Sketching is a foundational skill in interior design education, yet students’ performance varies with cognitive style and perceived task difficulty. This study examined how these factors influence improvement in 2D and 3D sketching following a targeted workshop designed to develop spatial visualization and representational skills. Fifty-three undergraduate interior design students in the United States and South Korea completed pre- and post-workshop sketching tasks requiring the visualization of room shape, furniture proportion, and details in floor plans and perspectives. Learning outcomes were analyzed to assess task-specific performance gains and the role of individual differences. Path analysis using ordinary least squares regression examined the relationships among cognitive style, perceived difficulty, and sketching performance. Adaptive learners showed the greatest improvement in 2D tasks, whereas intuitive learners excelled in 3D representations. Perceived difficulty significantly predicted performance, particularly for 2D sketches, and analytic tendencies were associated with higher percieved difficulty for 3D tasks. The workshop effectively supported foundational sketching skills while highlighting areas that require additional scaffolding for complex tasks. These findings underscore the importance of task-specific, sequenced, and differentiated instruction that accounts for cognitive style and perceived difficulty. Future research should adopt longitudinal designs to explore how perceived difficulty influences self-efficacy and design performance over time and to identify instructional strategies that optimize sketching development across 2D and 3D tasks.
This study examined how the physical environment of hospital lobbies shapes first-time visitors’ first impressions and emotional responses. The research addresses a gap in the literature of healthcare design pertaining to these immediate judgments, acknowledging that first impressions are formed rapidly, frequently within minutes, and substantially influence the overall experiences of patients and visitors. The study was conducted at a hospital in West Texas and employed a convergent mixed-methods design. The primary focus of this paper is on qualitative data collected from 30 participants who were exposed to the hospital lobby for controlled durations. Data collection included think-aloud protocols, semi-structured interviews, and card-sorting exercises, analyzed through inductive content analysis to identify key environmental attributes affecting impressions. The results reveal that first impressions are formed within five minutes and are significantly influenced by factors such as spatial functionality, aesthetic characteristics (e.g., cleanliness, lighting, artwork), sensory stimuli, and wayfinding cues. These elements collectively evoke emotional and cognitive responses that shape visitors’ comfort, safety perception, and satisfaction. The study concludes that the integration of functional and ornamental design elements is essential for enhancing the overall experience of hospitals and promoting positive emotional engagement. Implications suggest that healthcare designers should prioritize user-centered approaches that balance safety, efficiency, and welcoming atmospheres to enhance well-being from the very first encounter.
Modern design has prioritized enclosed environments, disconnecting people from nature and contributing to environmental and health challenges. Biophilic design (BD) addresses these issues by integrating natural systems into built spaces, acknowledging the essential role of nature in human well-being. However, validating its applicability—particularly regarding the impact of natural elements that are difficult to quantify—requires further qualitative and quantitative research. Hence, this study proposes a Biophilic Interior Design Assessment Model (BIDAM) to assess how effectively interior spaces incorporate BD principles. The model uses image analysis of floor plans and visual representations, along with both qualitative and quantitative research methods, to evaluate the biophilic attributes. BIDAM was developed using three techniques: (i) literature synthesis, (ii) quantitative analysis, scoring twenty-three attributes with a total of eighty-two points, and (iii) expert perspectives provided by the research team through qualitative approaches. To test the model, three case studies were selected from among the top architecture projects in Australia, and their interior designs were evaluated in terms of BD principles, attributes, and patterns. The overall findings show that, along with quantitative analysis, a qualitative analysis is needed for a holistic evaluation. The findings also suggest that the most effective BD could be achieved not by simply increasing the number of biophilic elements or patterns but by creating a harmonious combination of patterns and attributes that complements and enhances the overall design concept.
Religion was once one of the primary drives behind the greatest architectural works, and religious principles undergirded architectural designs and aims. In an increasingly secular era, however, the place and values of religious architecture are changing, but it is unclear how. This study relies on a method of critical discourse analysis known as discourse-historic approach (DHA) to examine how five Western architecture and design magazines use language to construct contemporary understandings of the design of Abrahamic religious buildings. By investigating three interconnected dimensions of DHA, the article (1) describes thematic quantitative trends in the coverage of churches, mosques, and synagogues and (2) uncovers biases in narratives constructing these buildings in a major source of information for designers and architects. Findings indicate that design magazines largely portray religious architecture as sculptural and symbolic, emphasizing form, materiality, and aesthetics while neglecting function, community use, and designers’ roles. This narrow focus overlooks how such spaces serve contemporary social needs like sustainability, neurodiversity, and community well-being. The analysis critiques the lack of critical discussion on performance, context, and social relevance, arguing that current portrayals promote untested opinions driven by commercialization and awards culture. In addition, Christian spaces are overrepresented, while mosques and synagogues are treated generically, reflecting geographic and cultural bias. The findings call for a shift to a human-centered, community-focused approach in design media, one that better aligns with industry trends and promotes architecture’s potential to address pressing social and environmental issues.
This study explores the impact of culture and gender on hotel guestroom lighting preferences and emotional responses using virtual reality (VR) technology. As VR plays an increasingly important role in hospitality and interior design research, this study examines whether Millennials and Generation Z travelers exhibit significant variations in lighting preferences based on nationality and gender. Researchers implemented a within-group experimental design, allowing participants to experience and compare four distinct lighting conditions in a virtual hotel guestroom. The study recruited 126 participants from three cultural backgrounds-South Korea, the United States, and Iran-and analyzed their preferences and emotional responses using the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) model. Findings reveal a strong preference for warm/dim lighting, which participants described as comfortable and relaxing, whereas they least preferred cool/bright lighting, often perceiving it as harsh and uninviting. While cultural differences did not significantly affect preferred lighting, participants from different backgrounds showed significant variations in their least preferred lighting choices; Iranian males demonstrated the strongest aversion to warm/bright lighting. Gender differences also emerged as female participants expressed a significantly greater dislike for cool/bright lighting. Emotional responses further supported these trends, with participants reporting greater pleasure and relaxation in their preferred lighting conditions. By offering empirical insights into how lighting influences guest experiences, this study highlights the role of cultural and gender variations in hospitality design. The findings provide hotel designers, architects, and hospitality professionals with practical guidance for creating personalized and culturally adaptive lighting environments in hotel guestrooms.
Religious architecture has long been integral to world civilization. Amid increasing urban stress and a growing need for spiritual anchoring, Buddhist temples are reemerging as vital place of cultural heritage and inner healing. This study applies Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad theory and the "sense of place" theory to examine the historical roots of "perceived space" the design intentions within "conceived space," and the experience of "sacred place" in "lived space." Using Xi'an's Daxingshan Temple as a case study, the research combines ethnographic and phenomenological methods, including field observations and interviews. Findings reveal how spatial sequence, synesthetic design, and symbolic ornamentation collectively shape "sacred place" perception. The study ultimately offers insights for creating emotionally resonant and spiritually restorative environments, bridging heritage preservation and contemporary urban well-being.
This special issue invites us to reflect on how design education systems, professional practices, and organizations must evolve to face today's wicked problems (e.g., climate, health, and inequity). This invited perspective reflects on how we can shift our perspectives on design through regenerative development and design, an evolving meta-discipline that offers pathways forward by shifting the paradigms of how we see the role of design, and of designers, in an evolving and precarious world.
The interior, often relegated to the realm of the apolitical or morally trivial, has remained a blind spot within mainstream political inquiry. This article proposes a theoretical bridge between political theory and the field of experimental and interior architecture, inviting a transdisciplinary reflection on the meaning of space for politics. Rather than prescribing models for organizing domestic or enclosed environments, it proposes an alternative mode of engagement that challenges the canonical assumptions of political theory, a discipline historically intertwined with modern conceptions of citizenship and democracy, and thus with the public sphere as the privileged site of deliberation and protest. Within this framework, the interior has been largely overlooked, and by revisiting this omission, the article aims to open a conversation between political thinking and spatial practice, uncovering how interiors may serve as subtle yet significant sites where politics shapes everyday life.
This essay examines the application of Design Justice Principles within an interior design capstone studio to advance decolonizing approaches in design pedagogy. Informed by critical pedagogy and spatial theory, the studio employed participatory co-design practices with two BIPOC-led nonprofit organizations in North Omaha, Nebraska. Through iterative engagement and reflection, students explored power, equity, and inclusion in design. Analysis of reflections and community feedback revealed increased critical awareness, empathy, and culturally grounded, community-responsive design solutions. Findings demonstrate that co-design fosters spatial agency and social responsibility, positioning interior design education as a catalyst for equity and systemic change.
This article presents the Embodied Sensory Approach (ESA), a structured pedagogical framework developed and refined by the author through nearly a decade of teaching interior design studios. The ESA was created to address the problem of residual ocularcentrism and over-abstraction in interior design by using multisensory engagement as a primary epistemological framework during concept development. Drawing from embodied cognition theory, experiential learning, and multisensory design principles, this framework is intended to address significant gaps in traditional design education by recalibrating the relationship between how spaces tend to be conceptualized during design and how they are actually experienced by users. The ESA is organized into four sequential phases with specific activities that encourage students to engage in structured sensory interactions and then integrate those experiences with design concept development. The method is grounded in existing trends from biophilic design pedagogy, participatory design, and place-grounded design, while extending their insights into a structured series of linked educational activities. Extensive observational evidence from a senior-level interior design studio is presented to demonstrate the implementation and effectiveness of the ESA. Obstacles to implementation, cross-cultural applications, intersections with diverse student learning styles, and future research needs are discussed.
Following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020, a rise in social consciousness swept across the United States. These incidents prompted many firms to issue statements and dedicate resources to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). However, how DEI is addressed in design firms' public-facing communication is underexplored. This study offers a summative content analysis of insights, white papers, and reports published by nine leading U.S. architecture and design firms to understand how the industry engages with issues of inequality. As design firms' media contribute to the industry's culture, this study highlights aspects of their leadership in addressing contemporary social challenges. Findings are organized in two main sections: overarching trends in DEI communications and an in-depth analysis of identity representation using the Four Layers of Diversity Framework. Overall, leading firms frame design as a force for social change within broader socio-ecological systems, emphasizing the ethical and business cases for DEI, particularly in the surge of publications post-2020. However, the diversity of identities represented remains uneven. Categories such as race, gender and sexuality, abilities, and age receive more attention than religion and socio-economic status. Content types such as design guidelines and industry insights, firms' culture and policies, historical and employee profiles, and project case studies also highlight some identities more than others. Beyond offering insights into the design industry's DEI engagement, this study contributes a novel approach to evaluating DEI communication by critically analyzing how different identities are portrayed, a topic that has been overlooked in corporate studies that mainly focus on DEI communication and business outcomes.
This special issue asks: what models of leadership and organizational structure can best support design solutions for the complex social and environmental challenges of our time? The authors in this issue conceptualize design leadership as reflective and collaborative, where paradigm shifts toward human and planetary health are driven by collective action and deep understanding of interconnected systems. In this issue, the notion of a 'leader' refers not only to the select few at the top of a hierarchical organization, but also the latent potential in every designer to courageously envision and contribute to systems change.
Design is human (and consequently imperfect). Design requires ethical decisions about when to start and stop. And design appropriately addresses problems where a single choice is insufficient. Ethical interior design leadership requires us to define our values, make decisions based on these values, and lead by taking on the hard problems. What we celebrate, how we present our discipline and profession, and why we advocate for people (and the planet) implicitly reveal our ethical frameworks. How we define problems exposes our values. When we choose to start and stop solving problems matters.
Interior design education has a long tradition of integrating project experiences into courses, providing students with opportunities to engage with community stakeholders to develop design solutions. However, experimentation with how co-design projects can be sequenced within an interior design curriculum has been underexplored. This study intentionally zooms out from singular experiences of co-design projects and instead examines multiple co-design experiences through the lens of co-design methods that are used within a curricular sequence. As such, this study explores the sequencing of co-design experiences and the role of scaffolding types of co-design methods across an interior design curriculum. Through course artifact analysis and interviews with students and stakeholders across three courses, third-year studio, undergraduate multi-level, and advanced senior-level, the study examines how a sequential approach contributes to a systematic co-design curriculum that integrates skill-building across multiple courses. Categorizing methods by role and timing in the co-design process, this research illustrates diverse applications of exploratory, generative, and evaluative approaches across three courses. The findings contextualize methods, including student-facilitated visioning sessions with participatory activities such as sliding scales, image elicitation, space-use mapping, along with technology integration. In addition, this work maps co-design processes to the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) Professional Standards related to collaboration, business practices & professionalism, and human-centered design. Further, this study advances a framework for the strategic integration of co-design experiences and methods across an interior design program, suggesting implications for preparing students who can foster empathy and facilitate co-design processes in design practice.
Nurses working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) frequently encounter high levels of stress and burnout, leading to a significant number leaving their jobs after only 1 year. Several studies suggest that hospitals must take action to prevent nurse burnout to safeguard their well-being and that of their patients. This study's objective is to examine potential applications of Biophilia (exposure to nature through biophilic design) to reduce ICU nurse burnout and stress levels. Through a comprehensive literature review, this study compiles evidence supporting a plausible causal relationship between biophilic environmental design features and nurse stress and burnout, with implications for design practice. The findings indicate that incorporating outdoor green spaces, as well as optimizing the physical design of the ICU, workstation, and break room, can play both a direct and indirect role in influencing nurses' emotions and reducing stress levels. These design implications can be used as testable hypotheses for future empirical research.
Despite the increasing availability of digital tools for analyzing spatial behavior in interior environments, interior design studies often rely on conventional methods that do not fully integrate both objective and subjective insights, thereby limiting a comprehensive understanding of how users interact with space. This article proposes the Evidence-Based Interior Analysis (EBIA) model, an original methodological framework specifically designed for public-use interiors. The model offers a unique integration of Indoor Positioning Systems with user perception surveys within a unified structure. This integration enables the capture of both behavioral patterns and experiential feedback, facilitating their joint analysis for interior design decisions. The model is grounded in three foundational pillars: Spatial behavior studies, evidence-based design, and information and communication technologies. Rather than reporting a specific case study, the article outlines the conceptual and methodological formulation of the EBIA model. It proposes a dynamic, iterative approach that challenges conventional linear design processes and facilitates the development of responsive, user-centered, and sustainable interior environments by aligning spatial configurations with user behavior and long-term functionality. Scalable and applicable across diverse spatial contexts, the EBIA model addresses a critical methodological gap by bridging data-driven analysis with behavior-informed spatial design.
Heritage work requires collaboration across disciplinary specialties and with the people who create, use, and hold heritage. Communities of practice—like preservationists, interior designers, and historians—inherently rely on systems for structure, organization, relationships, boundaries, and identity. Systems thinking approaches are essential in rapidly changing circumstances. Modeling a complex interdisciplinary system of dynamic parts challenges heritage specialists to consider origins, implications, and consequences distant from, but linked to, heritage itself. Thinking about heritage as part of a system identifies a range of new opportunities and contexts for using and supporting heritage. This essay’s purpose centers on application—in how we use heritage in making decisions—rather than theory. Using a personal story about a longcase clock, the essay demonstrates how systematically thinking about heritage changes the focus of heritage work. The proposed heritage–human–ecology system model emphasizes the interaction of heritage and living.
Strategic alignment between business goals and real estate portfolios gained significance after the COVID-19 pandemic. One aspect of alignment at the workplace level involves optimizing the relationships between organizational structure and office layouts. Previous studies focus only on how layout design is affected by hierarchy, rank, or organizational charts, which provide a limited understanding of the role of organizational structure. This systematic review aims to synthesize variables that operationalize the relationship between office layout and organizational structure, and the nature of the relationships. This review follows Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and starts from Mintzberg's theory of organizational structures. Content analysis of the 31 papers included empirical studies and identified relevant variables, methods, theories, and relationships between variables. Relationships between layout and structure involved communication issues in office environments, facilitation of work patterns, monitoring employees' behavior through spatial means, and expressions of power and hierarchy. The informal structure of organizations emerged as a key feature that depends on layout design too. Organizational culture, job characteristics, and organizational flexibility were also concepts that influenced the relationship between structure and layout. This study provides a foundation for further studies of the role of organizational structure in workplace design research. It also enhances understanding of an office layout's alignment with organizational strategy as a means of enhancing organizational performance. Future studies could examine the integration between the formal and informal structure in office layouts, symbolization of culture, or the interplay between job characteristics and organizational structure in hybrid work settings.
