brief: with the word “contemporary” a client is usually asking for sharper geometry and designer furniture, an interior that reads as a statement.

From Art Nouveau: by era and origin. Art Nouveau is a historical movement from the turn of the 20th century, with flowing lines and plant ornament. It has nothing in common with a modern interior.

From modern classic: by its relationship to tradition. Modern classic relies on symmetry and classical order proportions, interpreting them freely. Modern style doesn't rely on that system: symmetry is possible within it, but it's a consequence of the layout, not a law it follows. Order here comes from the function and the architecture of the property.

What determines the result in practice

The features above describe what a modern interior looks like. Below are the four places where it is decided whether one actually comes together.

The layout. Restrained architecture makes layout mistakes especially visible: a beautiful material won't fix an awkward route through the space, a lack of storage, or the wrong proportions in a room. That's why the space-planning solution decides a significant part of the result here. More on this in how a space-planning solution for an apartment comes together.

Storage. Built-in systems instead of freestanding wardrobes decide whether the composition survives once the interior starts living an ordinary life. As soon as there isn't enough room for things, everyday clutter appears on the surfaces, and it undoes a calm composition faster than any single unfortunate object could.

Light. With a single diffuse source overhead, textures go flat and all the work put into the materials disappears. A modern interior usually needs several lighting scenarios: general, task and accent. The exact number depends on the room and how it's used. These are worked out together with the layout, following the furniture arrangement. By the time the technical documentation is issued, the main scenarios should already be defined; from there they're translated into a ceiling plan, fixture positions and switching groups.

Joints and transitions. Clean planes in a modern interior are often achieved through concealed doors, shadow gaps, restrained junctions and a minimum of visible transitions. Details like these have to be drawn up separately, which is where the difference between a basic and an extended scope of documentation comes from. How this affects the price is covered in “What makes up the price of an interior design project”.

Where to start

If this logic feels right to you, it's more sensible to start not with gathering references but with an assessment of the property: what the layout allows, where the utility runs are, how much storage is needed. At a consultation this takes an hour and clears up most of the questions about style, because once the assessment is done, it's clear which solutions the property has already ruled out, and which it can support.

Next comes an interior design project for the apartment, where the style is fixed together with the layout and the materials, rather than chosen separately from them.

Modern style is built from decisions about space: how the layout works, where things are stored, how light is distributed. All of this is decided once, and is the hardest thing to redo later. That's why the question “what style” isn't always the main one at the first meeting: it's worth understanding the property first, and only then the language used to work with it.