Category: Interior Design News

An interior design school in New York recently awarded one interior designer firm with an award and prestigious recognition to a firm who notably created an exterior space on the roof of a New York building recently.

The Interior Design Department of the Fashion Institute of Technology has been awarding the Lawrence Israel Prize to professional interior designers for over a decade and this year’s winner is Diller Scofidio & Renfro.

The interior design school’s Lawrence Israel Prize is awarded to interior design firms that set good examples for the students and program at the school. Diller Scofidio & Renfro recently lead a famous project in New York known as New York’s High Line Park. The firm worked on the development and renovation of the rooftop at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where there now sites a garden created with slits in the roof’s surface and several areas for seating and relaxation.

As part of the award, the firm was afforded the opportunity to give a lecture to the students of the interior design school earlier this month. Charles Renfro, a principal in the firm, gave a presentation to students (and the public) about the firm’s work and their interior design business. The firm has participated in many design projects in New York City and it presently working on many other projects where they are developing the interior designs for museums, houses, restaurants, and other public venues.

According to a report by the interior design school and the prize committee, FIT awarded the firm with their prestigious Lawrence Israel Prize because the firm is “a keen role model for all students of design, particularly for our students at fit.” The school’s praises of the firm included how the interior design firm provides designs that are inspirational and thought-provoking.

Interior design students from a Tennessee school helped rebuild in Haiti following the 2010 earthquakes that shook the region.

Students from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville worked together to design and build a brand new school for displaced students in the region shortly after the massive earthquake occurred.

The project, dubbed the Haiti Project, is ongoing and helps to get poverty stricken students off of the devastated streets and back into the area’s education system. Many of the school children’s families were also devastated by the earthquake in January of 2012.

The interior design students and others are dedicated to their project, which is based on research developments and properly planning a facility that fits the needs of those in the area. Professor John McRae is heading up the project at the school and his team helped produce the blueprints for the designs and construction of the new school.

The school will house 500 students and should be open to students in the area in the fall of this year. According to UT’s online newspaper, McCrae said that the school’s interior design and architecture students will work with the community in Haiti to design a school that will work best in their community.

“Our team seeks to improve and uplift Haitian lives, offering our commitment to education by providing the opportunity for betterment through learning,” he said.  He went on to say, “our intention is to work directly with the Haitian community, through a ‘boots on the ground’ approach by providing professional support and guidance while also collaborating with the country’s leaders as they and their Haitian colleagues implement their vision.”

Many of the students at UT are working on this project according to their article, including interior design, civil engineering, chemical engineering, landscaping, and architecture students.

An interior design school in the United Kingdom is holding an open house event this weekend to encourage students to enroll in studies at the school.

The KLC School of Design will hold an open house event on March 17^th for prospective students who are interested in the industry of interior design.

The interior design school is specifically promoting classes to other types of professionals who may be struggling and looking for a career change, much like many of the professionals in the United States and across other regions of the world. The school’s open house is running for a very short amount of time next Saturday, however, with the event running from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., local time.

During the limited time, the interior design school will allow guests and visitors to view samples of some of the project work completed by the existing and former design students that have passed through the school. Also on the agenda is an overview of the curriculum and impressions from students at the school. Interviews for application to the design school can be booked at the event or in advance.

Interviews are the very first step in the application process at the school and are described as an informal process. Interviews for application into an interior design school are a standard part of admissions into nearly all institutions in the UK and United States, where the purpose is to determine a student’s financial ability, time availability, and dedication to learning about interior design.

KLC School of Design is ranked among the top design schools in the region and is committed to training designers of the future. Students of the interior design school look forward to annual exhibitions, detailed immersion in the interior design industry, and networking with industry professionals.

The International Interior Design Association is calling on interior design schools to submit their nominations for the IIDA Educator of the Year Award before April 10^th of this year.

The award will recognize a full time teacher who is committed to the education of interior design students and has succeeded in superior accomplishments in the pursuit of education.

The award is open to any teacher at an interior design school or in an interior design program at a university or college. The winner of the IIDA Educator of the Year Award will receive $10,000 and a 2013 membership to the IIDA. While current membership is not required (but recommended), current members will receive complimentary membership for the following year.

The International Interior Design Association is a networking and education association consisting of more than 10,000 members across more than 30 international chapters. The association was created nearly two-decades ago for the purpose of creating an international association for interior designers, where interior design students and new professionals can seek and gain assistance from others in the industry as they grow in the industry.

The IIDA Educator of the Year Award will be awarded to a person with at least five-years invested in a post-secondary interior design school or program that is accredited.  Nominations may be submitted by teachers, staff, and students in an interior design program at an accredited school by visiting IIDA’s website.

Teachers may submit an application on their own behalf or be nominated by another person. In either case IIDA’s application instructs candidates to submit an application with documented accomplishments. While applications are due on April 10^th, Letters of Recommendation from an interior design school are due by April 2^nd. The Award will be presented on June 10^th, 2012 and the winning nominee will be notified in May.

“A professional interior designer is qualified by education.” This first statement in a brochure promoting legislative regulation in states without minimum licensing and interior design school requirements from the American Society of Interior Designers echoes what some in the education industry has said for years.

Some states still do not have laws on the books stating that this trade carries certain health and safety risks if work is completed by a non-certified interior designer, but the ASID plans to change all of that.

The society is actively lobbying the political committees that handle labor regulations and requirements in states that do not have laws and all, as well as states who have laws that the ASID finds to be insufficient. The society’s primary message is that interior design school and subsequent licensing or certification is a matter of public concern and public safety.

Further on the matter, the ASID Brochure says that legislation validates the profession, making it a recognized professional and defining “its scope of practice”.

Is the ASID accurate in its implication that a lack of interior design training is detrimental to public health? The opposition says absolutely not; they find it difficult to even uncover cases where a person was harmed by an unlicensed interior designer. The opposition also says it makes the market less competitive for organizations like the ASID.

In Florida, where it is criminal to work as an interior designer without attending a school or, at the very least, being licensed in the state as an interior designer, a person can go to jail for working without the certification. The customer that hired them can go to jail too, if the prosecutors prove the consumer knew that the designer wasn’t certified.

However, it should be noted that, certified or not, the angers of hiring a designer who hasn’t earned the title through interior design school and rigorous testing is an obvious risk. As so many designers point out, interior design isn’t “interior decorating” and involves a cross section of skills including familiarity with electricity, construction, and architecture.