Spotlight
Junior Students Place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in ASID IN Competition
Carley Perkins was awarded the top prize for her restaurant and flower shop combination concept, Fleur-ish. Savannah Scherschel won the second-place spot with her library themed restaurant and bookstore concept, Crave. Katlyn Pham was awarded third place honors with her personally inspired Asian-fusion restaurant combining memories, food, and traditions of a couple with different cultural backgrounds together in a family-friendly space. Additionally, Corrin Whitus' Propagation Station project received an honorable mention for the use of floor tile.
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Senior Recognized in Steelcase Next Competition
Senior Abby Sayers received an Honorable mention for her biophilic inspired design of the NEXT Beauty Brands Corporate Headquarters. Her work was recognized from a pool of over 900 projects nationwide. More here.
Senior Receives Distinction as a Metropolis Future 100 Designer
Selena Helms was recognized in the Metropolis top 100 A&D students of 2022.
2020 Purdue Interior Design Challenge
Purdue University students are creating design solutions to improve the quality of life for seniors in the West Lafayette community. See more detail
Student Awards
One of our interior design seniors received a competitive scholarship for the national-level IIDA IA Interior Architects Diversity in Design Scholarship http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/interior-architects-diversity-in-design-scholarship-recipients and a group of seniors were awarded for their work submitted to the IIDA Indiana Interior Design Student Competition (3rd place).
Senior named IIDA's Student of the Year.
Sydney Gunty was named IIDA’s Student of the Year!!! IIDA (International Interior Design Association) selected her as top interior design student in the nation and we couldn’t be more excited! More here.
Students Place 1st and 2nd in National Design Competition
Seniors, Amanda Wegener and Cassandra Crawford were awarded 1st place and Laura Blythe and Laine Hertel were awarded 2nd place in IDEC’s 2018-2019 national student design competition. A total of 43 universities submitted 119 entries in the competition. The project objective was to design a vocational school for adults with autism spectrum disorder and like cognitive disabilities so that they may live more independent lives. Specific challenges included understanding how the built environment affects those with sensory processing issues. Additionally students were charged with making the design universally accessible to an array of abilities as well as designing for dignity, empowering all those who come to use and learn in this space.
Senior wins IIDA Indiana IDEA award
Sydney Gunty won the honor, given out every other year at IIDA’s IDEA Award Gala. Savanna Robison also received an honorable mention in the student design competition. Both students submitted design solutions for a corporate real-estate firm in Denver CO.
Liwam Beraki Places 1st in State ASID Competition
Liwam’s project ‘Respire’, a hospitality-inspired office space, was awarded top honors in this year’s ASID / Knoll Student Design Competition.
2019 Senior Exhibition
The concept for this year’s senior exhibition was “defined”. The profession of interior design is so often misunderstood. The amazing work of these students goes a long way in clarifying what it means to be an interior designer. Seniors displayed project posters, resumes and portfolios at the week-long exhibition in the Rueff Galleries. Seniors also hosted a meet and greet with the interior design advisory board members where they received feedback from industry professionals. The exhibition kicked off with a reception honoring the students’ hard work and recognition for the support of their families throughout the years.
Interdisciplinary Design Charrette
Interior Design students and Industrial Design students spent the morning collaborating on the design of a new team space as part of the Big Ten Design Challenge. Students had 3 hours to brainstorm, research and execute their design ideas all while getting to know each other at the same time.
Field Trip to Chicago
Interior Design students had the opportunity to visit the Herman Miller and Steelcase showrooms at the Merchandise Mart and to tour the firms of Interior Design Giants such as Perkins + Will and Gensler! Bagels on the bus and everybody made it back!
Sensory Environments
Teaching a young adult to live independenlty is not easy in any instance; it comes with many challenges for a person with Autism, Down Syndrome, or other like cognitive disabilities. Interior Design seniors worked in teams of two to design a small vocational facility that will serve as an educational and training space for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other cognitive disabilities. Students had the opportunity to work with Purdue faculty in the College of Education who specialize in Autism.
Grad student named a finalist in 2018 IDEC competition
Diana Pulido Ruiz, a first-year MFA student in Interior Design has been selected as a national finalist in the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) student design competition. Her conceptual design proposal “Fold ”, a spiritual center at New York University was selected from 151 national entries. Congratulations, Diana!
Student receives Award of Recognition in National Lighting Competition
Senior Interior Design student, Abigail Chin, received the Student Award of Recognition at the 40th Annual Source Awards National Lighting Design Competition by Eaton Corporation. Her project Gourmasia was selected for its understanding, knowledge, and function of lighting as a primary element in design. This competitive award recognized six professional projects and seven student works during Lightfair in Philadelphia, PA. Congratulations Abigail for your outstanding achievements.
Student work display and alumnus interview featured in CIDA accreditation video
When CIDA (Counsel for Interior Design Accreditation) scheduled their once-every-six-years site visit last fall they asked if they could film the site visit process and also interview some of our alumni. The footage became a video promoting the importance of an accredited interior design program featured on their own website at accredit-id.org
The student work display, the heart of the site visit process, showcases projects, syllabi, text books and more from every course for the three years leading up to the site visit. This is shown at 1:45 into the video and then intermittingly throughout. The video ends with an interview by 2015 Purdue interior design alumnus, Rob Boose who states “because I went to an accredited school, the firm [I work for] has that insurance policy, that I know what I’m doing and I’ve learned those things and they don’t have to invest time and money into teaching me those things. I love what I do and I’m so happy I followed what I wanted to do.”
Cynthia Rumas wins 2017 IDEA Award
Senior Interior Design student, Cynthia Rumas, was awarded the 2017 IDEA Award by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) for her outstanding restaurant design. This is the second award Cindy has won for her Link restaurant project. Congratulations to Cindy and all the student participants.
Kathleen Haines selected as Steelcase NEXT student design competition, Semi-Finalist
Senior interior design student, Kathleen Haines was recently selected as 1 of 5 semi-finalists from a pool of 800 students in 65 programs nationwide. Kathleen was flown to Steelcase headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI to present her proposed design solution in front of judges from Gensler, Little, Blitz, and AECOM. Additionally Kathleen had the opportunity to network with the judges and gained sage industry advice on her portfolio, resume and cover letter. Congratulations, Kathleen, we are so proud to have you represent Purdue Interior Design!
2016-2017 Art and Design Outstanding Senior award
This year Marisa Smith, a senior majoring in interior design was selected as the Department of Art and Design’s Outstanding Senior! Marisa presented to a committee of faculty and competed against other seniors in the department including those majoring in industrial design, visual communications design, fine arts and others. Congratulations, Marisa!
Professor Hynes speaks at University of Oklahoma’s College of Architecture
Wendy Hynes, Assistant Professor in interior design was nominated to the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture at the University of Oklahoma in January. As part of the esteemed appointment she was able to share her design perspective and Makerspace research expertise with the faculty and students of OU through a university-wide lecture, exhibition of her photo essay on makerspaces, facility tours and class discussions highlighting the importance of hands on experimentation in the design process.
Interior Design Seniors Give Back!
In Fall 2016, Interior Design seniors service projects had students designing their own plans for giving back to Purdue and the community. Students visited schools to talk about the interior design major and profession. Additionally, they participated in projects including a build day for Habitat for humanity, and a community winterization project. They created a campus-wide dorm design competition, a design charrette, and a mentor program for younger interior design students! Nice work, Seniors, your impact will be felt for years to come!
Visit to Steelcase and the Meyer-May house in Grand Rapids
Fifty-four interior design students and faculty visited the historical Frank Lloyd Wright Meyer-May house in Grand Rapids and toured the headquarters of Steelcase, Inc.
2015 ASID Indiana Chapter Student Design Competition
A Purdue Interior Design junior student won the first place the 2016 ASID Indiana Chapter Student Design Competition.
First place - Elizabeth Lyon
Honorable Mention - Sydney Owens: Best Utilization of Knoll produce, product blending, and Knoll Research
Honorable Mention - Nika Petric: Best Utilization and application of Healthcare Research
2016 ASID Indiana Chapter Student Design Competition
Purdue Interior Design junior students won the first, second, and third places from the 2016 ASID Indiana Chapter Student Design Competition.
First place – Cindy Rumas
Second place – Michelle Blackburn
Third place – Kaitlin Lienhoop
IIDA Avant Garb Fashion Show
The Purdue student chapter of IIDA participated in the IIDA annual Avant Garb Fashion Show. The show features creative fashion garments fabricated out of unique and upcycled materials commonly found in the built-environment. The re-imagined materials ranged from carpet and tile to wallcovering and paint.
Best Paper Award
Hyun Joo Kwon, Assistant Professor in the Interior Design program received the Best Paper Award in Housing and Interior Design in 2013 that was published in Family and Consumer Science Research Journal, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Professor Kwon examined the relationship between residential satisfaction and intention to move among older adults living in multifamily housing based on Morris and Winter’s theory of housing adjustment.
Maker: People, Places, Things
Wendy Hynes, Assistant Professor in the Interior Design program, will have her work featured at the Smith Scaraboccio Art Museum in Stevens Point, WI from March 11 – April 30th. The exhibit includes photographs from her travels and studies of different maker spaces in combination with made objects from her own hands-on “making” experiences. Professor Hynes states, “Often dark and isolated, difficult to locate and a challenge to photograph, maker spaces exude the dingy charm of an underground culture uplifting the creativity of each through the camaraderie of all.”
Cloud Car, Barcelona Fab Lab
Senior Show 2016
Under the guidance of Visiting Assistant Professor Robert Church, Interior Design students of the upcoming graduating class displayed examples of their work in the “Interior Design Senior Show 2016” housed in the Patti and Rusty Rueff gallery in PAO Hall. The week-long show culminated in a public reception with keynote addresses by local practitioners. The 2016 practitioner was Diana Ricks and the 2014 practitioner was Ana Pinto-Alexander.
Senior Show 2014
Interior Design students from the graduating class of 2014 created the First Interior Design Senior Show. They displayed examples of their work in the Patti and Rusty Rueff gallery in PAO Hall. The week-long show culminated in a public reception with a keynote address by local practitioner Ana Pinto-Alexander.
