This course explores the principles of construction and design detailing. The student will detail the construction of a previously designed studio project. Finish materials, window treatments, light fixtures, and furniture will be selected. Construction methods and materials will be examined as well as the performance and appearance retention of finishes. Individual presentations will be made on a variety of traditional and nontraditional materials.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

The psychology of the client/user influences the design of the environment and the practice of interior architecture. This course will explore issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). During the semester the student will gather facts about the interaction of the environment and a user's culture, gender, stage of life cycle, and physical characteristics. These ideas will be implemented in the design and construction of an object.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This course focuses on the drawing as it serves to convey different design intentions. As a continuation of the basic drawing coursework in the MDes Summer Program, this course will explore advanced techniques in digital representation. Students successfully completing this course will be able to understand the construction of 3D drawings, develop sophisticated digital layouts with image processing software, create CAD based 2D architectural drawings and 3D models, and develop a 3D visualization of a design. The integration of 2D and 3D data, digital materials, as well as the basics of digital lighting and camera work will also be discussed.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course focuses on the drawing as it serves to convey different design intentions. As a continuation of the basic drawing coursework in the MDes Summer Program, this course will explore advanced techniques in digital representation. Students successfully completing this course will be able to understand the construction of 3D drawings, develop sophisticated digital layouts with image processing software, create CAD based 2D architectural drawings and 3D models, and develop a 3D visualization of a design. The integration of 2D and 3D data, digital materials, as well as the basics of digital lighting and camera work will also be discussed.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course focuses on the drawing as it serves to convey different design intentions. As a continuation of the basic drawing coursework in the MDes Summer Program, this course will explore advanced techniques in digital representation. Students successfully completing this course will be able to understand the construction of 3D drawings, develop sophisticated digital layouts with image processing software, create CAD based 2D architectural drawings and 3D models, and develop a 3D visualization of a design. The integration of 2D and 3D data, digital materials, as well as the basics of digital lighting and camera work will also be discussed.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course will examine the development of adaptive reuse practice in the context of its social, political, technological, and economic circumstances, as it pertains to the design culture of the period. Special emphasis will be given to interior renovations, additions, transformations and other interventions of adaptive reuse. Attention will also be given to design theory, and the evolving doctrines relating to heritage. This course will be conducted in seminar form with graduate level discourse and discussion. Requirements include midterm, final exam and research presentation.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse

This seminar is intended as a reinforcement of and preparation for the self-choice Design Thesis taking place the following Spring. The seminar will assist the student in becoming more aware of factors which determine a successful outcome for a design intervention within an existing building. As the first part of the three-part thesis sequence, the course serves as the building block for INTAR-2397 and the student's approved Design Thesis Feasibility Report.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies Adaptive Reuse

This course builds on the foundations gained in previous studio and course work to further design development abilities. The studio will require the integration of the student's emerging knowledge of site analysis, mapping & documentation, innovative tectonics and systems, applicable theoretical issues, relevant cultural precedents, and material investigation into a cohesive design agenda.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course builds on the foundations gained in previous studio and course work to further design development abilities. The studio will require the integration of the student's emerging knowledge of site analysis, mapping & documentation, innovative tectonics and systems, applicable theoretical issues, relevant cultural precedents, and material investigation into a cohesive design agenda.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course builds on the foundations gained in previous studio and course work to further design development abilities. The studio will require the integration of the student's emerging knowledge of site analysis, mapping & documentation, innovative tectonics and systems, applicable theoretical issues, relevant cultural precedents, and material investigation into a cohesive design agenda.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course will focus on factors influencing the design of the interior environment through exploring issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). It will be complemented by a study of acoustics as it relates to the relationship between the built environment and sound; predicting and designing for the acoustic performance of spaces, and executing acoustic measurements (impulse response, reverberations).

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This course will focus on factors influencing the design of the interior environment through exploring issues of anthropometrics (the study of the characteristics of the human body), ergonomics (the application of anthropometric data to design), and proxemics (the study of the effect of cultural/psychological factors on design). It will be complemented by a study of acoustics as it relates to the relationship between the built environment and sound; predicting and designing for the acoustic performance of spaces, and executing acoustic measurements (impulse response, reverberations).

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This class introduces the student to an overview of codes and its implementation through construction details as related to the study of adaptive reuse. It will provide in depth focus on pertinent parts of local and national building codes that address issues affecting interior architecture such as egress, materials, planning, and accessibility. The student will be asked through quizzes as well as short design projects to implement these rules and regulations and to demonstrate a familiarity with the codes.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

Building on the final advanced studio in the undergraduate program, the seminar engages the graduating senior with research and design studies that expand the focus of the final studio. This will involve reading, group discussions, topical studies, concept development and the crafting of an artist's statement - all in service of understanding the design intervention and its relationship to the context of its host structure. The course will culminate in a group project: the design and installation of the Senior Show as a demonstration of a design intervention within an existing structure.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This class is primarily intended as a means for students in their year of graduation from the Department to prepare their portfolios for interviews with potential employers and for entry to the professional world of design. Using computer programs which will build upon knowledge already gained, the course will be helpful to all those who wish to gain some knowledge of techniques which will enhance the presentation of design work already completed while this is an essential aspect of the class, it should not be regarded as an opportunity to extend further design work on earlier studios, although some refinement of existing drawings will be necessary. InDesign, Illustrator & Photoshop software required.

Elective

This seminar is the second of the three-part Design Thesis sequence in the department of Interior Architecture. This course is designed to assist students in identifying a thesis topic and respective design project through discussions that include studies of precedents, site related issues, program, and regulations, all of which are specific to adaptive reuse. Through group discussion and individual interviews, outline proposals will be approved in principle, requiring each student to prepare a feasibility report for their proposed Design Thesis. This completed feasibility report will be submitted for evaluation at the end of the Fall semester. Approved proposals will proceed to the next course in the sequence, where the proposal will be further refined, culminating in the design phase that will take place during the following Spring semester.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This seminar is the second of the three-part Design Thesis sequence in the department of Interior Architecture. This course is designed to assist students in identifying a thesis topic and respective design project through discussions that include studies of precedents, site related issues, program, and regulations, all of which are specific to adaptive reuse. Through group discussion and individual interviews, outline proposals will be approved in principle, requiring each student to prepare a feasibility report for their proposed Design Thesis. This completed feasibility report will be submitted for evaluation at the end of the Fall semester. Approved proposals will proceed to the next course in the sequence, where the proposal will be further refined, culminating in the design phase that will take place during the following Spring semester.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

This seminar is the second of the three-part Design Thesis sequence in the department of Interior Architecture. This course is designed to assist students in identifying a thesis topic and respective design project through discussions that include studies of precedents, site related issues, program, and regulations, all of which are specific to adaptive reuse. Through group discussion and individual interviews, outline proposals will be approved in principle, requiring each student to prepare a feasibility report for their proposed Design Thesis. This completed feasibility report will be submitted for evaluation at the end of the Fall semester. Approved proposals will proceed to the next course in the sequence, where the proposal will be further refined, culminating in the design phase that will take place during the following Spring semester.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

The Design Thesis is the culmination of the Master of Design studies in the Department of Interior Architecture in both concentrations, Adaptive Reuse [AR] and Exhibition and Narrative Environments [ENE]. A thesis needs to propose a line of research and exploration in the context of each discipline. Throughout the semester students embark on a series of investigations that will lead to a unique set of questions that can be arguable and eventually contribute to the knowledge base in a field. The class provides an opportunity for graduate students to demonstrate their knowledge and acquired skills in that field through personal investigation, leading to the postulation of a hypothesis, and the testing of this hypothesis during the course of the Spring semester. This course will enable students to focus on both conceptual and applied issues emerging from a critical analysis of a subject matter of their interest and understand how they unfold in the built environment and/or the realm of exhibitions and narrative environments. Work this semester will grow from each student’s unique field of inquiry as explored through the Spring 2025 courses Investigating Interiority (AR) and Topics in Exhibitions and Narrative Environments (ENE) and expanded upon during the Summer months of 2025. This work will be the connection to the Spring 2026 Design Thesis. As part of the 2-semester thesis sequence, Design Thesis Preparation focuses on a further investigation of a thesis topic through the articulation of a thesis argument and line of research towards an exploration of context whether physical in the built environment whether a curatorial framework in the disciplines of Exhibition and Narrative Environments. Such explorations will lead to the establishment of a design approach. Each of these areas will contribute to the design process in the following Spring. The design process will conclude at the beginning of May when thesis book production and graduate thesis show design and installation will begin. The successful graduate will enter the professional world equipped with a design thesis, a thesis publication and a designed exhibition.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies

Required for students in the MDes degree program. Under the supervision of their thesis advisor, students are responsible for the preparation and completion of a fully articulated design proposal of their own choice, as described by their Design Thesis Feasibility Report, submitted at the end of the Fall semester's Design Thesis Preparation class.

Open to Graduate Interior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MDes Interior Studies