Study on Current State and Design Characteristics of the Domestic Commercial Spatial "Planterior"

Abstract

Background and objective: With rapid urbanization, the introduction of plants in interior environments has become an essential factor owing to insufficient green areas and increased indoor living hours. In commercial spaces, the "planterior" can play an important role in spatial branding and marketing. With recent changes in lifestyle, including those induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of plants into indoor spaces has increased. This study aimed to analyze the current status and design characteristics of domestic commercial spaces and propose a future interior design direction for development. Methods: Eighty-eight case sites of domestic commercial spaces were selected nationwide to analyze the design characteristics and current status of planteriors. The basic status of the case sites was investigated, and the bestcase site was selected based on an assessment of the landscape's excellence and topicality. Results: Most commercial spaces selected as planterior case sites were located in the metropolitan area and were large cafés. Most places were built within the last year, with natural styles that use more plants than that required by the space, and accounted for the highest percentage by utilizing the direct method of fresh flowers. In most cases, excellent planterior landscapes were created, and more than 85% of the cases were found to have high online exposure, indicating that the planterior of a commercial space was effectively used as a marketing element. The design characteristics of the commercial space planterior analyzed as the bestcase site were topicality, simplicity, leadership, and unexpectedness, which was required for the space design due to the branding. These design characteristics were found to have a synergistic effect with the maintenance of plants. Conclusion: Overall, this study confirmed that the creation of planteriors in various types of commercial spaces plays an important role in spatial branding and marketing functions, and enables potential continuous development for the space design using plants. To continuously expand and develop planteriors in the future, a multilateral plant interior design study from the perspective of design, plants, and users is needed.