New Office Interior for Astral Media by Lemay Associés

Montreal-based architecture and interiors firm Lemay Associés has designed the interior of a new office for Astral Media in Montreal, Canada. Following is some information from the designers, “In the spring of 2010, Astral Media relocated approximately 350 employees to four (4) floors in downtown Montreal. Based on the client’s four different business units (radio, television, advertising and digital media), our concept was inspired by key broadcasting industry words such as influence, communication, movement and exchange. The concept plays on the contrast between the medium and the message and manifests itself by means of undulating and pixelated graphic interventions.

Aside from workstations, we fitted up a main reception area, various meeting spaces (conference and meeting rooms, agora, etc.) as well as common services (dining room, lounge, café, copy centre) on each floor. In order to create a rhythm and a gradation throughout the playful 6,000 m2 space, each floor was  identified with its own colour and the levels were linked by a central glass staircase.

The Best Interior Design Schools

The best interior design schools are generally the ones which have the most graduates and most successful employment rate on completion of courses. Naturally it can be difficult to access this type of information as it is often considered confidential, but you will find top rating schools boasting about their graduation rate and this can be a good way to find a great school. You can also learn from other people in the field, they will often have a good idea of which schools are best.

There are more and more schools offering interior design classes than ever before and this is due to the rising interest in this field. People enjoy spending money redesigning their homes, and business and the commercial sector are in an ongoing need for creative and talented interior designers. This results in an abundance of opportunities for you after you complete your interior design certification.

What do interior designers do?
Interior designers have a goal of creating functional areas out of spaces in buildings. They design environments for living, working and functioning according to the needs of the client. Graduate interior designers can find work in architectural firms or as a freelance interior designer. Some speciality areas of expertise for interior designers include:

• Kitchen and bathroom design
• Lighting
• Retail store design
• Office planning
• Health care planning
• Universities and schools
• Locations

Interior designers by nature must be creative people. Although most of the skills can be learned at interior design schools, creativity generally comes naturally to someone choosing interior design as a career. Creative skills that will be studied in school include color choices and compatibility, textures, space, cultures, materials and more.

They must also work well with people as they will need to find out what their clients want and be able to provide it for them. Remember, it's not about what the designer wants, but what the client wants! Interior designers must also have the ability to plan well as it is often impossible to buy all the decorations and furniture and then return it. So to avoid hassles like these, interior designers often plan spaces with the use of a computer and decide everything before they buy anything.

The best interior design schools provide a variety of general courses and courses that are aimed at qualified designers who want to become an expert on a particular aspect of interior design. Most people start with an associate or bachelor degree in interior design before embarking upon a speciality subject of study, generally after gaining some employment experience.

Some schools offer interior design apprenticeships which let you study and work at the same time. This provides excellent practical experience so that you can more easily understand that theory that is taught in school. It will also give you excellent opportunity for employment on completion of your apprenticeship, with most people staying on in their current employer.

If you enjoy manipulating space and can see yourself creating outstanding indoor environments then an interior design career is for you. Make sure you research interior design schools before deciding on the one that best meets your needs.

Vastu Advice For The Offices

They should be designed carefully so as that there is a balance in the movement of the work and the office should be in control of the owner. If offices are not made according to these principles, here will be no balance of energies thus less efficiency of the employees, unability to do work; owner may not manage the staff and thus failure.
We have to take care of the following points while studying about the vastu of the offices.
Proper location of the office in the building
The exteriors of the office like shape, slope, height, water

• The direction of the Entrance
• The direction & placement of the windows
• The location of the beams
• The location of the basement
• The direction & placement of the MD room
• The direction & placement of the employees designation and work wise
• The direction & placement of the reception
• The direction & placement of AC, cooler, audio systems
• The direction and placement of the stairs
• The direction & placement of the electronic equipment
• The direction & placement of the pantry/kitchen
• The direction & placement of the toilets
• The direction & placement of the seminar and conferences room
• The direction & placement of the water products
• The colour scheme of the room