Unit IIInterior Design Studio II

Space Planning Fundamentals

Zoning, bubbles, circulation and the clearances that make a room work.

≈ 55 min + planning exercisesByAmogh N P· Architect & interior designer

The heart of the course. Learn functional zoning — grouping activities into zones before drawing any walls; the relationship bubble diagram and adjacency matrix that map which spaces must be near which; circulation — routed along edges, not through the middle of a seating group, because corridor is unpaid floor area; and the applied anthropometrics and clearances that make a room actually work — the activity zone around every piece of furniture.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to — mapped to the course outcomes for Interior Design Studio II:

CO2 · Apply

Zone a program's activities into functional zones before drawing walls.

CO2 · Apply

Draw a bubble diagram and adjacency matrix of spatial relationships.

CO2 · Analyse

Route circulation efficiently — primary vs secondary, along edges, minimising cost.

CO6 · Apply

Apply anthropometric clearances and universal-design basics to layout.

Organise before you draw walls

Zoning, bubbles & circulation

Functional zoning, the bubble diagram and adjacency matrix, and routing circulation efficiently along edges.^{[1, 3]}

DiagramFunctional zoning of a flat — public/private, wet/dry, active/quiet — grouping activities into zones before drawing any walls

DiagramThe relationship bubble diagram and the adjacency matrix — non-scaled maps of which spaces must be near which

Group before you wall

Group the program's activities into ZONES by shared character before drawing any walls — the first true design move. The classic pairs: PUBLIC / PRIVATE (living, dining, entry versus bedrooms, bath); SERVED / SERVANT (Kahn's terms — the rooms people occupy versus the service spaces that support them); WET / DRY (plumbing-dependent kitchen, bath, utility versus dry living and sleeping — decisive in India for stacking to services); ACTIVE / QUIET (noisy TV and kitchen versus sleep, study, pooja); and DAY / NIGHT use. Zoning turns a list into a spatial organisation.^[3]

DiagramCirculation — a bad path cutting through the seating group versus a good path routed along the edge

Footprint plus activity zone

Anthropometrics & clearances

Designing clearances for the larger user and reaches for the smaller, the activity zone around every piece of furniture, and universal-design basics.^{[1, 2, 4]}

DiagramThe clearance toolkit — footprint plus an activity zone for dining, bed, bathroom and circulation

Footprint plus clearance

ANTHROPOMETRICS is the measurement of the body (given as PERCENTILES); ERGONOMICS is fitting the task to the body. The design rule: clearances for the LARGER user (95th percentile), reaches for the SMALLER (5th percentile) — the 'average' person is a myth that fits no one. And every piece of furniture needs not just its FOOTPRINT but a CLEARANCE / activity zone for the body using it — pulling out a chair, opening a drawer, making a bed. Planning footprints alone is the classic beginner error; you plan footprint PLUS clearance.^{[1, 2]}

The numbers to know

Try it — the clearance explorer

Pick an activity to see its standard clearance figure and a plate of the space it needs.

Clearance explorer · footprint plus activity zone

Circulation path

900 mm (NBC min) · 1050–1200 mm main

One person passes comfortably at ~700–760 mm; a main path where two pass wants ~1050–1200 mm. NBC's residential corridor minimum is 900 mm.

Benchmarks vary ±50–100 mm by source — sound teaching rules of thumb, not legal values. NBC minimums and local bye-laws are the legal floor.

Myth vs reality

At a glance

Aspect	One side	The other
Bubble diagram	Myth: a rough floor plan	Reality: non-scaled — shows relationships only
Furniture planning	Myth: plan the footprints	Reality: footprint PLUS clearance zone
Corridors	Myth: wider is better	Reality: circulation is unpaid area — enough, routed well
Who to design for	Myth: the average person	Reality: clearances for the larger, reaches for the smaller
Accessibility	Myth: a special add-on	Reality: a baseline that benefits everyone

Vocabulary

Key terms

Functional zoning

Grouping activities into zones (public/private, wet/dry…) before drawing walls.

Bubble diagram

A non-scaled, non-geometric map of which spaces must be near which — relationships only.

Adjacency matrix

A triangular grid coding the desired closeness of every pair of spaces.

Circulation cost

Pure corridor is unpaid floor area — minimise and route it along edges.

Footprint + clearance

Every furniture piece needs its own space plus an activity/clearance zone for the body.

Wheelchair turning space

A ~1500 mm-diameter clear circle for a wheelchair to turn — a universal-design baseline.

Apply it

Studio task

For the flat from Unit I, produce a zoning study: overlay the public/private, wet/dry and active/quiet zones on the shell, then draw a bubble diagram and a small adjacency matrix of the required relationships. Sketch two circulation options — one that fails (a path through a functional zone) and one that works (edge-routed) — and mark the key clearances (a dining seat-to-wall, a bedside, a kitchen aisle, a WC front) with dimensions, checking each against the benchmarks.

Check your understanding

Self-assessment

1. A bubble diagram is —

2. When planning furniture, you must allow for —

3. You should route a circulation path —

In a nutshell

Recap

Zone the program's activities (public/private, served/servant, wet/dry, active/quiet) before drawing any walls — the first design move.

The bubble diagram is a non-scaled map of relationships; the adjacency matrix checks every pairing objectively.

Circulation is cost — route it directly along edges, never through functional zones, and minimise dedicated corridor in small homes.

Design clearances for the larger user and reaches for the smaller; plan every furniture footprint PLUS its activity/clearance zone.

Know the clearances (circulation 900, dining ~1050, bedside 700–900, WC front 600, kitchen aisle ≥ 1050, wheelchair turn 1500 mm) and make universal design a baseline.

The evidence

References & further reading

[1]Julius Panero & Martin Zelnik, Human Dimension & Interior Space (the definitive anthropometric/clearance reference).
[2]Ernst Neufert, Architects' Data (human and furniture dimensions and layouts); NKBA Kitchen & Bath Planning Guidelines (work-triangle/aisle).
[3]Francis D.K. Ching, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order (organisational patterns, circulation, spatial order).
[4]De Chiara, Panero & Zelnik (eds.), Time-Saver Standards for Interior Design and Space Planning; NBC 2016 Part 3; India Harmonised Guidelines for Universal Accessibility (2021).