Developing a Design Approach from Scenario to Space in Interior Architecture Education via the Scamper Method: Christy Brown Example

Biomimicry is an approach that aims to develop human-made systems by mimicking nature's design principles and processes. In interior architecture education, the application of biomimicry enables students to develop their creative thinking skills and create sustainable design solutions. This approach aims to integrate the inspiring aesthetic and functional characteristics of natural systems into interior design. In this context, this study examines the course content applied within the scope of Structural Knowledge, a compulsory course in the third-semester curriculum of the Interior Architecture Department at Selçuk University's Faculty of Architecture and Design. The aim of the study is for students to analyze the structural characteristics of structures and organisms in nature using biomimicry principles and to create the main outlines of the design process in their own projects. The scope of the study included second-year interior architecture students who were asked to create shells and load-bearing systems for their interior architecture projects in the project studio as part of their Structural Knowledge course. The various shell formations that emerged as a result of the study, along with the impact of nature on the design process, were highlighted. Based on the findings obtained from the semi-structured interviews conducted, it has been revealed that there are positive views regarding the impact of biomimicry on the design process.

Architecture as a discipline has gone through a serious change since the post-war period and became a recognized profession focusing on human needs in the physical environments. The issue of educating new practitioners for the transforming field has turned out to be the subject of a lively debate for the last 10-20 years. The current position and approach in design studios of Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design of Bahçeşehir University, were thought to be worth putting forth and sharing with the design community to initiate a discussion for the future of the discipline in general. Consequently, this study was structured to present a paradigm in Interior Architecture Education by focusing on the case of Bahçeşehir University (BAU) Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Department design studio education. The four-year program consisting of eight academic semesters, is addressing the combination of two methods; namely, horizontally organized design studios (HODS), and vertically organized studio groups (VODS). Currently, this approach is subject to many discussions within the department due to many aspects. This approach was tested, evaluated and criticized through student and instructor comments collected via questionnaires. Results were collected and interpreted through three main issues of learning, teaching and assessment. Study moving from general design studio education to the case of Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design of Bahçeşehir University, concludes with general comments, mentioning the lack of literature on design studio education, and the significance of sharing different approaches and applications. Lastly and specifically, the revisions following the completion of the experiment in the department was put forth. With reference to the case of BAU, initiating a discussion regarding current design studio education was intended.

This research focuses on four main topics: Children’s’ Cognitive Development as it relates to age-appropriate interior design; Children’s Hospital Design and healing environments; Public Spaces in Hospitals – interior architecture and interior design; Contextual Issues – specifically, the religious, ethnic and national context of Palestine. Literature indicates that research is needed in the design of healing environments for children in order to create spaces that are child-friendly and meet their cognitive development needs. There is little research available about the design of the public areas of children’s hospital including the main entrance, atrium and thoroughfares. Also, most empirical research uses traditional social science methods to understand the requirements for healing environments for children (e.g. interviews, observations). Few studies use design- or arts-based approaches. Furthermore, most research has been conducted in the West, with little research from other countries, like Palestine, where few hospitals are devoted only to children. This research aimed to determine: (1) key design factors, functions, constraints and programme requirements for designing the public spaces of children’s hospitals in an age-appropriate way to promote healing; (2) how context-specific issues relating to Palestine play a role in determining the key design factors. From a critical analysis of the literature, specific research questions and the development of a primary research plan were developed. The main research question is: For a new children’s hospital in Palestine, how should the public areas (i.e., main entrance, atrium, and throughfares) be designed so that they are suitable for all age ranges and promote healing? In Palestine, qualitative data were collected during nine co-design and cocreation workshops that included arts-based activities and semi-structured interviews. Participants included children from 3-18 years, parents, doctors, nurses, reception and admissions staff, and four groups of designers. All participants, excluding the designers, participated in drawing and modeling activities. The use of drawings with children is an indispensable tool because their verbal expression is often not highly developed, and because preferences and ideas can be expressed more intuitively. Similarly, models can be effective tools because children can express ideas and preferences about form, materials and size through them in a way that words alone cannot describe. This study uses a thematic analysis approach to analysing the qualitative data. The results of data analysis were sorted into main themes and sub-themes. The key findings of this study are: context-specific issues (i.e. culture, gender, separation and religion issues); physical environments: interior architecture and interior design – medical spaces (e.g. emergency, outpatients, triage room and others); non-medical spaces (e.g. play areas, indoor and outdoor green areas, entertainment activities, spaces for eating, reception, waiting areas and admissions); interior design elements (e.g. image design, art, form and shape, wayfinding signage, and colours); and environmental considerations (e.g. noise, hygiene, smell, and light). These findings will inform guidelines and recommendations and will be supported by visual models for the design of children’s hospitals, particularly public spaces in the particular context of Palestine. The guidelines will contribute to the creation of supportive healing environments for all stakeholders, but particularly for children. This study demonstrates that practical design methods in the research process can be very effective in fostering creativity and in drawing out ideas and preferences from young children and other stakeholders. Such methods provide a novel approach to the design of healing environments for children.

This paper aims to describe a case study of parametric interior design based on BIM (Building Information Modeling). As the practical use of BIM-based design grows, its influence expands into the field of interior architecture design. BIM makes possible to check various design plan, reach decision making in an effective way, and change design plan in an efficient method. Therefore, BIM is also promising field in interior architecture design. However, compared to other fields in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, there have been less research and projects on BIM in the field of interior architecture. For increasing the feasibility of adapting BIM in interior architecture design, this paper describes a case study-projecting images for designing interior panels using parametric modeling. This process needs elaborate, delicate, and precise steps for harmonious output. For continuous use of building, users look forward to the design which variable and changeable according to user's preference and environment. Therefore, demand for parametric design in the interior design part such as panel pattern design for various decoration is growing. Treated process in this paper deals with an advanced phase which much effective in decreasing time consumption and useless part of process. Finally, this paper suggests the possibility of using BIM in the interior design process and field where BIM can be applied.

[Summary of the book containing this chapter:] The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design offers a compelling collection of original essays that seek to examine the shifting role of interior architecture and interior design, and their importance and meaning within the contemporary world. Interior architecture and interior design are disciplines that span a complexity of ideas, ranging from human behaviour and anthropology to history and the technology of the future. Approaches to designing the interior are in a constant state of flux, reflecting and adapting to the changing systems of history, culture and politics. It is this process that allows interior design to be used as evidence for identifying patterns of consumption, gender, identity and social issues. The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design provides a pioneering overview of the ideas and arrangements within the two disciplines that make them such important platforms from which to study the way humans interact with the space around them. Covering a wide range of thought and research, the book enables the reader to investigate fully the changing face of interior architecture and interior design, while offering questions about their future trajectory.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the publishing practices in the field of interior architecture, which progress through different types of publication sources, and the conceptual trends of the prominent publishing platforms in the field of interior architecture and design, according to bibliometric data. Within the scope of the research, interior architecture and interior design source titles were listed in the Scopus database between 2000 and 2025, and data was collected between 25 August and 10 September 2025 (Scopus, 2025). Also, R Studio-Bibliometrix-Biblioshiny software was used for data analysis and visualization of scientific maps (Bibliometrix, 2025). Research Design: The study is descriptive and exploratory in nature and aims to reveal the current state of interior architecture and interior design literature and explore future trends. Bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review were adopted as the primary research strategies. Data Collection and Source Selection: Databases: Academic publications that form the basis of the study will be obtained from the following international and national indexes: Scopus database. Main Keywords: "Interior design," "Interior architecture," "Interior space," "Spatial design," and "Interior decoration." Language: English publications will be included. Time Period: 2020-2025 (the last quarter century of the academic history of the discipline). Publication Type: Articles published in refereed academic journals and conference proceedings. Data Downloading: Full texts of publications that meet the determined criteria will be downloaded with their citation information (authors, publication year, keywords, abstract, number of citations, etc.) and combined in a database. Data Analysis and Visualization: The collected raw data will be processed and interpreted using the following bibliometric analysis techniques. Software such as Bibliometrix (R Package) was used for the analyses. Performance Analyses: Production Analysis: Determining the number of publications by year and the most active authors, institutions, and countries.

This paper is about the interdisciplinary approach to the interior architecture studio education. The second year Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at the Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey, was given the task of designing a modular living unit for archaeology students. The brief expected the design of a living unit for students out of two- and three-dimensional modules. There were three aims of the project: first, the advantages of the process being interdisciplinary and collaborative working closely with the archaeology centre; second, the role of modularity introduced at the interior scale; and third, the structure of the semester enabling an understanding of the interior architecture process, delivered at the second year level. In the paper, the means by which the aims are fulfilled will be discussed with examples from students’ projects, and furthermore, directions for research are discussed with an emphasis on design thinking. Keywords: Interior architecture education, design education, design process, design thinking, archaeology.

The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design offers a compelling collection of original essays that seek to examine the shifting role of interior architecture and interior design, and their importance and meaning within the contemporary world. Interior architecture and interior design are disciplines that span a complexity of ideas, ranging from human behaviour and anthropology to history and the technology of the future. Approaches to designing the interior are in a constant state of flux, reflecting and adapting to the changing systems of history, culture and politics. It is this process that allows interior design to be used as evidence for identifying patterns of consumption, gender, identity and social issues. The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design provides a pioneering overview of the ideas and arrangements within the two disciplines that make them such important platforms from which to study the way humans interact with the space around them. Covering a wide range of thought and research, the book enables the reader to investigate fully the changing face of interior architecture and interior design, while offering questions about their future trajectory.

Interior architecture education has displayed much variability from the past to the present day. Additionally, computer-aided drawing systems have become an irreplaceable part of interior architecture education, as in all other design disciplines. The contribution of computers in education to the design process has created a process of, Hand drawing – Design – Design in computer environment – Product – Prototype. Currently, traditional drawing methods are used much less. Computer-aided drawing programs in universities display differences in terms of models and content. Additionally, the year and semester in which these lessons are taught are different in every university. In this context, this study deals with computer-aided drawing lessons in a total of 63 programs in 31 interior architecture departments and 32 interior architecture and environmental design departments in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus linked to the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) currently. This research was completed with the screening model. Data collection started in October 2020 and was completed at the end of 15 days. Screening was performed to learn which programs are taught in the programs in interior architecture and interior architecture and environmental design departments in different faculties. The software features of these programs were analyzed. The results of the study revealed the similarities of the different programs to each other.

Search for a New Teaching Model in Interior Architecture Education; Abstraction through Body Language and Drawings in Furniture History Course

Implementing Research Thr ough a Holistic Design Process

In this study, the project studio, which is the foundation of interior design education, has been designed using the metaphor method, one of the intellectual methods applied in education. The metaphor method is a technique used to make difficult-to-understand abstract concepts concrete and helps design students develop their critical thinking and creative skills. In this case, design, which is the verbalized form of abstract thought, is limited to an object and the responsibilities brought by this object. From this point of view, an experimental study of metaphorical methods for establishing spatial relations of objects was carried out in a 14-week design studio with the 2nd year students of the Department of Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Selcuk University. The purpose of the studio work is to draw the boundaries of interior architecture students in their search for solutions to design problems, and to enable them to come up with creative designs while making functional and formal decisions. In this context, a metaphorical approach was used in the context of object-space relations to guide students’ formal decisions in the functional solutions of the problems that arise in the interior design process. After working in the studio, the students have developed a working doctrine that will guide their interior design studio projects using the designed method, allow them to create unique forms and shapes, enable them to translate abstract ideas into concrete space and make it possible for them to design at various scales, from equipment to space design. The method is at a level that will set an example for students, designers and academicians working in the design discipline.

New trends of interior architectural design aim to maximize available spatial space for flexible and futuristic interiors. Therefore, the design of a facility structure with its fixed and moveable interior components can have a significant impact on human performance leading to efficient interaction with surrounding spatial spaces. Interactive design is constantly proves creating memorable connection and empowering connection with beneficiaries’ participants that can come to life in many forms, one of these many facility structures is implementing the interior architectural design approach of "Kinetic Technology". Interior architecture is the design of a space inside any building that can be fixing. In addition, it can be the initial design and plan for use then later redesign to accommodate a changed purpose, or a significantly revised design for adaptive reuse of the building shell. Generally referred to as the spatial art of environmental design, form and practice, interior architecture is the process through which the interiors of buildings are designed concerned with all aspects of the human uses of structural spatial spaces. Therefore putting simply, Interior Architecture is the design of an interior in architectural terms. The paper presents variety approaches of innovation trends, that utilizing multiple kinetic applications for the scope, benefit of interior design elements. It will give valid benefits to interior planners and designers for efficient enhancement into their practical expertise. That experience will be achieved when implementing this technology of kinetic approach to achieve effective utilization of interior spatial spaces as dynamic quality of the spatial space’s changeable size, continuity and to create a feeling of connectivity through the spatial space, which seems to virtual enlarge the small floor area.

Many ageing people are staying at home, whether they are self-isolating or social distancing, because of the current Covid-19 situation. Fall incidents at home among the ageing are significantly associated with a high level of mortality. Bathrooms are frequently reported as a major environmental hazard in connection with falls. This serious health risk raises the matter of interior architecture. In terms of preventing falls, more architectural research focuses on interior elements e.g., handrail design, and non-slip mat, whilst less attention is paid to the issue of how ageing causes falls. Therefore, this article sheds light on the normal ageing process through an executive function that helps in the fall prevention of ageing people via decision-making and problem-solving. Normal ageing gradually results in declining executive function, including cognitive and motor functions, which limits and reduces day to day activities. The cognitive function (as a system) involves processing speed, accuracy in response, and error response whereas the motor function (as a mechanism) defines both gross and fine motor functions. A combination of cognitive and motor functions reflects conditions that may lead to a fall. Regarding the executive function, interior architecture for preventing falls in normal ageing people is strongly encouraged e.g., clear layout, timesaving activity, simplicity of design, lighting uniformity, short walking distance, cased opening, lightweight fixtures, and fine texture flooring. This article reviews the literature to address the knowledge gaps between interior architecture and human-centred design through ageing ergonomics, and employs a behaviour-focused aspect to interpret results for interior architects. Electronic databases, including Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar, were searched to specify appropriate papers, which were restricted to those in the English language. To improve the quality of the elderly’s life, this article provides recommendations that could assist interior architects in this challenge.

Basic Design courses aim to enable the students to produce creative designs with original and aesthetic perspectives in Interior Architecture Education in Turkey. In this study, it was aimed to develop the skill to use creative thinking of the students studying Interior Architecture and to bring the childish creativity back in the Basic Design course. Firstly, the Interior Architecture students were made to prepare an individual preliminary design work within the workshop carried out for this purpose. One week after the individual work, a workshop was held together with the kindergarten students. The aim of the workshops held in the scope of Basic Design course is to make the students generate ideas more quickly, be aware of the new design methods, and to gain the skill of working with individuals from various age groups in harmony. A survey was carried out with the participation of 16 academicians in the field of Interior Architecture and the designs obtained in the beginning and end of the study were evaluated by comparing them in terms of the use of creative thinking. To conclude, it can be said that the interior architecture students used creative thinking more effectively together with kindergarten students.