Interior Design Education in the Year 2000: A Challenge to Change

Abstract

Anticipating the year 2000 is a popular activity in the early years of the 1990s. This article presents perceptions about current and possible future trends and how these could influence and challenge the interior design profession and interior design education. Changing population, social structure, cultural values, economics, technology, and resources will influence the future course of any profession and education. Interior design will become more technical, complex, and specialized, and at the same time it will be more valued and creative. Within the context of technology and aesthetics, it is suggested that interior design continue its unique identity through a humanistic approach. To respond to global and professional changes in the new millennium, interior design education should experience modifications in substantive content, pedagogy, students, and formal structure. In the process of change, the relationship between education and the profession needs revision. All of this will take energy and creativity to develop and execute during the next decade.