With the power to transform the physical environment, interior designers impact the quality of everyday life by translating ideas and emotional responses into built space.

DCAD’s interior design program enables students to make connections between the space and its users through a rigorous process of analysis and design development. Projects such as loft apartments, retail spaces and institutional interiors aim to integrate the space with its function. These reality-based projects use local sites and take on contemporary social and technical issues that prepare students for further study or for the workplace. Students also explore furnishings, color, materials and lighting as well as basic construction systems and building code requirements.

A range of two and three-dimensional presentation techniques is explored to find that which best expresses the project’s design concept. Students learn to present their design concepts with the AutoCAD, Photoshop and Sketchup programs in addition to working with handmade drawings and models. Each student develops a personal language of form and space while balancing social responsibility with innovative formal solutions. Drawing on rich design resources of the region, the faculty is composed of active, practicing designers in the field and experienced design educators.

The objectives of the interior design major are:
• To transform ideas about movement and space into fulfilled designs;
• To develop digital and hand-made methods of representation that stem from the internal needs of individual projects;
• To teach students the history of interior design, and help them. understand how design impacts individual and social needs; and,
• To produce imaginative and responsible interior designers.

See an outline of courses and course descriptions for Interior Design. (PDF)