Systems Thinking for Interiors

I remember the very first full-circle moment when I was at Parsons. In the class 21st-Century Design Discourse, we had a lecture series from different disciplines in design. That was when I was first introduced to the concept of systems thinking through Powers of Ten by Charles Eames and Ray Eames.

Thinking about scale and the interconnectedness of elements in the world suddenly made sense to me. Design is relational. Design has an impact on everyday life across different scales, one way or another.

When I look at the scale of the home, I see how many roles we move through in our lives. Sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.

My first role of the day is being a mom, preparing my kids’ lunch boxes and sending them to school. Then I go to the office and spend eight or more hours being a professional. After that, I pick them up and return to the role of mom again. When the kids go to bed, I call my parents and become a daughter. Then I am a wife. And sometimes, by the end of the day, I’m too tired to simply be myself. Day after day, this rhythm feels stable, but can also feel draining. Because I'm constantly taking care of others, not myself.

Until the day I found my passion in design and began to feel more alive and energized after the kids went to bed. Every night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. became my power hours. Physically, I may not get enough sleep in the traditional sense, but I have never felt so energized and motivated since my kids were born and the pandemic redefined so much in our lives.

Looking again at the scale and frame of the home, surface materials began to play a pivotal role in my exploration. When I sit down late at night and everything is quiet, I find myself sensing the temperature and tactility of the wood desk, the plastic keyboard and mouse, the metal cell phone, and the mesh chair I am sitting on. These moments made me realize something simple yet profound: surfaces are where the body meets space. They are the first point of contact between humans and the built environment. Before we notice the architecture of a room or the arrangement of furniture, we feel the surfaces of objects around us. The warmth of wood, the coolness of stone, the softness of fabric beneath our hands and feet.

If interiors can be understood as living infrastructure for human becoming, then surface materials are the interfaces through which we experience that infrastructure. They mediate the relationship between our bodies and the spaces we inhabit. Through temperature, texture, reflection, and resistance, surfaces quietly shape how we feel, move, and recover within our homes. In this sense, materials are never merely finishes or decorative layers. They are part of the relational system of the home. They are supporting comfort, safety, memory, and emotional balance in everyday life.