M.ID3 - Master of Interior Design (3-Year)

Introduction

The Master of Interior Design (MID) program offers an education in spatial inquiry that embeds the interior design discipline within the essential mission toward reimagining the human conditions in the built environment in a time of great change and uncertainty. In so doing, the program adds criticality to the profession, scholarship, and academic research while generating new knowledge and emerging ideas. The MID program positions interior design as a unique body of knowledge, with a distinct discourse, canon, and set of methodologies, filtered through the lenses of art, criticism, and theory. As contemporary architectural practice continues to focus on issues of technology, technique, urbanism, and other aspects of exteriority, the MID program looks to advance the role of the human experience in this discourse, and to argue for the social, cultural, material, sensorial, and communicative realms of design.

In order to develop new ways of seeing, designing, and building, students explore real and imagined environments that are meaningful to the human existence and well-being. The program explores how the physical and emotional merge to create interior spaces infused with aesthetic and cultural relevance. Physical constructs of the visual arts, product design, furniture design, and architecture commingle with the social sciences and the humanities. Using three- dimensional models, computer rendering, and drawing, students explore the various disciplines that collectively define interior design. Students gain expertise in developing the essential elements of interior design— such as form, color, lighting, finishes, and furnishings— along with appropriate building technology, material science, and behavioral factors to create spatial experiences of the mind and body. In a field of rapidly changing technology and ideas, the program provides students with both the professional and intellectual tools necessary to negotiate the exciting and future cultural and social landscapes.

Woodbury School of Architecture’s MID program provides students with a curriculum that is critical and relevant. This agile program allows students to actively participate in the crafting of their education, to imbue each course with their own critical approach, and to specialize in their own professional pursuits. Student involvement fosters methodological diversity and ensures that the program will evolve and adapt with each new cohort.

Accreditation and Licensure

The Master of Interior Design is designated a STEM program by WASC (WSCUC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). All international students enrolled in the program can apply for a 24-month extension of their post completion Optional Practice Training (OPT) for a total of 36 months.

The department may require two- and three-year track students to take additional preparatory groundwork courses before beginning studio in the fall semester.

The Woodbury School of Architecture Master of Interior Design (MID) professional degree program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and is designed to meet the California educational requirements for Interior Design certification in California. The Woodbury School of Architecture’s MID program also prepares graduates to complete both the NCIDQ and the IDEX exams. Though our program meets the educational requirements in all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Canadian provinces, students who wish to practice in a location outside of California may or may not have additional non-educational requirements to fulfill prior to applying for a certificate or registration status in that location. Prior to enrollment, prospective students are strongly encouraged to review the Master of Interior Design (MID) professional licensure webpage to determine whether our MID program meets the educational requirements for certification/registration in the location(s) they wish to practice.  The Woodbury School of Architecture would like to assist prospective and current students with navigating this process.  Please contact Admissions for help.

Additional Learning Opportunities

The Interior Design courses provide a theoretical basis and practical skills needed for conceptualization and visual communication of interior spaces that are meaningful to the human experience and well-being. The Interior Design program offers interdisciplinary engagement with allied programs in the School of Architecture and across the Woodbury campus. The School of Architecture offers five programs in addition to Interior Design: Architecture, Design Computation, Construction Management, Sustainable Practices, and Computer Science–Media Arts. In addition, opportunities to incorporate courses in gaming, film, animation, psychology, graphic design, fashion, and business expand the potential for collaboration and exploration.

Technology and Computer Requirements

Students in the Interior Design program need to have the use of a laptop or desktop computer that can run multiple graphic software programs. The computer programs that are necessary to commence the first year of the program are: Revit, Rhinoceros, Adobe Suite, and Microsoft Office Suite. The licenses for these programs are available through the University of Redlands ITS Department. Due to the fact that some of the courses are offered online, students are also required to have a working camera and microphone as part of their computer setup. For qualified students, loaner laptops are available in addition to access to computer labs on the campus.

Assessment Process

Portfolio Requirements

Individuals holding baccalaureate degrees in any discipline may enter the Master of Interior Design three-year track, while individuals holding baccalaureate degrees in Interior Architecture, Interior Design, Environmental Arts, or Architecture are eligible to enter the Master of Interior Design two- year track.

To be placed into the two-year track, students must submit a portfolio of their undergraduate work and any work product obtained through work experience that they have generated. For the three-year track, students need to submit an assemblage of evidence demonstrating their skills and techniques in drawing and composition using freehand and software tools and media.

Formative Assessment Experiences

Formative assessment occurs within each studio and is the foundation of the Woodbury School of Architecture studio education. As they develop their projects, students receive regular, rigorous, and critical feedback in small groups, larger groups, and via individual desk critiques. They also provide rigorous and critical feedback to their peers as well as to their own progress and process.

Summative Assessment Experiences

The two-year and three-year track curricula have two points for assessing summative student learning: review of the thesis proposal at the end of the thesis preparation seminar (IDES 645, Criticism 4), and review of the capstone graduate thesis (IDES 660, Studio 6: Thesis). While these projects provide summative measures of student learning, a review allows the faculty to gauge the effectiveness of the curriculum and the extent to which the core MID curriculum builds on and integrates the supporting electives in a student’s chosen focus.

Program Specific Academic Standards

Design Studio Academic Standards

Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher for every two consecutive design studios to continue in the design studio sequence. A student whose two- studio GPA drops below 3.0 must repeat one of the two as necessary to achieve the minimum GPA prior to enrollment in the subsequent studio.

Satisfactory Studio Progress Policy

Any student who does not pass a studio with a grade of “C” or higher after enrolling in it three times is subject to dismissal from the program.

Repeated Courses

A student may remediate a course for the purpose of improving the grade. However, the student only has one chance to repeat a course in which they have received a passing grade. If a passing grade was not achieved, then a student may repeat the course until they do achieve a passing grade. Financial aid cannot be applied to courses repeated voluntarily.

Completion Time Limits

Part-time graduate students may receive an additional two years to complete their degree objective. The graduate academic progress and grading policy is administered by the department and the Registrar with Office of Student Development support.