IArc
IArc
environments
experience
spaces
Bachelor of Interior Architecture
In the Interior Architecture Program at the University of Oregon, we follow a long-standing tradition of active design exploration and interdisciplinary study. Our degree programs offer highly ranked professional education at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as opportunities for post professional research. As designers, we help our students apply the skills and knowledge of design history, theory, and practice to addressing emerging interior design challenges of the twenty-first century. Our design-centered curriculum provides opportunities for you to pursue both independent and collaborative learning, to work at a range of scales and to explore different project types and sites in a rigorous design studio environment. At Oregon, you will have the opportunity to address critical issues and real-world projects.
Since 1922, interior design course work has been offered alongside architecture, landscape architecture, and the arts as a part of the School of Architecture and
“Our creative curriculum with its integrated sustainable
attitude and our special emphasis on design process and
graphic communication provides our students with strong
ideals and competitive tools.”
—Alison Snyder, associate professor and program director
Why Oregon?
Allied Arts. Today the Interior Architecture pProgram is part of a rich mix of design disciplines and specialties. Our students are eligible to participate in a wide range of electives, certificate programs, minors, and concurrent majors, focused on the built environment. At the University of Oregon, you will study in the nation’s leading programs for sustainable design. You will learn to work with other design disciplines while developing the expertise to create functional, sustainable, and beautiful interiors. We educate designers who become leaders in national and global settings.
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts is dedicated to the principles of civic responsibility, environmental sustainability, international understanding, and cross-disciplinary education. We give our students the power to positively affect not just their own future, but also the people, communities, and environments around them. In short, we empower our students to make good.
Design-centered curriculum
The interior architecture curriculum establishes connections between the design disciplines from the start. The study of interior design is interwoven with the study of architecture and we share course work with product design. At the same time, the program pursues interior design as a separate, distinct discipline with a particular knowledge base. This prepares interior designers to work as responsible members of interdisciplinary teams as well as strong lead designers.
The design studio is at the heart of our program. The studio culture stresses critical thinking from both a theoretical and a functional standpoint. Studio classes are typically limited to eighteen or fewer students who work closely with their professors to actively explore design and adaptive reuse of interior spaces for a wide spectrum of institutional, commercial, residential, housing, and mixed-use projects.
After a rigorous sequence of core studios, students can select from a wide range of studio design topics. Topical studios offer project-based investigations into specific issues including retail branding, historic interiors, healing and working environments, and design of sacred spaces. Recent studios include projects located in Korea, Europe, and Turkey as well as local and regional projects featuring a range of sites, from rural to urban. Students at Oregon learn to strengthen design ideas with solid technical
problem-Our program
Student resources
A full range of labs, shops, and equipment are available to students as well as instructor assistance to aid in designing and fabricating models and prototypes. Shared computing labs with specialized scanners and software augment student laptops, and an in-house output room offers large-scale color printing and other services. The model shop and a specialized furniture shop offer digital, power, and hand tools for three-dimensional exploration. The Baker Lighting Laboratory provides equipment for testing and developing lighting designs, and the Materials Resource Center provides a wide range of samples of construction and finish materials. The A&AA Library is one of the largest art and architectural collections in the Pacific Northwest, with extensive collections on-site and with access to the collections of more than thirty other research libraries.
solving and hands-on learning. All students take a furniture design studio in which design is intertwined with construction of a full-scale working prototype. A required working-drawings studio links design decisions with the realities of construction and materials. In their final year, students engage in independent study through individually developed and executed comprehensive design projects. These projects challenge students to integrate design exploration with independent research and individual design interests and goals.
Top left: Furniture design studio modular seating designed and built for Lawrence Hall by students Top right: Nathan Reed, graduate student, color theory project
Top left: Virginia Ramirez, BIArch ’11, comprehensive project, “Rethinking the Big Box” Top right: Guest critic reviews studio designs with student
Lower: Aimee Roth, BIArch ’11, comprehensive project, “Center for Mural Art,” entry
Opposite page: Brienne Maronay Wasmer, MIArch ’10, comprehensive project, “The Soapbox, Portland, Oregon,” section drawing
Recognized for sustainable
design leadership
Oregon is a leader in sustainable design education and research. Considerations for sustainable design are integrated throughout the curriculum and student experience. Interior architecture students explore adaptive reuse and revitalization strategies at all scales in design studios. Interior studios are offered as a part of the Sustainable Cities Initiative, and students participate in the student-run Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability Conference and the Center for Sustainable Living.
Explore specialized and
advanced course work
A unique mix of graduate and undergraduate degree programs, diverse faculty interests, and the university quarter system result in robust opportunities for special topic and elective courses. Advanced courses in furniture design, lighting design, color theory, and construction
Choose the UO
are offered as a normal part of the curriculum. These are supplemented with a wide variety of advanced electives including selected courses offered by related disciplines such as art history, architecture, product design, and historic preservation. Independent study courses and graduate research fellowships expand student opportunities to create new knowledge through design research. Graduate students are expected to develop an individual area of concentrated design exploration and research.
Widely known as a
top-tier program
The University of Oregon Interior Architecture Program is highly regarded by design educators and leading design firms from across the country. Our program ranks number one in sustainable design skills, number one in design skills, and number three in communication skills in a national survey of firms published in the 2011 Design
Intelligence journal. Overall, our undergraduate and graduate programs ranked sixth in the nation in the 2011 survey.
Opportunities for international
and off-campus study
Interior architecture students enrich their academic experience by participating in departmental study programs and exchange programs. Students may study for a term in one of the department-led programs in Portland, Oregon, or abroad in Kyoto, Japan; Rome, Italy; and Vicenza, Italy. The Danish Institute for Study Abroad program at the University of Copenhagen provides summer and academic year study opportunities that fulfill UO Interior Architecture Program requirements.
Learn from guest lecturers
and professionals
The Interior Architecture Program augments our commitment to including professionals as teachers and critics by bringing prominent designers to campus as visiting professors to teach and lecture. The Margo Grant Walsh Visiting Professor of Interior Architecture and the Julie Neupert Stott Visiting Professor of Interior Architecture create opportunities for students to work closely with visiting professors in design studio and small seminar courses. The Frederick Charles Baker Chair in Design brings experts in electric lighting and “daylighting” to campus. The Gunilla K. Finrow Lecture in Interior Architecture features the work of a noted designer each year.
Top left: Kristin Kelsey, graduate student, comprehensive project “he Eugene Kitchen” incubator kitchen perspective Top right: Courtney Richlie, undergraduate student, color theory project
Top left: Electric lighting design fixture from Baker electric lighting course Top right: Allison Hirzel, graduate student, comprehensive project study models
Lower: Allison Hirzel, graduate student, comprehensive project, view of Montessori school atrium Opposite page: Stephanie Hebert, BIArch ’11, comprehensive project, flexible hotel furniture sequence
Accreditation
The Council for Interior Design Accreditation accredits the University of Oregon’s undergraduate and graduate programs. An accredited degree, or its equivalent, meets the educational requirement for professional certification as an interior designer through the National Council of Interior Design Qualification.
The University of Oregon is a member of the Association of American Universities, an organization made up of the sixty-one leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada.
Admissions and
application deadlines
Graduate students have three program options based on prior degree and background. Please visit the website for additional information, the application form, and required supplemental materials. We offer a first professional degree for undergraduate students as a five-year program. To apply as a freshman or transfer student, you must submit a UO application and a separate departmental application with a portfolio to the Department of Architecture Interior Architecture Program in order to apply to the major.
We welcome your interest in our programs. The UO admissions office conducts campus tours, Duck Days, and Duck Preview events for interested students. We encourage you to sign up for those events at admissions.uoregon.edu.
Be a design
professional
BACHELOR OF INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
Graduate applications are due the first Monday after January 1. Undergraduate applications are due January 15.
Careers in interior architecture
Oregon graduates have many options as interior designers or in related professions. Interior design professionals can practice at multiple scales from interior products and furnishings to large public interiors. Multidisciplinary teams that include designers may engage in architectural design, branding, real-estate development, exhibit design, and product design. Graduates may develop specialized practices that concentrate on particular building or facilities types such as hospitality, health care, and education or provide expertise in facilities management, color, lighting design, exhibit design, or set design. Students with a graduate degree may pursue an academic career or supplement their practice by teaching.
An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be provided in accessible formats upon request. Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance.
Interior Architecture Program Department of Architecture 210 Lawrence Hall 1206 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1206 541-346-3656 [email protected]
iarch.uoregon.edu
Oregon
Study
Interior Architecture
at
This pageTop left: Noelle Bullock, BIArch ’11, comprehensive project, alternative school study models Top right: Kate Anderson, BIArch ’09, rocking chair prototype
Middle: Yvonne Ng, graduate student, comprehensive project, Asian American Cultural Center view of café Bottom: Furniture design studio chair prototypes
Cover images
Top: Allison Hirzel, graduate student, comprehensive project, view of Montessori school Bottom left: Rebecca Mann, graduate student, final review presentation
