47 Hybridization
The combination or integration of multiple styles, types, and functions.
Further Reading
Anne-Laure Fayard, John Weeks, and Mahwesh Khan, “Designing the Hybrid Office From Workplace to ‘Culture Space’,” Harvard Business Review, March–April 2021, hbr.org/2021/03/designing-the-hybrid-office.
Hybridization occurs when a space requires functional overlap, when an eclectic set of references or styles are implemented, or where a space may function as a social or cultural connector. There are several instances where products and spaces in interior design have a combination of functions or styles that enhance their usability.
As space becomes a premium, designing environments that serve more than one function is an incredibly useful skill for an interior designer to possess. The overlap and integration of fluid boundaries between the design of commercial, residential, retail, and healthcare spaces have made multifunctional and multi-use spaces and objects a rich field of investigation and discovery.
Hybridization as a design strategy speaks to function, promotes a sustainable attitude, and generally benefits the user by bolstering the ability of a design in performance, duration, and use. Spaces are now often required to be responsive to the changing needs of users.
It is also an integral approach to design and can be loosely gathered into the following categories
Purpose and Function
The design of multi-use furniture, for example a bench that is also a desk, or an environment that functions both as a lounge and collaborative workspace. Recent retail design practices blur the distinction between retail space and the workspace (a coffee shop and a bank) or a lounge and DJ booth in a clothing shop.
Style Mixing
Historical and regional influences, which celebrate the eclectic and the mixing of traditional design trends, such as Japandi —Japanese mixed with Scandinavian styles.
Product and Type
Products that are useful for a variety of purposes, the mix of old and new materials, or the combination of an old material with new technique of manufacturing.
Dirk van Der Kooij designed and built a machine to 3D print the Chubby Chair using an old factory robot to extrude hot plastic that comes from recycled refrigerators.
Many office interiors feel more like home, blurring the line between residential and commercial, lately nicknamed “resimercial.” The “living room” and “dining room” are finished in comforting warm tones and materials associated with home but utilized in communal meeting or working spaces.