Housing and Interior Design Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The golden ratio is linked with proportion.

Proportion is the relationship of the size of one part to another and to the whole. The golden ratio, about 1 : 1.618, used in Greek architecture such as the Parthenon and in Renaissance painting, is the classic proportion that is felt to be pleasing, and the related golden mean guides divisions of space in dress and interior design.

Harmony is the unity of all elements, emphasis is the centre of interest, and balance is the equal distribution of visual weight. None of them is defined by a ratio of sizes.

Answer: C

Colours are classified in the order: primary, secondary, intermediate, tertiary and quaternary. Primary colours are red, yellow and blue; mixing two gives a secondary colour (orange, green, violet); a primary with a neighbouring secondary gives an intermediate colour; mixing two secondaries gives a tertiary colour; and mixing two tertiaries gives a quaternary colour.

The other options begin with secondary or 'binary', which cannot come before the primaries, or swap tertiary and quaternary. Only the primary-first order is correct.

Answer: C

The correct matching is (a)-(iii), (b)-(i), (c)-(iv), (d)-(ii). In house planning, aspect means the orientation of the building to sun and wind; grouping is the disposition of rooms according to use; privacy is personal protection from view and noise; and roominess is the feeling of spaciousness in the rooms.

The other codes pair orientation with grouping or privacy, or spaciousness with aspect, which does not fit these definitions. So option C is the answer.

Answer: D

Black and white are neutral colours, which are I and IV, option D. A neutral colour has no hue of its own, so it can be put with any other colour in a scheme without clashing, and in the same family are the greys that lie between black and white. Red and green are true hues, which are used to give a scheme its colour character, so they are not neutral. Options A, B and C each include red or green, and so they cannot be right. The keyed answer is therefore I and IV.

Answer: A

The key gives the first option: both statements are true. A light colour that is matt in finish absorbs the light and does not reflect it, and the key reads this as creating the illusion of advancing, so the walls seem nearer and the room looks smaller. This is a question where the effect of light colours is usually taken in the opposite sense, because light colours generally make a room appear larger, so a reviewer may wish to note it. The answer follows the official key.

Answer: D

The correct sequence in the interior design process is bubble diagram, schematic diagram, detailed drawing, execution and construction administration, which is I, II, III, V, IV, the fourth option. The designer begins with rough bubble diagrams of the relation of spaces, goes on to the schematic design, then makes the detailed drawings, executes the work, and administers the construction. The other options start with the schematic diagram or place the execution before the drawings.

Answer: C

When black is added to a colour it is called a shade.

In colour theory a tint is a colour with white added, a shade is a colour with black added, and a tone is a colour with grey added.

Chroma is the purity or intensity of a colour, and colour value is how light or dark it is, so neither names the result of adding black.

Adding black to red, for example, gives maroon, a shade of red, while adding white gives pink, a tint.

Answer: C

The climatic factors are air temperature, air movement and air humidity (I, II, III).

These three, with radiation, decide how fast the body loses heat and so how comfortable a person feels in a given climate.

Surface texture and surrounding background are not climatic factors; they are properties of materials and the environment, so any option with IV or V is wrong.

Surface texture of fabric is a property of the cloth, and background is the setting of the room, so they do not belong to the weather.

Answer: C

The key gives IV, III, V, II, I.

The guides of storage run from sorting items according to function, to the placing of the unlike items, stacking items of the same size, leaving sufficient clearance, and finally placing the most used items at the front for ready reach.

The other options start with the place of the frequently used items or clearance before the items have been sorted, which reverses the order in which a storage space is planned.

Answer: B

The correct matching is iii ii i iv.

A one wall kitchen has the sink, refrigerator and range all on one wall. A parallel wall kitchen has two appliances on one wall and the third on the opposite wall. An L shaped kitchen has two major appliances on one wall and the third on the adjacent wall, and a V shaped kitchen has one major appliance on each of three adjacent walls.

The other codes mix up the layouts.

The work triangle of sink, refrigerator and range is shortest in the one wall layout and has a clear corridor in the parallel wall layout.