A group of fourth-year students from the Spatial Design course, specialising in interior design, were given a challenging assignment by fish bar and lunchroom VISCH in Den Bosch: design a new interior plan that matches the high quality of the establishment. The interior had to enhance the atmosphere and match VISCH's innovative image
With the design, it was important the students took various aspects into account, such as the counter for sales, the working station, the lighting, the walk-through in the shop and, as an additional element, the terrace was also part of the interior plan. Moreover, VISCH works with products and objects from interior manufacturer Vitra, which also had to be incorporated into the design.
Everything starts with research
Lucas Kling, owner VISCH: “For this assignment, we were keen to give young designers a chance. Through Joost Bouwens of Vitra, we came into contact with SintLucas.”
One of the students working on this assignment was Stan de Jong. “After the assignment presentation, I immediately started my research,” says Stan. “I hadn’t designed a fish shop before, so I did a lot of research into safety requirements. How wide should the walk-through be? What furniture is suitable for a catering establishment?”
Based on this research, Stan created a mood board. “I got a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, among others. Because it is a narrow building in the centre of Den Bosch, I wanted to use organic shapes. This exudes tranquillity. In addition, I thought the colour blue went well with a fish shop.”
Guided tour at furniture manufacturer Vitra
To get a feel for the material and furniture choices, the students were given a tour at Vitra in Amsterdam. Joost Bouwens, Account Manager at Vitra: “Students were given a tour of the showroom at Vitra, this gave the students a chance to see the material they designed with in real life as well. They were also explained about our brand and where our products come from.”
The concept: chic and traditional
From his research, Stan developed the Chique/Traditional concept. “Apart from some fixed requirements, such as keeping the counter for sales, we were given a lot of freedom in our design. Of course, we also had to take into account the available budget,” he explains.
A major challenge was the limited space of the premises. “In the narrow fish shop, we also had to create 26 seating areas for the lunchroom. For this, it was important that we came up with a creative solution.”
The final draft
During the process, students presented their concepts to VISCH. “After the concept presentation, I received clear feedback that I continued with. Based on this, I also made my material choices,” Stan said. At the final presentation, the clients responded enthusiastically to Stan’s design and he has recently started discussions with VISCH to look into implementing his design, super cool! Lucas: “We were surprised by the professionalism of the students’ designs. Some students themselves gave additional advice outside the assignment. This attitude and energy of the students was really motivating!”Joost also followed along during the design process. Joost: “There were certainly some surprising concepts and designs among them. At the mid-term assessment, you could also already clearly see who had done what our feedback had provided and who had not.”
A valuable experience
Stan looks back on the assignment with pleasure. “My focus is actually on designing interiors for homes. This made this assignment extra challenging. Especially because of the specific building with associated narrow spaces, I had to be creative with space.”
An important lesson he takes away from this project is the importance of choosing materials. “You design a lot on your laptop, but it is important to get a feel for the materials you use. We therefore visited Vitra in Amsterdam during this project. This gave me a lot of insight into how materials look and feel in reality.”