Interior Architecture Students Research Articles

Construction Education through Virtual Reality: A Game-based Approach for Interior Architecture Students

This study investigates a novel method of instructing interior architecture students on building specifics pertaining to walls by utilizing the combination of virtual reality (VR) and game-based learning. The creation and application of a virtual reality game called "VR ConstructED," which aims to improve knowledge of wall construction methods, materials, and design consequences, is the study's focus. This project intends to improve students' understanding of wall-related construction elements and their applicability in real-world circumstances by utilizing the immersive and interactive properties of virtual reality technology in conjunction with gamification methods. Through a case study involving academic staff and students at Bahçeşehir University, the efficacy of this pedagogical strategy will be assessed. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study collects quantitative data from surveys and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. These questionnaires will evaluate the academic performance, contentment, and VR game participation of the students. The main goal is to clarify the advantages and difficulties of using virtual VR to teach construction features, such walls, so that curriculum designers and teachers may make informed decisions. Additionally, by illustrating how gamification and the integration of VR technology may greatly improve student engagement and academic achievement, this study hopes to contribute to the larger area of design education. The results of this study are anticipated to add to the body of knowledge in architectural education and stimulate more research into specific VR applications for design pedagogy.

Evaluating Interior Space Perception using Virtual Reality

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) in enhancing spatial perception compared to traditional 2D representations in the context of interior design education. Conducted with Interior Architecture students at the University of Buraimi, the research utilized the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset to create an immersive environment. Participants assessed various spatial characteristics, such as depth, scale, and spatial relationships, using both printed materials and VR immersion. Findings indicate that VR significantly improves the accuracy and realism of spatial perception, providing a more comprehensive understanding of interior spaces. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on VR applications in architectural education, highlighting its potential benefits and challenges.

Barriers to Embrace Multidisciplinary Learning Experience in Interior Architecture Design Module

A multidisciplinary learning experience is an approach to curriculum integration which values the ideas of collaboration across multiple disciplines in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The 4IR has effectively widened the division between fields in which graduates are expected to perform desired skill and knowledge. This paper aims to determine the barriers encountered by the Interior Architecture Students embracing the multidisciplinary learning experience with students from other discipline. Through an explanatory case study approach, the emergence of approach curriculum comprised of three programmes in the built environment at a private university will be presented. The paper concludes with reflective writing addressing the barriers faced by the Interior Architecture students during the multilearning experience. Findings of the study revealed the majority of students identify communication, time-management, responsibility, attitude, and teamwork as the most significant barriers encountered by Interior Architecture students in the implementation of the MLE approach in the Design Studio module. Developing strong communication skills, allocation in managing the time, team player roles and responsibility are essential trait that must be constantly fostered. These findings help to assist interior architecture educators in developing courses that integrate various disciplines and provide academics with a deeper understanding of the conceptualisations and practices of the multidisciplinary learning experience concept approach by identifying the barriers that hinder its implementation.

The Role and Significance of Human-Space Relationship and Psychology in Interior Architecture and Architectural Education

Each geographic location has its own unique architectural language and characteristics. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge that architectural design cannot be universally suitable for every geography. To be able to think, calculate, evaluate and analyse all these and more at every scale is possible with ‘human-space relationship and psychology’ (HSRP). For this reason, HSRP seems to be a lerning necessity for architecture students, especially interior architecture departments, in undergraduate education processes. The study started by determining the position of architecture and interior architecture education and HSRP in undergraduate education. Based on the findings obtained and analysed, an education model on HSRP was developed and applied to interior architecture and architecture undergraduate students in three different academic terms. The HSRP education model combined theoretical subjects and activities, and the students’ cognitive levels were measured at the beginning and end of the academic term. Quantitative data demonstrated that the developed education model made the subject more comprehensible to the students compared to a purely theoretical approach. This emphasised the importance and necessity of the course.

Cooperative Learning in an Interior Architecture Studio

Design studio in interior architecture education is rarely conducted as a group learning activity, despite the benefits of preparing students for team-based industry work environments. Students have learnt to be protective of their design ideas and are not always encouraged to share resources, although theories on social learning indicate a deeper learning experience is achieved through collaboration. The theoretical framework for cooperative learning, as a form of collaboration, is extensive and positively supports the virtues of group work as an effective learning activity. This paper describes an action research cycle of preparation, implementation and reflection of a cooperative learning project with third year interior architecture students. For the purposes of this research, cooperative learning is defined as a structured group work activity, with participants working together towards a series of common objectives. The main objectives were for students to experience a typical interior architecture work environment, to promote deeper learning and foster a culture of sharing ideas and resources.

Neurocognitive responses to spatial design behaviors and tools among interior architecture students: a pilot study

The impact of emotions on human behavior is substantial, and the ability to recognize people's feelings has a wide range of practical applications including education. Here, the methods and tools of education are being calibrated according to the data gained over electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The issue of which design tools would be ideal in the future of interior architecture education, is an uncertain field. It is important to measure the students’ emotional states while using manual and digital design tools to determine the different impacts. Brain-computer interfaces have made it possible to monitor emotional states in a way that is both convenient and economical. In the research of emotion recognition, EEG signals have been employed, and the resulting literature explains basic emotions as well as complicated scenarios that are created from the combination of numerous basic emotions. The objective of this study is to investigate the emotional states and degrees of attachment experienced by interior architecture students while engaging in their design processes. This includes examining the use of 2D or 3D tools, whether manual or digital, and identifying any changes in design tool usage and behaviors that may be influenced by different teaching techniques. Accordingly, the hierarchical clustering which is a technique used in data analysis to group objects into a hierarchical structure of clusters based on their similarities has been conducted.

İç Mekan Estetik Memnuniyetin Karşılaştırılması: İç Mimarlık Birinci Sınıf ve Üst Sınıf Öğrencileri Arasındaki Farklılıklar

The professions of interior architecture necessitate the integration of both aesthetics and functionality. Therefore, these concepts are deeply embedded in the university education process. The first step on this educational path is taking the basic design studio course which aims students to start developing critical and abstract thinking skills in the design process. It would contribute to the literature to examine how far students are able to develop their aesthetic evaluations in the first year of university education. Therefore, we conducted the study to investigate if there is a difference in aesthetic evaluations of interiors between students who have just started their interior architecture education and students who have completed their first year. Examining how students' aesthetic evaluations for interior design evolve over the course of their interior architecture education provides valuable insights into design education. The results illustrated that there is a significant difference between evaluations of aesthetic pleasure and novelty. The students who finished the first year have less aesthetic pleasure and novelty scores than the students who just started their university education. The first year of education may reduce aesthetic appreciation because basic design education aims to teach students to think critically.

Performance and Perception Disparities in Blended Learning Across Varied Vocational Academic Backgrounds

With rising popularity of vocational education in China, the study investigates how academic backgrounds influence vocational students’ perceptions and learning outcomes in a blended SketchUp course, guided by Blended Learning framework and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Quantitative data from 71 undergraduate and 71 junior college interior architecture students was analyzed using statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and t-tests. The analysis showed no significant differences between academic groups in academic achievements, but differences in several perceptions, suggesting equitable learning experiences in the blended course. Tutorial videos may have contributed to personalized pacing, reducing variations among learners. Applying TAM to analyze student acceptance and engagement further enriches understanding of how academic backgrounds impact the utilization of educational technologies. These findings emphasized the potential of well-designed blended learning models for inclusive education. Results verified and enriched blended learning theory regarding differentiated instructions and online personalization to foster equitable, quality education, addressing diverse learning needs.

Highlighting Community and Identity through an Online Interior Architecture Studio Project: Ambassador’s Residence Project

Within the confines of the COVID-19 pandemic, design educators were required to revisit tried and true ways of teaching and create original ways to connect with their students. In this paper, the aim is to achieve the sense of global interiors community in online teaching regarding teaching methods as well as project topics. Moreover, various means by which an enhanced studio experience may be provided is investigated. The year-long project with a focus on “concept building”, benefited from a variety of approaches and resources that is believed to enrich the overall experience. One of the first aims was to enable a sense of connection and community at a time of detachment. This was achieved in a number of ways; the first step was through requiring students to work in teams of two. The second step was to use the opportunities of online education to the full extent. In this sense, both national and international guests were invited to the studio for lectures and critiques. Lastly, on special days such as the IFI (International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers) World Interiors Day and juries, both national and international guests were invited to the studio to share experiences with students that were shared on international platforms. Through an ambassador’s residence project, second-year interior architecture students were able to experience aspects of their profession in an international environment. An enriched experience both in terms of structure and content was aimed to be achieved and the projects reflected these aims. The selected projects portrayed in the paper answer the requirements in full, are parallel to the context, and reflect the key criteria of the project. A questionnaire was applied to the participating students to gather deeper insight into their studio experience. Limitations include the number of participant students, and thus, further studies may include larger groups of students, national and international comparisons of experiences as well as studio output. Despite the large-scale catastrophe, findings show the benefits of increased online interiors community activity in the experience of the students as well as being reflected positively to their projects. These events have also benefited the instructors’ connection to the studio. Overall, the interior design studio is a dynamic environment that needs constant research into its pedagogy, content, and overall experience, as the educational environment moves swiftly to online direction.

University students' perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

This study explores interior architecture students' perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and their implications for future career prospects. A survey of 230 third-year interior architecture students in China utilized a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-based questionnaire, yielding 158 valid responses. The investigation aimed to gauge students' familiarity with recent AI advancements (e.g., ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney) and their readiness to incorporate AI into their future careers. Findings unveiled limited awareness of cutting-edge AI technologies and concerns about AI's impact on employment opportunities. Nonetheless, students exhibited receptiveness to integrating AI for enhanced productivity and creativity. The structural equation modeling verified TAM's efficacy in forecasting students' AI acceptance intentions, highlighting perceived usefulness and ease of use as pivotal factors. The study's insights offer guidance for educational institutions to cultivate emerging technology competence among students, enabling them to excel in a design industry undergoing AI-driven transformations. The study's contribution lies in the application of TAM to evaluate AI acceptance within the distinct domain of interior design education.

Self-Assessment and Learning Outcome Evaluation of Interior Architecture Students Using Flipped Versus Traditional Classroom Education Models

The aim of this present study is to determine the self-evaluation of learning outcomes of students using flipped classroom versus traditional learning education models in the senior year (fourth year) interior architecture students. This research was conducted for one full semester of senior year interior architecture graduate students, which takes 14-weeks of a time period each lasted 6 hr of a week which makes a total of 84 hr for a semester. Two different education models were used for a one-semester course for a total number of 112 students. The students were all informed about flipped and traditional educational models prior to the class selection. The groups were designated by the students’ education model choice. Class A was 57 students who attended to the flipped classroom model and Class B were 55 students who attended to the traditional lecture-based education Both courses have the same credit. The GPA scores of flipped classroom attendees were found to be higher than the traditional class GPA score rates. The student evaluation forms were determined to be better in the flipped classroom. The change of students to using flipped classroom from the traditional method leads to a student-centered education instead of teacher-centered education.

Virtual Reality (VR) - The Effectiveness in Interior Architecture Technical Drafting

Technical drafting knew as drafting in detailed drawing. It is essential for communicating ideas in the industry by using familiar symbols, units of measurement, notation systems, visual styles, and page layouts using Virtual Reality (VR). Interior Architecture students spend most of their time creating those physical models or digital models instead of creating and developing ideas. However, lack of research and knowledge on technical drawing is one of the reasons that hard to understand and explore for the beginner level student. This research aims to develop a new interactive virtual reality application that can be used in beginner-level technical drafting. Therefore, this project uses the ADDIE model to develop the application and collect data at the early and final stages. This study concludes that virtual reality applications for technical drafting can guide and become a source of information for students understanding technical drafting and developing space planning in interior architecture.

Spatial Perception and Existential Senses of Being in a Place

With digital technology becoming a dominant lifestyle nowadays, people tend to indulge too much in the virtual experience of a place without actually being there. This excessive digital consumption gives an unreal sense of spatial experience to today's generation. Therefore, this research aims to explore the pattern of spatial perception and existential senses of being in a place from the interior architecture students' perspective. The study employed a qualitative method of 'non-verbal interview' which was retrieved from the students' spatial experience portfolios. This study highlights the importance of seeing and experiencing a place in-situ to truly understand the architecture.

Basic design course through art-based research in interior architecture education

This article presents the basic design course applications based on the design education of first-year interior architecture students. This study aims to emphasize the importance of education in the design-oriented thinking process with practice through the content of the basic design course. Within the scope of the study, art-based research in interior architecture education was carried out and the intersections of its results are described. In the studio, basic design elements and principles were conveyed with the techniques commonly taught in schools and architectural movements were given to students as term papers for research. The study directs the student to create 2D and 3D compositions by combining the studies he/she has done during the term and the research assignment. The findings show that students can reflect on their research on architectural movements to new three-dimensional abstract spaces by combining them with basic design education. While grounding this reflection, design process of the students is based on form and elements without color. The results also show a significant correlation between students’ practices and Gestalt Principles. This article emphasizes the importance of applying basic elements and principles of design and being integrated with field-specific studies to achieve better results in design education. This study is an experimental and original studio product. With the basic design education given only in the first semester, the students were given examples to determine and understand forms and approaches without color knowledge, especially through basic principles, using architectural movements instead of abstract expression.

Student Perceptions Regarding the Blackboard Learning System Applied in Interior Architecture Project Courses During Covid-19

This article describes students' perceptions and satisfaction levels towards the Blackboard application, which they experienced as a learning tool throughout the design studio course they took during the Covid-19 pandemic. By making sketches, transferring ideas, sharing clear images, and accepting criticism in terms of satisfaction with the Blackboard system of instruction, it is attempted to understand the effects of features such as internet connection, technical infrastructure, and trainer. It has been observed that the lower grades of interior architecture students have a higher level of satisfaction with learning interior design through blackboard than the upper grade students.

Spatial design outcomes of indoor soundscaping course as part of interior architecture education

Indoor soundscaping is a multi-disciplinary field that integrates, sound, user experience, and architecture. At its core, it has the potential to redefine any enclosed acoustic environment. It nor solely considers the theories and methods of architectural acoustics or depends only on noise management techniques, yet primarily focus on user, perception, expectation, and experience. Through this perspective, listening to spaces should be an active act of an interior architect; an awareness that should be gained during the early years of architectural education. The elective course with the same name, 'Listening to Spaces' has been offered to interior architecture students since 2015 at Çankaya University, Ankara, Turkey under the Department of Interior Architecture, with the aim of implementing an important additional topic specific course to the present education curriculum of the Department as the course combines architectural, spatial and functional analysis methods from an acoustical perspective, in order to raise awareness on conscious listening of spaces with different functions. The course is conducted through interactive learning bases and the orientation is more research-based than teaching-based, although basic acoustical and soundscape theoretical knowledge is given. Students are expected to accomplish 6 tasks progressively following the cognitive processing dimensions parallel to Bloom's taxonomy. The outcomes of the tasks and the final spatial design proposals has been evaluated and discussed as part of this study to highlight the importance of topic specific course integration to architectural design education.

Design Studio in Case of Emergency: Implications for Future Digitalized Educational Experiences

The unexpected, and extensive emergency situation between 2020-2022 created a test environment that incorporates valuable data for the digitalization of education. Using the data obtained from architecture and interior architecture students, this research focuses on one of the fundamental elements of architectural education, the design studio. Aiming online design studio (ODS) students from three different schools of architecture, this research tries to identify the technical resources utilized, students’ social interactions and mental status, and how these factors and demographic variables effected their ODS evaluations. The findings acquired by both qualitative and quantitative methods, show significant relations between the technical availabilities of the students with their overall satisfaction from the ODS experience, as well as the level of their social interactions, physical, and emotional status. While ease of reaching resources, watching recorded lectures and critics, presenting student projects digitally both for critics and juries, are appearing on the strong side of ODS, technical challenges for digital sketching and social requirement differences marked by student’s year of study (YofS) are observed on the week side. Although the research has substantial limitations, the findings are proposed to be valuable for the future research on developing a digital design studio environment in the future.

Metaphorical Approach in Interior Architecture Education

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.

On the Interaction Between Shared Design Studios and Interior Architecture Students: A New Spatial Experience with Extended Reality for Supporting Place Attachment

Place attachment is one of the basic psychological needs in the human-space relationship. It is known that the characteristics of the shared design studios have a direct effect on the space adaptation of the user. Place attachment occurs simultaneously with the space adaptation process of the students, therefore these two concepts have a direct relationship with each other. Open and flexible activities in shared design studios reduces the adaptation and working efficiency of the students. It can be said that this situation will cause problems in the sense of belonging to that kind of learning environments. It is known that the user of the shared workspace tends to personalize the studios as a result of the need for belonging in the place adaptation status. The process of the study is trifold; first the concept of shared design studios was examined and researches on the concepts of personalization and belonging were conveyed through literature reviews in order to reveal the interior design students and shared design studio relationship. Then using literature data, a spatial belonging scale was presented to interior design students to determine their place attachment status and augmented reality was used to test the tendency to customize shared studio spaces accordingly. Lastly their affiliation in the hybrid environment and their tendency to personalize the space were analyzed.

The Effect of Three-Dimensional Drawing on Learning Construction Detail Design in Interior Architecture Education

In the construction of the built environment, detailing is an important and inseparable part of the whole construction information. Giving practical construction information to interior architecture students is undoubtedly an important part of interior architecture education. Along with general building information, materials and detailing are included in the curricula of many interior architecture departments to strengthen students’ understanding of interior architecture practice. On the other hand, the detailing solution should be considered as a design-decision model to create design alternatives according to the building elements and material properties. The aim of this study is to show that structural and detailing problems should be considered in a holistic framework with the design in interior architecture education. The sub-purpose of this study is to show that the use of three-dimensional drawing techniques in interior architecture construction-detail education is effective in increasing a student’s ability to notice and learn building details. This study focuses on the use of three-dimensional drawing techniques in interior architecture education and the application-oriented solution of structural and detail problems. As a result, the method of the study suggests some design-decision modeling guidelines that will lead to better detail design-decision solutions for interior architecture students.