Interior Architecture

By Hannah Hill

This year, the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) hosted their South Regional Conference at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Through their work, IDEC, hopes “to elevate the level of design discourse in the built environment” (IDEC). In doing so, their conference brings students and educators together to learn from each other. IDEC hopes to “teach future designers and the inclusion of environmental-responsibility, social justice, evidence-based design, health, and global issues” (IDEC).

UNCG IARc graduate students, Sookwang Lee, Emily Miller, Isabel Leon Villasmil had the great opportunity to speak at the conference. Below are summaries about the information the students researched and presented.

Sookwang Lee-

Title: The Chaircase – Future Design Research for Local Book Cafés

The Chaircase project is to research and design a futuristic chair with plywood materials using algorithmic patterns and computational production. The concept is to combine the function of a chair and a bookcase likely seen in bookstores.

Isabel Leon Villasmil-

Isabel presented her research entitled, “An investigation of the Whole-School Sustainability.” For this study, Isabel with help of Professor Amanda Gale, identified some design guidelines developed by The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) and the Center for Green Schools, as well as design components of previous winners of the Green Ribbon Schools. Based on this, she presented some design patterns that will be ideal for existing buildings and new constructions to address key concerns that were identified in the literature review such as knowledge, funding, curriculum mandates, energy efficiency, among others. Isabel shared, “as a student, this was a really good experience. I had the opportunity to present my work but also to learn more about other topics and research in the field.”

Emily Miller-

Emily presented a Scholarship of Design Research poster for her thesis work “Biophilic Design in the Classroom” at the IDEC South Regional Conference on October 12, 2017. This is her second year presenting at the IDEC South Regional Conference.