Masters Degrees (Interior Design)

Why take this course?

This course allows you to develop and grow your own creative practice whilst positioning yourself within a theoretical context.

You will engage in the exploration of space conceptually and pragmatically, encouraging your own response to the functionality and visual design of existing sites. You’ll also inspect the consideration of materiality and the relationship of the interior idea to architecture.

What will I experience?

On this course you can:

Have the opportunity to 'earn and learn' by working on real life contracts through our Projects Office. This experience will enable you to develop your professional portfolio.
Develop a personal area of study, get involved with some regional regeneration projects and test and develop your ideas and your interior research.

What opportunities might it lead to?

Interior design can be transient or durable, small or large, can engage at a detailed product design level or at an urban level, but at whichever level, the demand for skilled professionals is increasing, as is the requirement for innovative sustainable designs.

This course provides a firm grounding for employment in a range of design offices, as well as other property-related jobs.

Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:

Interior design practice
Exhibition design
Retail consultant
Working for local and public authorities
Teaching in HE

Module Details

This course uses the experience and skills of teaching staff with a proven track record in interior design studies, practice and research. You will also benefit from a multi-disciplinary learning environment where more than 100 postgraduate students in architecture, interior design, urban design, sustainable design and historic building conservation can meet and work.

Here are the units you will study:

Practice: This unit provides you with the opportunity to evaluate your own design practice and the design discipline from which you come and to contextualise this within interior design practice. Practice-based methods will be used to explore the interior through inter-disciplinary means and you will build on and develop your own creative practice through real-world situations, through doing. You will also be involved in discussions around the social, political, economic and professional contexts that drive the construction of interior space. You will be expected to analyse and critically evaluate the interior context, develop briefs, strategies and a proposal for a given area.

Theory: This unit aims to interrogate the history of interior design and its relationship to practice. Interior design is a relatively youthful profession, whose history is situated in the gaps between architectural history and design history. In this unit you will explore the intellectual idea of the interior through debate and discussion, catalysed through a series of workshops and critical readings, developing an understanding of the interior condition. We bring in specialists from other disciplines, actively encouraging debate. You will also be expected to explore and build on your own understanding of interior space by keeping a reflective journal.

Research Methods and Research Proposal: In this unit you will develop research skills, which will aid you throughout your course and particularly in producing your thesis. You will be asked to establish a critical position within an Outline Research Proposal. You will develop techniques, which will allow you to engage proactively within your area of study. You will be encouraged to explore methods of investigation that are responsive to, as well as inquisitive of, the conditions presented and which therefore speculate around possible critical scenarios. Implicit within these explorations is the need to investigate diverse means of representation and depiction through a variety of possible media and discourse.

Integration: This unit allows you to work in a multi-disciplinary context through groups within your own subject area and across the areas of interior design, urban design, sustainable architecture and historic building conservation, as well as explore the interrelationships of all disciplines. You will need to work collectively on given projects or problems related to staff-run studios, which explore a range of given themes. These themes will be introduced at the start of the course and connect to research areas within the School.

Work-Based Learning: This unit gives you the opportunity to replace a 30-credit core unit with a work-based version of that unit. Not all units can be replaced and you will need to discuss the appropriateness of a unit with tutors. Work-based learning requires you to engage in critical and reflective learning in the workplace. This will be developed through a learning contract, negotiated by you, your employer and School. The work undertaken in practice will be appraised through critical reflective writing that engages with the practice of the particular subject discipline and this will form the assessment artefacts.

Thesis: Your thesis is a substantial research-based project that enables you to carry out an in-depth investigation into a subject area of personal interest, which is related to or developed from a theme studied during the course. The proposed research theme should have a clearly defined focus to allow for in depth theoretical, contextual and visual research.

Programme Assessment

This course is lecture and studio-based, culminating in a written or design-led thesis project. It will involve case study investigations, group work, discussion and planning of interior environments, as well as independent study to develop design or research-based responses to interior problems.

Design assessment is through studio review and taught courses are assessed by various forms of evidence-based interior design decisions and proposals. You will also carry out an in-depth research project into an area of your choice.

Student Destinations

On completing this course, you will be adept in spatial practice and able to work within your specialist discipline in design practices, architectural firms and cross-disciplinary environments. The creative skills, professional competencies and expansive learning environment that we provide has also led graduates into a range of careers in marketing, advertising, journalism, virtual design and modelling through to people-centred careers such as project management.

Alternatively, you can choose to pursue freelance opportunities, continue your studies to PhD level or even set up your own interior design practice.

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This Interior Design course will suit recent graduates who already have some academic knowledge of interior design or interior products, but wish to deepen their design skills and understanding of the wide range of the interior design workfield.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

In this MA course the student has the possibility to focus on a specific field where their strength lies. The course interior design explores the human scale and relationship in the continuously changing context of the spatial environments.

You will be given the opportunity to learn to develop and design within a broad range of spatial environments, while considering the scale of the environment, manufacturing processes and exclusivity.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

The MA Course Interior design covers the wide scope of the work-field expressed in the axiom SMLXL (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large).

Within the modules there is the possibility to explore the specific scale of the work field of interior design while learning specific skills in one of the fields of SMLXL.

Small: development and research in specific skills for the production of interior products such as e.g. furniture, lighting, interior fabrics, carpets and paints, this in close relationship with local and national industry and manufacturers. The students have the possibility to deepen their knowledge about manufacturing and developing Interior products.

Medium: development and research in specific skills for medium interior projects such as e.g. domestic design, small shops, car interiors and small events, this by developing trends, brands and prognoses. The students have the possibility to deepen their skills of architectural and planning and knowledge about brand identity.

Large: development and research in specific skills for large Interior projects such as e.g. hotels, offices, boat interiors, train interiors, this by developing complex proposals for interiors within brand Identity, new media, the architectural context and (urban) spatial context. The students have the possibility to deepen their knowledge about complex planning in a architectural environment with a complex brand and new media identity.

Extra large: development and research in specific skills for extra large interior design projects such as e.g. university campus, hospitals, cruise ships, airports, this by developing managements skills in developing, designing and planning within an architectural environment with a complex management structure.

TEACHING CONTACT HOURS

The average teaching contact hours will be 18 hours per week. We do not offer a part-time evening or weekend pattern of delivery, but if you wish to study part time during the day, please contact the course director to explore further.

HOW WILL THIS COURSE ENHANCE MY CAREER PROSPECTS?

The knowledge gained by the CU interior design graduates will enable them to find employment internationally as well as nationally and the nature of the course will provide strong international recruitment.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR AN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The course will have strong connections with industry and other universities in Europe as well as other overseas territories like Asia, and Northa and South America. Collaborations in China are already being developed as well as associations with academia and industry in The Netherlands.

GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME

Centre for Global Engagement logoTo prepare students for the challenges of the global employment market and to strengthen and develop their broader personal and professional skills Coventry University has developed a unique Global Leaders Programme.

The objectives of the programme, in which postgraduate and eligible undergraduate students can participate, is to provide practical career workshops and enable participants to experience different business cultures.

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Overview

The two-year MA in Design – Interior Design provides graduates in architecture and design with the opportunity to explore the world of contemporary interior design. The MA in Design – Specialization in Interior Design analyses indepth the main subjects of the industry through lectures, workshops and project labs and provides the students with the opportunity to investigate future housing, exhibiting and living scenarios.

Students are trained to be professionals with the flexibility and ability to foresee the transformations and challenges of the near future, to design complex projects and to access high level positions in the architecture, interior design, light and exhibition design industries.

Language: English
Credits: 120 CF
Placement rate: 81%

Audience

Candidates holding a first-level academic diploma or BA degree, or about to graduate and with a knowledge of the English language
(according to the medium of instruction of the program) equal to a B2 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
The program is open to young designers coming from architecture, interior design, and engineering faculties or professionals willing to explore the boundaries and constraints of the world of interior design, acquiring and widening their knowledge, critical awareness, original thinking.

Career

The two-year MA in Interior Design equips students with the necessary fundamentals to continue their studies or to enter the world of professional design and creative industries.
Design studios and companies employ MA in Interior Design graduates to manage the design of spaces in home environments, commercial settings, manufacturing sites, and cultural venues, including museum, trade fair, and retail spaces. They may also design public spaces for important functions (such as offices, hospitals, schools, and universities), in addition to hotel spaces in an era of mass tourism.

Companies

NABA has developed strong relationships with leading companies which provide internships for NABA students. Among them are: Aldo Cibic – Cibicworkshop, Azimut-Benetti, Bonetto Design International, Festina Italia, Giochi Preziosi, Giorgio Armani, Intégral Ruedi Baur et Associés, Luxottica, Pininfarina Extra, Studio Italo Rota & Partners, Tagua, The Swatch Group, Zanotta.

Admission

Discover how to apply: http://www.naba.it/admission-postgraduate-programs/processo-di-ammissione/?lang=en

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Graduate Diploma in Interior Design at Chelsea College of Arts is a full time, one year programme. This course provides students with the skills and experience required for a career in the field of interior design, or further study at MA level.

Content

What students can expect:

- To develop a flexible, open-minded approach to thinking about interior design or critically engaging with contemporary design approaches

- To connect with interior design in a variety of ways such as designing, writing, visual communication and research

- To explore the possibility of making narratives from interior design

- To develop an open way of thinking about interior design, and give students the opportunity to critically engage with contemporary design approaches

- To design small-scale interiors and explore new opportunities within existing architectural spaces

- To be assigned a personal tutor who supports your development

Structure

The course runs over a total of 30 weeks and offers a combination of taught study, self-directed negotiated study, personal research and written assignments. There are also two major practical projects undertaken during the year and each is the subject of a book.

The course is studio based and delivered in three units of study:

Unit 1 - Commodity and Design

This is a design programme that explores a small-scale domestic interior. This project focuses on how the client / user can be given a new opportunity to perform within a space and the various methods students have to envisage and communicate this opportunity.

Unit 2 - Negotiated Design Programme

In this unit students are expected to initiate a design project. They will choose a location, make an analysis of an interior and establish a design brief for a new programme of habitation. Students are asked to find a context in the public realm rather than the domestic one, and are expected to reflect upon and discuss how habitation is improved by their contribution.

Unit 3 - Professional Context

This unit is concerned with critical reflection upon professional practice and creative processes. Students will learn about professional communication within the practice of interior design, and specifically the writing requirements of an interior designer when they are reflecting upon and communicating their design proposals. This will prepare students for professional practice and support the critical position of their design proposals.

Work experience and opportunities

During the year students are involved in live projects. One of these, the making of a Christmas-themed installation for a highly regarded hotel in Westminster, has become an annual event.

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The MA Interior Design course has been developed as a coherent part of the School of Art Design and Performance’s Masters Programmes and shares the same values and philosophies that unite them

The focus of the MA Interior Design course is rooted in 'creative practice'. As a postgraduate student, you will be able to form a uniquely individual, tailor made programme of study. You may choose to work either within an established area of contemporary interior design practice or explore the potential for design diversity.

PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION

Staff involved in teaching the programme are Chartered members of associated professional bodies such as the RIBA. They will endeavour to provide assistance in opening up opportunities to network with regional bodies appropriate to your study programme.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT

Practical work is carried out within our extensive and very well equipped studios and workshops. A programme of guest lecturers, visits to exhibitions and UK cities, workshops, manufacturers, and opportunities to study abroad further broaden, support and enhance the environment within which you will study.

A special feature of the MA programme is the blend of practice and theory which underpins the student projects. As a student on an MA course in the School of Art Design and Performance you will belong to a large and varied postgraduate design community. You will study some core modules alongside students from other design disciplines and through this participation in a common programme; you will experience a strong sense of community, sharing of knowledge and access to a wide range of staff skills and resources.

Practical and theoretical elements are assessed. Assessment strategies involve portfolio assessment, presentations and reflective diary summaries.

Successful completion of a combination of research and practice modules leads to the MA award. Intermediate Diploma or Certificate exit awards are available should studies be incomplete.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The MA Interior Design course has been developed as a coherent part of the School of Art Design and Performance’s master's programmes and shares the same values and philosophies that unite them. At the outset of the programme all students are required to participate in an induction and diagnostic phase. During this three week programme student’s develop a proposed area of study and negotiate methods and topics for their research.

Throughout the master's programme students work simultaneously on both their research and practice modules. Research often helps students to re-orientate themselves in industry and to develop very personal design philosophies that inform their practice thinking. Upon conclusion of their practice studies students are expected to have achieved outcomes made possible through unique connections explored through their research.

In the second semester you may choose to undertake field studies and take a more outward looking focus and more rigorous validation of their ideas through professional networking or even external placement. You will have the opportunity to study abroad for a period of time and a regular feature of the course takes students to New York and Berlin.

Interior Design also encourages students to engage in internship positions as part of their studies that offer real design practice experience. These experiences can fuel the development of rich and varied CV’s ready to enhance your career.

By the end of the course all students should have completed a cohesive body of creative work to a professional standard and be able to clearly articulate a sound intellectual rationale and broad critical viewpoint.

OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to the employment opportunities we seek out for students we are keen to travel to explore and research realistic design contexts. These trips range from those close to home to more International locations. As a result we visit sculpture parks, local cities in the North West of the UK, London, Berlin and New York. We receive fantastic feedback from students about these experiences.

The MA will further your career opportunities within commercial design practice. Research has shown that graduates who have undertaken some form of work experience are significantly more likely to gain employment in relevant sectors than those who have had no work experience. The programme has strong a strong track record of internship success with students following leads provided by staff to take part time positions in practice during their studies.

The MA is, however, not seen as wholly vocational as it also recognises the value of personal development, satisfaction and enlightenment.

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MID University Master's in Interior Design – is the offspring of the collaboration between Poli.design, Consortium of Politecnico of Milan, and SPD - Scuola Politecnica di Design.

The MID Interior Design program is a graduate program which brings together the experience of two major academic institutions in Italy.

Offering 60 credits, the interior design program combines lessons and internships at selected companies. After the successful completion of the program, the 1st level University Master’s diploma of the Politecnico di Milano will be awarded.

The design courses offer an advanced education with a professional orientation. The training pathway is a synthesis of theoretical knowledge, research, project based activities and professional practice. Project experience will explore interior design skills, with a focus on both private and public spaces. Interiors are intended as relational spaces, designed to organize all of our human activities, thus creating engagement on a physical, emotional and social level.

The teaching staff, selected among the Politecnico di Milano and SPD’s faculties, is made up of designers, university researchers and professionals from different sectors.

The course lasts one year (from March) and is entirely taught in Italian language.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Founded in Milan in 1954, SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design is the first postgraduate school for design disciplines in Italy. Situated in Milan, the capital of design, Scuola Politecnica di Design pioneered design education thanks to its solid grounding and to its peculiar approach integrating different domains: ergonomics, art, perception studies, semiotics.

Today, SPD is an international laboratory for the exchange of ideas, experience and creativity in order to develop projects. Since its foundation the school has welcomed an extraordinary community of students from various countries and backgrounds.

All courses are taught in a personalized and small learning environment promoting easy contact with the faculty and the staff. Indeed, at SPD every student is followed individually by a faculty formed by designers, professionals from different fields and visiting tutors.

The masters programs offered by SPD are organized in collaboration with IULM University, and award academic degrees recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, The University and Research MIUR, corresponding to 60 credits under the ECTS system.

The teaching method at Scuola Politecnica di Design is arranged into intensive workshops, studio classes, theoretical lectures, seminars and visits. Research work is carried out in collaboration with leading companies such as Volkswagen, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Heineken, IKEA, Artemide and Poltrona Frau Group among the others.

These projects are deveopped according to an interdisciplinary approach which is a testing ground for the student’s skills, from the concept idea to its execution.

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This course promotes a dynamic and speculative approach to the design of interior spatial environments and values research that seeks to challenge traditional methodologies. It gives you the opportunity to pursue your particular issues of interest in interior design or specialist areas of three dimensional design, through concise and focused study.

You will cover a range of issues, both theoretical and practical. Design modules deal with contemporary issues in a variety of interior design typologies, including retail, exhibition, gallery, performance and speculative efforts broadly described as installation. Careful studies are made in the pursuit of a fresh approach to their design resolution, through analogous and figurative studies, as well as comparison using suitable contemporary exemplars. The thesis can be undertaken as a design project, a dissertation or a piece of research – effectively a hybrid, both a project and a written summary or theoretical proposition.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
-DECODING THE INTERIOR
-INTERIOR DESIGN CASE STUDY
-INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN COMPUTING
-MAJOR THESIS PROJECT
-RETAIL DESIGN
-THESIS DEVELOPMENT

Careers

Our dedicated Career Development Centre is actively working with an ever-expanding network of over 3,000 employers to provide you with exceptional employability support and guidance. As a result we were nominated as finalists for a significant industry award – the NUE Awards Most Improved Commitment to Employability 2016.

We provide our students with work placements and international opportunities to support them in becoming highly employable, globally engaged graduates, and with one million businesses operating within 20 miles of the University of Westminster, over 84% of our students are in work or further study six months after graduation. Our graduates work in a variety of sectors and organisations, from small/medium-sized companies and start-ups to large not-for-profit organisations and corporates.

During your time at Westminster you will be able to use our comprehensive online vacancy service and meet with our experienced careers consultants, providing you with thorough training and support on CV writing, application forms, interview preparation and assessment centres.

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The Italian know-how results from a complex cultural stratification, able to integrate and renew the heritage of the classical style, renaissance, baroque and avant-garde, not only by synthesizing original design forms, but also leading them towards consistent individual and social behaviours.

The objective of the Master in Interior Design for Luxury Living is transmitting the evolution and expectations of Italian design excellence, from the house to the areas of hospitality and culture. The Italian living landscape is analysed in its narrative ability, grafting into memory the projection of a future of crafted interior dimensions, able to integrate the complexity of the environment with the needs of the client.

The pathway of study focuses on on the concept of Common Luxury Good in evolution, able to create new living environments, hospitality and entertainment areas, where the Italian style, even in comparison with other cultures, is enriched with new codes and languages without losing their identity.

The Master's programme is structured as an itinerary of research, with design experiences providing the tools to understand how to work and meditate on the meaning of their own work. To achieve these results, participants are encouraged to apply the operative knowledge acquired with an autonomous capacity to critically process and explore individual poetics with the elaboration of a personal expressive language.

The Course introduces participants to the reception and interpretation of the needs of the client. They learn to develop the ability of design direction, in order to integrate project choices that affect a space or a service in a broader vision of the planning and realization processes.

The Goal is focusing on a strategic plan including all tangible and intangible aspects (function, communication, service, identity, relationships) that perfectly meet customers’ expectations and market needs.

The theoretical lessons integrate aesthetics, anthropology, living culture, the history of interior design and design furniture.

There will be seminars of Interior Design on several themes including housing, retail, hospitality (hotels, resorts, spa) catering (bars, restaurants) for special luxury spaces (yachts, cellars, exhibition areas).

Through the project communication, participants acquire the tools for visual communication and marketing strategies, and learn about contracts and schedules for cost control.

The Master culminates with a Final Project realized on a chosen topic among seminars and presented in a personal portfolio, aimed at checking the skills acquired.

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Covering the study and design of interior spaces in relation to a wide range of public and private environments, this programme will guide you through innovative design projects that will enable you to explore the design potential of existing buildings and find new uses for old or redundant spaces through the design of contemporary insertions.

You’ll be encouraged to focus on the aspect of interior design that you find most interesting or personally relevant, and take charge of the direction of your coursework.

Visits from industry practitioners, along with our strong link with commercial design consultancies and architectural practices, are invaluable in providing opportunities for additional expert advice and critical appraisal.

Programme structure

This programme integrates practical studio work with theoretical and written studies, including professional practice elements to prepare you for employment in the industry, and a lecture/seminar series to examine the wider context of your studies. The aim is to encourage and support postgraduate students who wish to explore interior design as a means of expressing ideas and opinions.

Projects are based within existing historic buildings in Edinburgh, usually in need of regeneration, and often significant to communities or the wider city. There is also an element of exhibition design to the programme, whereby in the last semester students are responsible for the design and construction of the ECA Interiors show at the Free Range Exhibition in London.

For assessment, you will produce a body of practical and written work on an agreed self-initiated topic. This may include set projects within the programme curriculum.

Career opportunities

We have an enviable track record of success as our graduates gain interior design work here in the UK and overseas, or set up their own businesses.

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The Master's programme focuses on research and innovation in different sectors, with an emphasis on practical activities of design, to enable students to develop their creativity, refining tools and knowledge through a targeted and structured approach: the fundamentals of Interior design of cars, both technically and psychologically, emerging technologies, identifying layout and models of use of interior space, traditional materials and the latest generation, new trimmings, technologies and integrated platforms with a particular emphasis on interface design.

From a cultural perspective, the Master in Car Interior Design and User Experience covers subjects such as the history and trends of Car Interior Design and the study of perception. Students improve their skills and techniques in the visualization and communication of ideas, forms and concepts. The laboratory of communication occurs with the practice in the advanced levels of 2D and 3D Photoshop and other industry-specific programs. The environment of the cockpit is examined in all its functionality. The user and his needs are always at the center of the project proposal. This means improving and facilitating the driving of the vehicle, the passenger compartment comfort in all aspects (functional, aesthetic, sound, touch) and its security.

Much importance is given to human-machine interface. The important flow of visual information, sound messages or control actions through devices and controls located on the dashboard in front of the driver requires a careful and intelligent planning that facilitates the interaction between the driver and the car as a function of maximum driving safety.
Over the past decade, the heavy investments made by the most influential international car manufacturers have greatly contributed to the research and technological
development of the passenger that, in its evolution, has changed the real idea of the car, considered primarily for its aesthetics design in the past. comfort and aesthetics have become increasingly important as the range of devices and interfaces of the latest generation, together, offer the driver a unique mobility experience often conveyed through the philosophy of a brand.

The curriculum includes a study of the marketing strategy: user profile, market analysis. The student is measured with the reality in a series of professional workshops held with the support of companies in the industry.

The final project is the synthesis of all the experiences, where the laboratory results and knowledge merge together inthe design of the interior of a vehicle according to the brief provided by the industry partner.

The course is recognised by MIUR as Master Academic Level I.

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Our MA Interior Design course enables you to develop an individual approach to spatial design within a stimulating, creative and supportive environment.

This degree provides you with a launchpad to potential higher level interior design careers within a diverse range of subjects. These include museum and exhibition design, design for film, television and digital games and brand interpretation for retail, leisure or promotional events.

An emphasis on ecological issues and processes is also a prominent aspect of this course, and underpins all aspects of the course.

You'll explore your area of interest to an advanced level, through establishing new spatial paradigms that build on your existing knowledge. Our course combines theoretical and practical skills, and encourages engagement with industry at all levels.

In-depth research into design processes and technologies, along with related work placement opportunities, will prepare you for new career directions. Your project work will be supported by ongoing staff research into sustainability, architecture, design-related digital technologies, experiential environments and brand communication.

You'll be taught through tutorials, seminars, self-directed study in relation to your project proposal, work-in-progress reviews and visits or references to sites of local and international interest.

Part-time students are normally taught on a Tuesday but sometimes field trips, study visits or other events take place on other days of the week. You should check before enrolling if you have concerns about the days your course will be taught on.

Industry Partners

We've got extensive contacts across the range of interior design disciplines. Live projects, research analysis and feasibility studies will draw on our wide range of contacts and associations.

Connections include specialists in the related fields of audio-visual technologies, lighting design and interactive design.

Recent guest lecturers have included:
-David Callcott, CADA Design, retail and leisure design consultants (London and Hyderabad, India)
-Emma Vane, Production Designer for Atonement, the Harry Potter series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Captain America: The First Avenger
-Finlay White, ModCell, sustainable construction
-Mick Pearce, award-winning international architect (Title: Bio-mimicry and the 3rd industrial revolution)
-Phil Hughes, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, museum and exhibition designers (London, New York, Beijing)
-Uwe R. Brückner, Atelier Brückner, exhibition design (Stuttgart, Germany).

Careers

Career opportunities exist within design or architectural consultancies in retail, leisure, exhibition, office, hotel, residential and cruise ship design, as well as in the fields of design management, interior or film-set design.

Our course has a strong ecological focus with opportunities for engaging with both the theoretical and practical aspects of real-world sustainability.

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This course promotes the investigation and interpretation of interior space, inside and outside of the traditional architectural envelope, whilst considering human occupation, engagement and experience as the catalyst. This may manifest in a variety of outcomes and will allow you to work within your chosen speciality such as building re-use, exhibition or shop design, branding, identities or environmental graphics, performance or set design, temporary installations or ‘event’ design, furniture or artefact design. The specialist workshops provide you with opportunities to explore materiality, fabrication and realisation of your ideas, through technical rigour at a variety of scales whilst studio teaching is underpinned by engagement with industry.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Interior Design is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Interior Design is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Interior Design award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focussed on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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The Interior Design MA at DMU is a creative, practice based course with an inspiring curriculum that will broaden and deepen your design skills and knowledge. It is aimed at working designers and newly qualified aspirational designers.

The programme will provide you with an opportunity to develop, research and practise design skills to an advanced level, and to apply these skills to the formulation, investigation and detailed development of a personally selected design project. Particular emphasis is placed on the integration of research within the creative design process and the effective rationalisation of the relevant functional, legislative, idealistic and aesthetic parameters.

Modules are taught through seminars, lectures, team working and design workshops, supported by tutorials and guidance. You will undertake independent research, analysis, design development and writing-up of your projects, supported by individual tutorials. Typical contact time will be 19 hours per week. Assessment methods include report submissions, individual and group presentations (oral and design based presentations) and a major design project submission.

Teaching staff have a wide variety of expertise and knowledge in many different areas, including interior design, design management, innovation management, creativity management, enterprise, technology transfer, multimedia design, web design, new product development, design history, retail design and resource efficient design. You will have access to excellent CAD and workshop facilities including soft modelling, wood, plastics, metal fabrication, metal machining and finishing. The workshops house four computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machines, a CNC lathe, two laser cutters, a vinyl cutter and three rapid prototyping (RP) machines with a 3D paper printer and CNC water-jet cutter. This equipment allows you
to experiment with techniques and finishes to a high level, adding unique self-development to your portfolio.

You will graduate with a wide range of design skills creating career opportunities in retail, public spaces, leisure environments, contract interiors and workplaces, working for employers such as Conran Design, Pinewood Studios, Kelly Hoppen, Tesco's Design, Think Tank, Blue Print, Haley Sharpe and Foster + Partners. Opportunities are also available in further research study at PhD level.

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This course is aimed at graduates from a wide range of design-related backgrounds.

Interdisciplinary research and practice is promoted throughout the course, and creative collaborations are developed between designers, fine artists, architects and thinkers wanting to follow an advanced course in interior design.

Students share spacious top-lit studios and have their own individual working spaces. There are also dedicated computer suites as well as photographic and workshop facilities.

Staff bringing their expertise to this course include:

• full-time academics who combine teaching with research and consultancy
• part-time tutors who are also practising designers
• eminent visiting specialists, critics and consultants.

Course structure

During semester 1, the projects set for the Preliminary Design module provide an opportunity for students returning to education to take stock of their position, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ambitions for future study. Lecture courses in Technology and Material Practices, Critical Readings and Research Methods run in parallel.

In semester 2, you consolidate and extend the priorities, ideas and strategies established in the preliminary design. Lecture series in Technology and Critical Readings continue. A proposal for the final research project is developed and submitted, which then takes up the whole of semester 3.

The course explores both the intellectual idea and the spatial language of interior environments. Students develop new skills while extending existing design practices to precisely articulate spatial design proposals.

We offer at least one study trip each year. It might be related to the design studio or a trip that offers you direct exposure to and experience of some of the most contemporary spatial design projects in Britain and mainland Europe.

Syllabus

Our Interior Design MA is designed to promote interdisciplinary research and practice: we are looking to develop creative collaborations between fine artists, designers, architects and thinkers. Our starting point is to acknowledge the complexities and paradoxes inherent in orthodox architectural documentation in order to unearth the dubious simplifications and missed opportunities that result from the tendency to privilege the visual at the expense of our other senses.

In anticipation of 'the creative user', all our proposals originate from a close focus on the existing condition, paying particular attention to local takeovers, autonomous occupations and the blurring of boundaries of ownership and programme. In considering issues of technology, we are concerned as much with intuition, desire and chance as with precedent, economy and established practice.

Modules:

Preliminary Design
Technology and Material Practices
Optional Module
Main Design
Research Methods
Masterwork

Please visit the website to find out more about these modules:

https://www.brighton.ac.uk/courses/study/interior-design-ma-pgcert-pgdip.aspx

Facilities

• Benefit from the new Masters Centre including studio space, tutorial areas and shared creative spaces

• Modelling and construction workshops: timber and metal, dedicated 'wet' modelling bay, plastic dying facility, drill press, spray booth, vacuum former, strip bender, plastics oven, hot wire cutter and spot welder; further workshops available by arrangement with rapid prototyping and laser cutter

• IT facilities include 3D paper and printer, plotters, scanners and a reprographics suite

• Software includes Adobe suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Professional), VW2010, Cinem 4D, Premiere, Blender, AutoCAD, Maya and Rhino

• Library facilities include additional computing equipment, digital and hard copy specialist library facilities, and specialist collections

Careers and employability

Our graduates generally succeed in finding challenging and rewarding work in the public and private sectors, nationally and internationally. Brighton graduates enjoy a reputation for being creative and innovative designers, responsive to the needs of people and places. In addition, this postgraduate programme offers opportunities for experimental and exploratory work in spatial design both within and beyond the limits of professional practice.

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Interior design is a system created to respond to the emotional and physical comfort of individuals and the visual quest for aesthetic displays of identity.

The master is interior design course content deals with concept design, space planning, interior layout and display of physical spaces. The program provides deep insight into the language of materials, lighting, color, furniture and the integration of technical components.

The relationship with space and the physical building is deeply investigated. All these aspects meet in the studio classes led by renowned professionals that support the creation of a working knowledge base.

Collaborations with brands and institutions enable the students to comprehend how interiors communicate the brand values in a retail environment or in a corporate space through the use of architectural elements and spatial graphics. As a result of this education, students are encouraged to develop a conceptual approach in design practice gaining a strategic under standing of elements and processes involved. Students will also gain the technical representation and architectural detailing serve the students as a mirror for reviewing their design and refining their professional skills.

The course lasts 15 months (from October until December) and is entirely taught in English language.

QUALIFICATION

After passing the final exam, eligible students will obtain a Master’s Degree from IULM and SPD. The Master corresponds to 60 ECTS credits.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Founded in Milan in 1954, SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design is the first postgraduate school for design disciplines in Italy. Situated in Milan, the capital of design, Scuola Politecnica di Design pioneered design education thanks to its solid grounding and to its peculiar approach integrating different domains: ergonomics, art, perception studies, semiotics.

Today, SPD is an international laboratory for the exchange of ideas, experience and creativity in order to develop projects. Since its foundation the school has welcomed an extraordinary community of students from various countries and backgrounds.

All courses are taught in a personalized and small learning environment promoting easy contact with the faculty and the staff. Indeed, at SPD every student is followed individually by a faculty formed by designers, professionals from different fields and visiting tutors.

The masters programs offered by SPD are organized in collaboration with IULM University, and award academic degrees recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, The University and Research MIUR, corresponding to 60 credits under the ECTS system.

The teaching method at Scuola Politecnica di Design is arranged into intensive workshops, studio classes, theoretical lectures, seminars and visits. Research work is carried out in collaboration with leading companies such as Volkswagen, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Heineken, IKEA, Artemide and Poltrona Frau Group among the others.

These projects are deveopped according to an interdisciplinary approach which is a testing ground for the student’s skills, from the concept idea to its execution.

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