Design students win regional, national interior design awards

Part of the students' winning design concept included a 'sensory room' for a variety of ways to treat cognitive disorders.
Part of the students' winning design concept included a 'sensory room' for a variety of ways to treat cognitive disorders.

Department of Design students, Erin Childs, Maisie Leach, and Sarah Randall are celebrating this spring semester. Their group project, entitled “Sios,” won first place in the South Region of the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) Student Design Competition. By winning at the regional level, their entry was forwarded to the national IDEC conference where they received honorable mention.

The students’ winning project focused on the conceptual design of a center for independent living that would help those with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other, similar cognitive disabilities. The project originated as an assignment in one of Dr. Joan Dickinson’s classes. Dickinson, Professor of Interior Design, teaches a healthcare studio course to senior design students. Whenever the IDEC competition is geared toward healthcare design, she has her students submit entries. According to Dickinson, “there were 105 undergraduate entries in the national IDEC competition this year. Our students received honorable mention, which is essentially fourth place, competing against 104 other groups of students. That really is amazing! I’m so proud of them!”

The students’ design concept established a holistic approach to supporting a range of cognitive disabilities through a variety of innovative ideas including advanced acoustical control for those hyper-sensitive to loud noises. Doorway entrances were designed in an asymmetrical pattern to reduce sound travel throughout individual living spaces. The concept even included hiring staff members with similar cognitive disabilities to provide patients with role models for their own challenges.

The competition included a variety of specific requirements for entrants, one of which was that the project had to be completed within 21 consecutive days. To tackle the challenge, students collaborated on the floor plan design until they were comfortable with the layout. Afterward, students divided the work based on individual strengths, which were assessed during the fall 2018 semester in a Research and Design Theory course.

Their hard work, dedication and passion for accessible design yielded big wins for the student team. According to Randall, “Our compassion and empathy fueled the design, and as the competitive spirit rose, we became more and more enveloped by the project. All three of us have experience in accessible design and have something unique to bring to the table, so we knew we would make a strong team.”

Mar 29, 2019
Jason S. Hutchens, Ed.D.
540-831-6237
jshutchens@radford.edu