Interior Architecture Students Research Articles

Performance Evaluation of Open and Cell Type Design Studios

Design studio courses take place at the core of education disciplinary design such as architecture and interior architecture. Studios in which design studio courses are conducted can also be used for other practical courses as well. Another important feature of these studios is that they are extensively used by students for individual or group work other than during class hours. Since the students, either on their own or with the project coordinator, experience design process in these studios, their spatial characteristics are highly significant to conduct this process effectively. Within this scope, the aim of the research is to evaluate open and cell type studios commonly used in traditional architecture education through Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) approach, to discuss to what extent these studios meet the spatial requirements of today’s instructional methods and to develop a suggestion for design studio spatial use by taking the strengths and weaknesses of these studios. Accordingly, technical, physical and behavioral variables determining the performance of design studios within the context of spatial requirements have been identified through reviewing the related literature. In framework of a case study, a survey formed with the aforementioned variables was administered to architecture and interior architecture students studying in open and cell type design studios in order to measure their spatial performance. Followingly, in the final part of the study, referring to survey results and evaluation of spatial requirements of today’s instructional methods and tools, a combi design studio space organization has been suggested.

An inquiry into the learning-style and knowledge-building preferences of interior architecture students

This study explores the learning-style and knowledge-building preferences of interior architecture students using Felder–Soloman's Index of Learning Styles. Considering the learning and knowledge-building skills of students in design education, this study concludes that the instructor should not only be a conveyor of knowledge but also a facilitator. The findings indicate that design students' preferred learning styles are as follows, in descending order: Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal, Active/Reflective and Sequential/Global. In the two-way analysis, where the student's design studio grade was the dependent variable, significant effects were obtained for each scale. Furthermore, double interactions were highly significant between the Active/Reflective and Sensing/Intuitive scales and between the Active/Reflective and Sequential/Global scales.

Exploring the Knowledge Level of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Students’ on Indoor Air Pollutants

Exploring the Knowledge Level of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Students’ on Indoor Air Pollutants

Intersection of design and art in the eyes of interior architecture students

Design is an artistic fact on its own. To design requires a special creativity. Being creative is all about a person’s different perception level and an exclusive talent. This fact shapes itself with an artistic perception talent. Design constitutes most of the professions’ basis. Among them, there are interior decoration creativity that includes interior design, aesthetic beauty, functionality, spatial organisation, graphic design and industrial design, which reserve many features in itself. Design is important and special because it includes these qualifications. Interior architecture is different from the other kinds in terms of both art and functionality. Indoors can provide artistic value and it can also be resolved as only functional. However, they must have artistic sides in terms of their uniqueness. Indeed, all of the designed things like place, element, shape and fiction can be considered as an artistic value. Perception format or type of expressing what is perceived can change for each person. There can be lots of reasons behind this. Among the most basic ones, current conditions, life styles, customs, spontaneous change of mood and expectations can be taken into account. Differences for each people take shape within a very ordinary time span. In this research, the questions of whether a notion provides different meanings for each people and within the concept of design, how the same notion can be performed and for what purposes it is applied. Based on the research models conducted with 1st grade students in Black Sea Technical University who took the first step for being interior architectures, expressing the artistic dimensions from a notion is aimed. With the help of this research, by examining the models, concepts of design and art are evaluated Keywords: design, art, interior design, design education, boundary concept

Exploring the effectiveness of blended learning in interior design education

This study explores how blended learning can contribute to interior design students’ learning outcomes, their engagement with non-studio courses and affect their learning achievements. Within the framework of the study, a blended learning experience was carried out in ‘IAED 342 Building Performance’ module at Bilkent University, Turkey. A total of 120 interior architecture students were surveyed about their experiences on five fields of instruction: (1) course design, learning material and electronic course environment; (2) interaction between students and instructor; (3) interaction with peers; (4) individual learning process; and (5) course outcomes. Frequency distributions, chi-square factor and regression analyses were calculated. Four blended learning factors were developed and their contribution to learning outcomes was analysed. The results showed that teaching both online and face-to-face can create an effective learning environment for non-studio classes, while contributing to a considerable value for the interior design education in terms of teaching process.

Utilization of Second Life as a Tool for Spatial Learning in Interior Architecture

With increase in computer usage, three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments (VEs) have become new areas for navigation and spatial learning. Second Life (SL) has become one of the most popular 3D VEs that is used as a learning environment. This study focuses on the issue of spatial learning during virtual navigation in a multi-level desktop VE designed in SL. The usability of SL as a tool for spatial learning in interior architectural design is investigated by analyzing virtual navigation paths, gender differences and sense of presence. The study is conducted with 90 interior architecture students studying at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. Results indicated that SL can be an effective tool for individuals to learn an environment and for interior architects to improve their designs by learning from the navigation behaviors of the users.

Introducing sustainability to interior design students through industry collaboration

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to introduce a sustainability course to interior design students and explore how working with industry could address challenges with integrating sustainability education into and ensuring student motivation in non-studio courses. Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study presenting qualitative evaluation from the 15-week “IAED 342 Sustainable Design for Interiors” course with a sample of 98 third-year interior architecture students at Bilkent University, Turkey. Findings – The findings were analyzed from the perspectives of two processes learning and working with industry. The results revealed that an active learning environment and industry collaboration positively influenced students' awareness of sustainable design, increased their ability to integrate sustainability knowledge to design studio projects and improved academic outcomes. Originality/value – This study is a unique effort by the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University by being the first to introduce a sustainability course and create a responsive and social learning environment through industry collaboration. The results of the study highlighted that better outcomes are achieved by working directly with industry than by performing theoretical exercises.

A conceptual overview of the interior architecture students’ project works

A conceptual overview of the interior architecture students’ project works

Enough about Me: Perceptions of Interior Architecture Students in an Interdisciplinary Design Studio Setting

Enough about Me: Perceptions of Interior Architecture Students in an Interdisciplinary Design Studio Setting

Evaluation of Product Consumption Understandings of Interior Architecture Students in Terms of Sustainability

In the study, interior architecture students who are decision-makers in the selection of products and materials for interior design were questioned about the role sustainability plays in their choice of products. The survey also explored their views about shortlived products dictated by trends and fashion. Despite their sensitivities to recycling issues, it was determined that interior architecture students are not informed about sustainable consumption. The study also showed that the students were anxious about not following trends or choosing fashionable innovations, an important motivation behind their choices.

Investigating the Effects of Group Working in Studying Interior Architecture

Architecture design education is based on studio teaching and designing projects. Designing is a matter of analysing, synthesising, evaluating and presenting ideas of a solution in drawings and 3D models. Therefore, the social and intellectual outcomes of learning in groups have an important contribution. This study will focus on the role of group working as a means of enhancing problem solving, analyzing and presentation skills. It is based on the qualitative research through open-ended interviews with 144 interior architecture students at Bilkent University. It discusses and concludes with a number of suggestions for how to implement group work in interior architecture education context.

Opening the “Black-Box” of Interior Design Education: The Assessment of Basic Design Project Work

Interior design education differs from education in other disciplines due to its use of design studio as the setting for project based reflective learning environment. This setting is criticized for being a pedagogy derived from a preexisting ‘apprenticeship’ model that reproduces prevalent and dominant notions of “architectural habitus.” This paper carries out a case study on the first year basic design course of 26 interior architecture students in Turkey over one semester to discuss how “thinking like an architect” has been transmitted by critics to the new members of the profession.

Teaching universal design: an empirical research in interior architecture

Design studios are the essential part of the architectural education. Therefore, it is important to introduce big ideas and focus on complex concepts, such as universal design, within the challenge of design studios. This study is designed to provide a basis for further investigation on the possible adaptation of universal design philosophy in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University beginning from the early stages of its design education to its graduate level. It is based on the data of an empirical research through semi-structured interviews with 79 interior architecture students and 23 fulltime instructors. The results of the interviews revealed several influences on both students’ and instructors’ approach to universaldesign. From instructors’ point of view, providing the linkage between the content of the courses in terms of universal design issues can be a good way to foster the development of innovative teaching strategies. According to students, it is important to emphasize on universal design issues as a fundamental aspect of design studios and lectures. Therefore, the in-depth treatment of universal design within the curriculum content is essential so that universal design becomes an inseparable part of the design process and a fundamental aspect of design education.

The effects of learning styles and gender on the academic performance of interior architecture students

The study focuses on design education using ‘Index of Learning Style’ (ILS) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of design students. The ILS is designed to assess preferences on four scales of a learning style model formulated by Felder and Silverman (1988). The findings indicated that the usual methods of interior architecture education address a well-balanced class position in active/reflective and sensing/intuitive scales, a moderate to strong preference in visual scale and a weak preference in global scale. Furthermore, in the two-way analysis significant effects were obtained between the individual interactions of active/reflective scale with the other three scales when the academic performance score was the dependent variable.

The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children from Chios, Greece and Izmir, Turkey

Children, Youth and Environments 18(2), 2008 The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children from Chios, Greece and Izmir, Turkey Deniz Hasirci Izmir University of Economics Izmir, Turkey Citation: Hasirci, Deniz (2008). “The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children from Chios, Greece and Izmir, Turkey.” Children, Youth and Environments 18(2): 236-249. Keywords: youth, children, participation, mentorship, partnership, creativity, Turkey, Greece Introduction This study is about a collaborative project between three partners: Izmir University of Economics (IEU); the Turkish-German Foundation for Culture and Education (TAKEV), which is an elementary school; and Kids’ Guernica, an international initiative for peace. Izmir University of Economics established a buddy program with TAKEV Elementary School that paired university and elementary school students to work on specific projects. In the 2007-2008 academic year, we interviewed students and instructors to study the effects of the program on their creativity, self-confidence, responsibility, and opinions about the curricula. The University decided to implement the buddy program in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at IEU because visible results could be obtained in a short time, and because of the growing interest in these fields among middle-school children in Turkey. The five departments in the fine arts department are: Fashion Design, Interior Architecture, Architecture, Industrial Design, and Communication Design. The program began with Fashion Design, and moved on to Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, through which the partnership with Kids’ Guernica was developed. It is this latter development, when the buddy program partnered with the Kids’ Guernica project, which is the main subject of this photo essay.© 2008 Children, Youth and Environments The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children... 237 Fashion Design Buddy Program The IEU buddy program with TAKEV Elementary School began with the Fashion Design Department. In the program, younger and older students worked together on models. The project gave the younger students a sense of university life, while the university students gained a sense of responsibility by aiding the younger students. The buddy program received wide publicity in the local and national Turkish newspapers. Figures 1-3. The first buddy group: workshop with the fashion design department The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children... 238 The coordinators searched for other participatory projects in art or design in order to extend the buddy program. Around the same time, Kids’ Guernica contacted the program to do a joint project. Peace Mural by Children from Chios and Izmir Kids Guernica is a project of peace for children. Its aim is to create peace paintings in various parts of the world in a participatory way. The canvases are the same size as Pablo Picasso's 1937 Guernica (3.5 m × 7.8 m), in which the painter showed the brutality of the Spanish civil war during the bombing of the city of Guernica. Through the IEU buddy program,1 in May 2007 we made arrangements to bring together children from Chios, Greece and Izmir, Turkey to paint a peace mural under the auspices of Kids’ Guernica.2 The painting was started in Chios and travelled to Izmir in September 2007 with a group of Greek children and supervisors where they continued work on it together. The initial painting took a whole new direction with the cooperation of the children from different backgrounds. In Izmir, the participants took part in a three-day workshop to discuss the topics of “peace,” the idea of countries being geographically and culturally very close but The Peace Mural: A PARTicipatory Project between Children... 239 politically distant, and Picasso’s work. The workshop also helped the participants form a cooperative atmosphere from which to complete the painting. After the workshop, the painting was exhibited in the Zappion–Megaron in Athens in conjunction with the symposium entitled “Productivity of Culture” on October 18 and 19, 2007. The symposium was organized by the Network of European Cultural Capital Cities. Second- and third-year Interior Architecture and Environmental Design students from the IUE, seventh- and eighth-grade students from the TAKEV School, and eight children from Chios worked together on the painting of peace. The photos below depict the process of creating the children’s peace mural. Figures 6-7...

Rehearsal of professional practice: impacts of web-based collaborative learning on the future encounter of different disciplines

This study argues that the shift towards a more multidisciplinary professional life in contemporary design practice requires design curricula to equip students with collaborative skills. The study offers that by the aid of web-based collaborative learning (WBCL) in design education, different disciplines may be brought together during their education. A case study is held as a rehearsal of professional life; involving architecture and interior architecture students collaborating on a common project, using WBCL. The evaluations of the participating students about the process were analyzed. The findings convey that there is a mutual problem of recognition of professional domains. In order to diagnose and possibly reconcile tensions that may occur due to this problem in professional life, this paper asserts that integrating interdisciplinary work to the design curricula would be beneficial.

Open Building Principles: An Academic Exploration in Soshanguve, South Africa

The Department of Architecture at the University of Pretoria is working in the South African housing context while gaining knowledge of such issues worldwide. Various innovations are being carried out in terms of housing design and delivery methods in South Africa. Through a methodical approach to design, it is believed that future architects will be able to answer to contextual needs without compromising the high standard of design expected by the Department. This paper evaluates an exercise in open building principles, carried out in 2003, with post−graduate architecture and interior architecture students at the University. The focus was the application of open building principles from the urban design level to that of the building and the residential units. It involved the design of social housing and the upgrading of existing workers’ hostels into family units as well as the provision of social amenities. Students were to design various types of housing, showing alternative ways of ‘living’ and study housing in the area. The project involved close interaction with community representatives. The area of study was located in Soshanguve, a township with predominantly black inhabitants, situated to the northwest of Pretoria. The previous political dispensation designated specific areas on the outskirts of the city as locations for black migrant workers, known as townships. Subsequently these townships have become cities in themselves, housing a large portion of the total population of Pretoria. It is here that there is a need for urban development and social housing. Soshanguve offered an excellent opportunity for learning and the dissemination of good design principles in housing design. A debate on the relevance of open building to South Africa has been initiated. It is concluded that open building systems are an effective tool to achieve diversity and can accommodate for wider sectors of the population.

Speaking (of) Architecture

To stimulate seeing, thinking and ‘speaking’ architecture in ways other than conventional practice dictates, we devised two projects for second year interior architecture students. We identified prior architectural constructs, a tower in one case and two parallel walls in the other, and questioned how they could be imagined differently. Alongside the objects, we assigned activities which did not lend themselves to be housed in given architectural types: clowning, unicycling, acrobacy, fortune‐telling. The challenge of establishing meaningful links between the objects and the designated activities initiated architectural reinterpretations at various levels. The two problems diverged at this point: the project entitled ‘Wall of Entertainment’ resulted in the transformation of the object whereas ‘Towers’ involved the mutation of the activity. Seemingly intact entities generated new forms, presumably ordinary functions yielded unusual narratives. In each case, ordinarily unheeded components of architectural constructs and programs were explored, producing unconventional designs.

PRIVACY DIMENSIONS: A CASE STUDY IN THE INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO

The most commonly used space in architectural education is the studio, which functions both as a learning centre and as a complex social organization. The behavioural elements in the design studio are analysed with respect to the social processes of environmental psychology; namely privacy, personal space, territoriality and crowding. A case study was conducted to evaluate the differences between the desired and actual conditions of a design studio in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University. The expectations and preferences of the interior architecture students pertaining to the design studio were analysed by considering the sex differences in patterns of privacy preferences and the results of this study are expected to be used as input for a new design studio. Results showed that there was no difference between preferences of solitude, reserve, anonymity, and isolation among sexes. Although there was a significant difference among sexes where females preferred intimacy with family and males preferred intimacy with friends.