Interior Design

In the first semester, students work in teams on either a residential or a commercial space. They select an existing space in Paris and build the project on a proposed transformation of this space. This is a two-credit course because the majority of the work is done by students outside direct classroom instruction time. Students work in teams and meet with their instructor for 2 hours per week to review progress, receive feedback and technical conceptual suggestions for moving the project to completion. A peer review and critique with all student teams is organized at the end of weeks 5, 10, and 15. For the final critique after week 15 several faculty and at least one outside professional are also part of the jury that sets the grade.

This research-led seminar explores key theoretical frameworks, critical discourses, and research methodologies relevant to contemporary spatial design. Students engage with design theory, spatial philosophy, socio-cultural critique, and modes of critical inquiry that inform both academic research and creative practice. The course emphasizes the development of a critical vocabulary and independent research skills to support advanced design thinking. Students examine pivotal architectural and design movements through theoretical lenses, providing contextual and conceptual depth to their studio work.Through analytical, reflective, and interdisciplinary engagement with space and design, students are encouraged to question established conventions and develop their own theoretical positions through rigorous inquiry and critical practice.

For their degree project students will elaborate a detailed design proposal over the course of 2 semesters, applied to a chosen interior typology.

The Fall semester will be dedicated to formulating a design research problematic, collecting and analyzing relevant data, carrying out in situ observations and surveys while identifying the project’s principal considerations. By the end of the semester, students will have developed a diversified knowledge of the chosen program and an in-depth understanding of the given context, be it cultural, social, historical, architectural. They will have prepared a set of comprehensive documents and drawings of the chosen site, which will enable them to undertake the detailed development of their design proposal in the Spring.

In this year long course, a practical approach is applied to each phase of the interior design project, from inception to completion. Working through the 4 principal stages of a scheme (feasibility and analysis; sketch proposal; detailed design; construction phase) students are led to identify, in sequence, the specific objectives, challenges and communication requirements relating to each phase. In the first semester, using the Creative Practice Studio project as an application, students consider the professional feasibility of an idea and the implications behind a sketch proposal: estimation of timeframes of each part within the whole project, measurements, budget comparisons, contract and constructions costs, clarity and coherence of a scheme with respects to client requirements and programmatic constraints. In the second semester, students follow the elaboration and perfecting of a project through the detailed design process, as well as the rigour and attention required to carry a project through to completion, addressing construction team management skills and professional ethics. Throughout the duration of the course and following each phase of the design process students are encouraged to apply the technical proficiency they have acquired in the fall CAD course to develop and explore new concepts, methods and ideas to illustrate and present each stage: concept boards, fast scale models, graphics, material samples and mock-ups. Oral presentation skills to accompany their visual communication are the focus of continuous feedback for improvement.

This course is meant to enable students to develop and perfect the required practical skills to describe and represent space. It is dedicated principally to 2D technical drawing (measures, plan, section, views, axonometric projections, detail and construction drawings) using CAD software programs such as Adobe Creative Suites, AutoCAD and SketchUP, as needed for most projects. Students will also be given the opportunity to explore 3D visualization techniques and rendering tools so as to perfect their project communication skills.

You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair, such as:

• Designer’s Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Digital Fabrication Design
• Design Thinking
• Project Management*
• French
• Drawing Technology and Perception
• Advanced Printmaking*
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Concept Development Storytelling
• Photography as Installation*
• Photography in the Expanded Field*
• History of New Media*
• Educational Principles
• Alternative Processes Image-Making*
• The Art of Code I & II
• 4D Studio I & II*
• The Fashion Editorial
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Management*
• Set Design*
• Environmental Graphics*
• Furniture & Display Design*

* Undergraduate level courses

* In this advanced studio course, students further develop their conceptual thinking, creative process, and design tools required to develop spatial proposals. A shared brief challenges them to advance their designs in detail, materiality, structure, and assembly. Using the school’s 3D workshop, printing facilities, or affiliated fab lab resources, students fabricate and assemble a large-scale model or prototype of an extract of their proposal as a means to test and implement their designs firsthand.

For their degree project, students will elaborate a detailed design proposal over the course of 2 semesters, applied to a chosen interior typology.

The Spring semester will build upon the extensive research undertaken in the Fall, a diversified knowledge of the specific program and an in-depth understanding of the given context. Basing themselves on the set of comprehensive documents and drawings of the chosen site they will have prepared, students will develop a detailed design project summarizing all of the interdisciplinary skills and knowledge acquired over the year. Emphasis will be on the relevance of the design problematic, the depth of research and creative initiative, and the quality of the visual and written proposal.

In this year long course, a practical approach is applied to each phase of the interior design project, from inception to completion. Working through the 4 principal stages of a scheme (feasibility and analysis; sketch proposal; detailed design; construction phase) students are led to identify, in sequence, the specific objectives, challenges and communication requirements relating to each phase. In the first semester, using the Creative Practice Studio project as an application, students consider the professional feasibility of an idea and the implications behind a sketch proposal: estimation of timeframes of each part within the whole project, measurements, budget comparisons, contract and constructions costs, clarity and coherence of a scheme with respects to client requirements and programmatic constraints. In the second semester, students follow the elaboration and perfecting of a project through the detailed design process, as well as the rigour and attention required to carry a project through to completion, addressing construction team management skills and professional ethics. Throughout the duration of the course and following each phase of the design process students are encouraged to apply the technical proficiency they have acquired in the fall CAD course to develop and explore new concepts, methods and ideas to illustrate and present each stage: concept boards, fast scale models, graphics, material samples and mock-ups. Oral presentation skills to accompany their visual communication are the focus of continuous feedback for improvement.

This course consists of intensive workshops dedicated to the experimentation of various techniques allowing students to choose how to present their degree project, as well as to develop their printed and digital portfolios for further career or education prospects.

You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair, such as:

• Designer’s Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Digital Fabrication Design
• Design Thinking
• Project Management*
• French
• Drawing Technology and Perception
• Advanced Printmaking*
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Concept Development Storytelling
• Photography as Installation*
• Photography in the Expanded Field*
• History of New Media*
• Educational Principles
• Alternative Processes Image-Making*
• The Art of Code I & II
• 4D Studio I & II*
• The Fashion Editorial
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Management*
• Set Design*
• Environmental Graphics*
• Furniture & Display Design*

* Undergraduate level courses