Abstract
The paper considers the adjustments of the interior architectural design education model toward its compliance with the principles of sustainability, since the currently provided scheme does not effectively employ the sustainability multi-dimensional concept as a substantial determinant of interior architectural design. The conventional interior architectural design curriculum requires corrections, to provide students with systematized knowledge on sustainability issues, as well as appropriate abilities and skills to create buildings’ interior spaces with high environmental performance. The modifications are considered using the example of a curriculum realized within the Faculty of Interior Design affiliated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. These improvements of the curriculum structure comprise the establishment of a compulsory course on environmentally sustainable interior architectural design, offering to the undergraduate students comprehensive theoretical knowledge on the multi-dimensional aspects of sustainability and the introduction of professional design tools, including simplified versions of multi-criterial environmental evaluation systems, as a supportive educational means, as well as learning tools comprising interdisciplinary environmental-responsibility-oriented design workshops or seminars led by green building consultants and professionals involved in practicing sustainable interior design. This paper discusses the innovative concept of integrative design classes (IDC), realized within the practical modules of courses on Building Construction and Environmentally Sustainable Architectural Design, both delivered to undergraduate interior design students. The paper analyses these integrative design classes as a supportive project-based learning technique to develop the students’ ability to accomplish sustainable design strategies for resource efficiency, waste management effectiveness, optimization of indoor environment quality parameters as well as pro-environmental education. The results of the conducted integrative design classes proved that they are a driver for developing technically and formally innovative designs, allowing the students to establish a link between theoretical knowledge on sustainability in interior design and its practical implementation.
Highlights
The necessity of implementing sustainability principles in the interior architectural design curriculum is not addressed explicitly in the official regulations accepted in 2007 by the Polish Ministry of Higher Education, which define the education standards at the Faculties of Interior Architecture
The requirements, enclosed in the above-mentioned interior design education standards, imprecisely formulated, seem to comply with the statement that interior architectural design teaching provides an excellent representation of sustainability education [2]
The integrative design classes incorporated into the existing conventional educational framework, offered the interior design students: (1) a platform to build up the buildings’ occupants’ awareness of the impact of their behavioral attitudes and habits on the natural environment, as well as on the building’s environmental performance; (2) a model for shaping interior components recognized as determinants of the buildings’ users’ environmentally responsible conduct; (3) a learning tool to gain the ability to implement creative, innovative, and evidence-based sustainability issues into design projects
Summary
The necessity of implementing sustainability principles in the interior architectural design curriculum is not addressed explicitly in the official regulations accepted in 2007 by the Polish Ministry of Higher Education, which define the education standards at the Faculties of Interior Architecture. There are other sustainability-related synonymous exigencies enclosed in this document that are commonly respected in the currently executed educational frameworks [1]. These general postulates, to be fulfilled within the teaching courses, comprise the following: (1) interdisciplinarity in the interior architectural design field; (2) holistic approach to interior design decision-making process; (3) exploration of the human–environment interconnection aspects of interior design projects. The requirements, enclosed in the above-mentioned interior design education standards, imprecisely formulated, seem to comply with the statement that interior architectural design teaching provides an excellent representation of sustainability education [2]. To define the area of interest of environmentally conscious interior designers, uses the term “environmentally responsible interior design” (ERID) to highlight its comprehensive perspective and indicate the interrelationship of the designed environment, human behavior, and environmental responsibility [5], where the last part refers to the health and well-being of the global ecosystems and the ecological consequences of mutual interactions between man-made and natural settings [6]
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