Reflecting the best of the past and the present: Exploring student learning in a design studio focused on developing interior design compatibility on a historic campus

Interior design is a specialty field of professional practice and inquiry that addresses the design and condition of the interior environment of buildings. Interior designers create environments that balance the needs of the people who will occupy those environments with the conditions of a building and its site. This study examines the design processes and outcomes interior design students' create when designing interiors within a historic building. Interior design education, the foundation of practice, centers on studio learning. In studio, students demonstrate their growing knowledge and expertise about the practice of interior design. One of the significant challenges in interior design practice is creating compatible new interiors for existing and historic buildings. Compatible new interiors combine the best of past and the present to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional new interior combined with selected character defining features. This research explores a number of factors that may enhance the outcomes of interior design students as they create compatible new interiors for existing buildings. Then, this study examines which studio learning opportunities as well as the experiences and personal preference factors that may positively influence the compatibility of students' design solutions, provides insight into participating students' learning processes, and uncovers potentially new and better ways to help students create compatible interior design solutions for historic buildings. Twenty-four students participated in this study over the course of a twelve-week studio project conducted in their capstone senior studio class in a CIDA accredited interior design program in the southeast. Students completed eight instruments, including standardized surveys and open-ended questions. This study found that analyzing the historic designer's concepts and intentions and being pleased with the final design solution is related to the relative compatibility of students' design solutions. Working compatibility and creatively with historic structures were significant issues for students. Evaluators focused on complete, three-dimensional design solutions and presentation quality when analyzing students' completed design solutions. Findings suggest issues that designers and design educators can address to promote the creation of compatible interior design for historic structures.