Women in academia who also happen to be mothers faced disadvantages even before the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions (Minello et al., 2021). Pre-pandemic, gender disparities existed both at home (division of household labor and childcare) and at work (women historically have a harder time achieving the same as men at all levels of academic careers);…[Read more]

Buildings and their architectural styles, materials, and configurations serve as an artifact of a point in time, illuminating political, social, economic, and philosophical priorities of people and places (Seymour & Peace, 1993). Studying architectural history and architectural styles not only informs us of those priorities and allows us to…[Read more]

Privileging the young over the old is not unique to the United States, but the US does it with skill. While many aging adults are part of dedicated family systems who provide physical, emotional, medical, and psychological support, hundreds of thousands of elders exist in skilled nursing homes (CDC, 2019); many are forgotten or ignored by their…[Read more]

This meta creative scholarship (CS) project explores the problematic positioning of CS within the academic realm and engages action research techniques in order to generate new data that may inform an updated definition of creative scholarship in interior design. The functional QR code links to a survey about involvement with, and attitudes about,…[Read more]

As humans, social connection is vital to wellbeing; industry is built on social and professional networks, and suddenly transitioning to an impersonal modality caused challenges for educators, office workers, students, and friends (Lal et al, 2021). Inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote learning and working, this work questions the…[Read more]

The digital image “Seoul Balcony” studies a slice of modern South Korea through its view of a bustling Seoul cityscape from the vantage point of a balcony, giving the viewer a sense of being there in the moment. The painting is executed in a variety of blended media, exploring how computer aided design (CAD) images can be layered with an ind…[Read more]

The Mell Classroom Building is a cutting-edge facility that was designed to promote innovative approaches to teaching and learning, with a focus on active learning and student engagement. The interdisciplinary team behind the inception, design, and construction of the building desired to create a space that would inspire and support this approach…[Read more]

Designing a modern active learning classroom building attached to, and then pushing into, an existing historical library building is a challenge. The author of this presentation worked for six years as an interior designer in the University’s Facilities Management Division, and was the University designer on the project team for the design of t…[Read more]

America has a history of residentially reacting to world threats. Millions of Americans planted Victory Gardens during both World Wars; in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, thousands of Americans dug hidden cellars to hide food from invading soldiers. In the Cold War era, hundreds of thousands of residential radiation fallout shelters were built.…[Read more]

Our story begins 30 km outside of Rome, Italy, in a 13th Century fortress renovated in the 17th Century by Bernini. The upper levels are a museum; lower levels are a study abroad campus. Our 12-person team was tasked to transform the dungeon into dormitories with shared living, kitchen, dining, sleeping, bathrooms, and office space. The dungeon is…[Read more]

Everyone experiences loss. Whether it’s the loss of a job, a home, a person to death or illness, or a lifestyle, loss is a global construct. Everyone grieves differently, and every culture has its own set of rituals and traditions to deal with loss. Many widows in Russia, Greece, and Czechoslovakia wear black for the rest of their lives, while m…[Read more]

This creative scholarship explores traditional Fijian building materials by evaluating a traditionally constructed Fijian Grand Bure on Vorovoro Island, Fiji. Bures, small structures traditionally used as houses for men (not families), are built using what is on hand; often this is wood, straw, leaves, and sand. The bure has been adapted by the…[Read more]

The contemporary conversations around the interior design profession are focused on its: future development around identity and equity; effectiveness in design and construction process; and efforts around sustainable design (International Interior Design Association, 2019a, 2019b). In this forward motion, a review of past contributions from…[Read more]

In interior design, representation matters. Designers of space matters, since intentionally or not, designers cultivate space for their own culture and subconscious cultural biases (Heazlewood, 2017). 79% of all interior designers in the US are female and 83.9% are White (Zippia, 2022), a significant deviation from national demographics, where…[Read more]

Identity and worth are foundational to interior design practice. Since its inception as a profession, interior design has been used to establish and portray identity: of the family, of the brand, of the client. While harder to measure, worth has also been a core aspect of interior design. Today, decorative objects that provide comfort or visual…[Read more]