Interior Design in the News
2012
Save the Date – WSU Interior Design Senior Portfolio Review – April 27, 2012
2011
Washington State University proudly announces the formation of the School of Design & Construction
The new school:
- Integrates the disciplines of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and construction management.
- Is the only school in the nation that houses the design and construction disciplines together.
- Teaches students the skill sets required for their chosen design major and offers a series of collaborative learning experiences that give students a substantial advantage when entering the job market.
- Will provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to ultimately advance their career through greater collaboration and integration with allied disciplines.
Something Delicious In Store: Starbucks Store Designer Anna Robbins Is Jumping for Joy
Starbuck's interiors designed by Anna Robbins
Walk into any Starbucks store in Seattle and chances are it may have been designed by Anna Robbins, a 2006 Washington State University Interior Design alumna.
Her most recent design project was transforming an old kitchen on the 8th floor of the Starbucks headquarters into a coffee shop to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary—a project they started last October and finished in early March.
“When I first started with Starbucks it was very much cookie cutter production,” she said. “Since then, we totally revamped the entire model and now every store has a flavor of local relevance and compliments the surrounding architecture.”
Read full article here
Changing the Future of Rural Communities with Restoration and Economic Revitalization
A single semester’s work in the eastern Washington town of Ritzville has blossomed into a full-scale, ongoing project. The Rural Communities Design Initiative, founded and run by Washington State University Spokane associate professor of interior design Janetta McCoy, has tested a model of design intervention with five additional rural communities in Washington State to confirm that repurposing and renovating community buildings can lead to revitalization in the community’s economy.
Initially working with communities as part of a studio class project, students now can earn summer internship credit for participation. The goal of the RCDI is to work in rural communities of 2,000 or fewer people to redesign derelict or abandoned community buildings and transform them into functional establishments capable of producing revenue for small-town economies.
McCoy offered several reasons why the program is focused on small towns, including the fact that “rural communities represent 20 percent of the population and represent many of the voting numbers, too. These communities are also where most of our food comes from.” As rural American communities disappear, in other words, so too does the ability to produce food domestically. [MORE]
WSU Interior Design Educator Named One of Nation’s Best
SPOKANE, Wash. – John Turpin, a Washington State University associate professor and chair of the Department of Interior Design, has been named by DesignIntelligence one of 25 “educators and education administrators who exemplify excellence in design education leadership.”
DesignIntelligence is a bimonthly journal for architecture and design professionals.
Read full article here
2010
Top Ten Program
The graduate program in Interior Design at WSU is ranked in the Top Ten Best Programs in the U.S. by Design Intelligence magazine.
Updating an American Icon
Six graduate students from the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane were introduced to the travel industry via a 1958 Airstream Overlander trailer. They were given eight weeks to delve into the world of travel trailers and transform the interior into livable space. Simultaneously, the group of students delved into issues of sustainability and challenged the current image of the travel-trailer industry.
(WSU Today, 7/2010) Read More »
2009
Interior design students sweep top national honors
Drawing on a cornucopia of talent and inspiration, WSU students won the top three honors in a recent national competition. Challenged by the Retail Design Institute to design a grocery store that would compete with businesses like Whole Foods Markets, Chung Yung (Simon) Ho, Gwen McConn, and Natasha Palewicz won first, second, and third place honors while Meagan Phillips received one of the two honorable mentions.
(WSU Today, 6/2009) Read More »WSU Interior Design Program Ranked in Top 10 Nationally
WSU Spokane’s graduate program in interior design ranked ninth in the nation in a recent list released by DesignIntelligence, a bimonthly journal for architecture and design professionals. Rankings are based on surveys of professional design firms.
(WSU Today, 1/2009) Read More »
2007
Groundbreaking slated for July, WSU students plan smart housing
Thanks to another collaborative effort between Habitat for Humanity-Spokane and the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at Washington State University Spokane, a July groundbreaking is slated for eight sustainable, low-costing housing units that were designed by six WSU students last fall.
(WSU Today, 6/2007) Read More »Energy sustainability, solar house gets new westside home
A solar home designed and built by a group of Washington State University students gets a new home this week at Shoreline Community College, where it will serve as a demonstration project on zero-energy building.
(WSU Today, 5/2007) Read More »LEEDing the way
Interior Design senior Lauren Hall says she wants to “open people’s eyes” to the possibilities of “smart design.” Aesthetics and profit are important, she says, but just as important is design “that communicates with the surrounding environment and responds to a global responsibility for efficient design.” Hall is intently focused on spreading the word about sustainability — so intent that she sat for and passed a design-and-build examination usually only tackled by professionals.
(2/2007) Read More »Design Institute faculty, students to explore living and housing conditions in Tibet
A team of Washington State University Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design faculty and students are bound for China and Tibet this May, to get a rare look at how people there design, furnish and occupy their homes.
(WSU Today, 2/2007) Read More »Plans for the future, students to design new downtown Hillyard
Washington State University Interdisciplinary Design Institute students are kicking off the spring semester with a Charrrette (an intense design and problem solving process of limited duration) to develop new ideas for a revitalized downtown Hillyard, along North Market Street in Spokane.
(WSU Today, 1/2007) Read More »
2005
Interior Design major showcases talent
Sophomore Dana Vaux, a nontraditional student, said she was one of the 127 people who entered the contest, and received an honorable mention.
(Daily Evergreen, 2/2005) Read More »
2003
WSU Spokane student takes first in lighting design competition
Jamie M. Herring, of Washington State University Spokane’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute, was awarded first place in the student category of Cooper Lighting’s 26th Annual Source Awards, a national lighting design competition.
(WSU News, 6/2003) Read More »WSU Spokane Interior Design faculty wins national award for second time
The Interior Design Educators Council has named work by WSU Spokane Assistant Professor of Interior Design Matt Melcher Best in Show for the second time.
(WSU News, 4/2003) Read More »
2002
Interior Design Program names new Director, Blossom also to serve Interdisciplinary Design Institute as Assistant Director
In a move that reflects growth at Washington State University Spokane’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute, the new director of WSU’s Interior Design program will also serve as Assistant Director of the Institute. Professor Nancy Blossom comes to WSU Spokane from The George Washington University, where she directed the Interior Design program.
(WSU News, 9/2002) Read More »
2001
Interior Design professors, designer receive Best In Show for Holley-Mason Project
Washington State University Spokane faculty members Matt Melcher and Nancy Clark Brown, with local designer Juliet Sinisterra, won Best In Show for Interior Design at the 2001 Interior Design Educators Council International Conference.
(WSU News, 4/2001) Read More »
Alumni News
Something Delicious In Store: Starbucks Store Designer Anna Robbins Is Jumping for Joy
Walk into any Starbucks store in Seattle and chances are it may have been designed by Anna Robbins, a 2006 Washington State University Interior Design alumna.
Her most recent design project was transforming an old kitchen on the 8th floor of the Starbucks headquarters into a coffee shop to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary—a project they started last October and finished in early March.
“When I first started with Starbucks it was very much cookie cutter production,” she said. “Since then, we totally revamped the entire model and now every store has a flavor of local relevance and compliments the surrounding architecture.”
Read full article here
Habitat Director is a WSU Alumna
by Michelle Burns
Looking at office space with an eye for design and space efficiency isn’t the only thing WSU interior design alumni do these days.
The North Idaho affiliate of Habitat for Humanity recently gained the expertise of WSU interior design alumna Marci Schreiber when she came on as executive director in September. As a non-traditional student on the Spokane campus, Schreiber earned an M.A. in interior design from WSU in 2010, adding to her repertoire of degrees including a B.A in child development, B.A. in psychology, and an M.A. in organizational leadership. When she discovered the position with Habitat for Humanity, she realized it was a perfect fit.
From Pullman to the World: Interior Design’s Global Reach
By Michelle Burns
Kate Kyung-ha Lee (Interior Design B.A. ’06, M.A. ’07) graduated from rural Washington into the global marketplace.
Lee is now a junior designer with Callison LLC, an architectural design firm headquartered in Seattle, with offices in major cities around the world. Read more »
WSU Alumna Takes Helm of National Interior Design Organization
By Whitney Parsons
“I am a big believer in the idea that you get out of something what you put in,” said Sari Graven (Interior Design class of ’78), national president of the American Society of Interior Designers. “I have spent a lot of time giving my time and talent to ASID, beginning with my student membership at WSU. I have received back even more: knowledge, perspective, mentors, friends, new skills, insight and fun.” Read more »
Nicole Cecil, Interior Design 1996
Nicole Cecil (Interior Design ’96) was in the first class of students to graduate from WSU’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute in Spokane. Studio-ready, Cecil went to work for the University of Idaho in Moscow, in University Residences and Architectural and Engineering Services. Read more »
Dream Job
Luke Van Duyn (’07) mixed modern and classical elements along with a few Asian accents to create a House of Yue-Sai look for the dynamic entrepreneur’s new home interiors business.
People magazine called Chinese-American Yue-Sai Kan “the most famous woman in China.” The owner of the largest cosmetics company in China, she recently turned her eye to the interiors of homes. Read more »