Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Providing interior design students authentic experiences is one primary goal of interior design education. This led the authors to incorporate problem-based learning (PBL) in a seven-week studio project in the Interior design program at a land-grant Midwest university. 32 sophomores were engaged in different stages of the design process while designing the education wing of Minnesota’s official natural history museum in collaboration with Perkins+ Will, a global architecture and design firm. Students explored design problem-solving using theoretical approaches and had the unique opportunity to interact with stakeholders and practitioners who participated in the creation of the Museum. These conversations fully demonstrated the context of the design-challenge and thus helped the undergraduates to gain insights about the pros and cons of their solutions. For seven weeks, in teams of three, students immersed themselves in a diverse real working environment. They learned how to communicate, collaborate, and compromise to accomplish a common goal of finding the most relevant design solution for the challenge at hand. The authors collected students’ reflections about their experiences at the end of the project. This poster discusses findings from this problem-based learning experience.