Interior Design

News & Highlights

• 100% of 2012 Interior Design graduates are employed, 89% with organizations in their field of study, including: BKT Architects, Chesterfield Architects, Daroff Design, Inc., DeBeary Designs andTarget Corporation.  For more details visit the Locks Career Center page
  
  
• Bridget McMullin '01 was featured in the Real Estate section of the November 3 Philadelphia Inquirer: "this graduate of Moore College of Art and Design, who has the artist's 'third eye,' saw walls coming down, ceilings rising, and spaces being rethought." Click here to read the full article
  
  

• Moore alumna Zoe Draper '10 is featured in an article: Realtors selling houses via social-media sites. She is Philly Home Girls' project manager, who leads their social-media campaign.
  
  

• Congratulations to Michelle Reese '13  who landed a job in August as an interior designer in the corporate department at Francis Cauffman in Philadelphia, PA. 
  
  
• Kathryn Dethier wrote an article “reStore: Revitalizing Torresdale Avenue in Tacony” this summer for the Community Design Collaborative blog.  She recently completed the project 4th Street Historic Fabric Row: Conceptual Design for Streetscape and Façade Improvement.
  
  
• Cara Carroccia received the Washington Square West Green Stewardship Award for the sustained and continuing guidance of the Waverly Street Community Garden by the Pennsylvania Horticultural.  In June, she wrote, developed and presented an award to Virginia Trosino for her commitment to the micro-climate in Philadelphia’s Washington Square West district.
  
  
• Andrea Beizer recently created a cartoon strip “Alice” which ca be viewed at her blog www.alicecartoons.com  Her drawing, “I Just Want to Scream” was accepted into the Woman’s Caucus for Art’s STORIES WE TELL catalogue.

Our Interior Design program educates students to become creative, responsible interior designers through an emphasis on problem solving design studios. With a focus on spatial design, rather than the application of surface decoration, our students learn to design spaces for living, working, and recreation.  While challenged by design problems that increase in size and complexity, our students develop an understanding of the influence of sustainable building on human health, well-being, and performance.

The Interior Design core curriculum includes design, history and theory, color, drawing, materials, interior building technology and business courses.  Set within Moore’s unique environment for the study of the visual arts, the interior design core is complemented by courses in liberal arts and art and design electives. Interior Design majors share a common foundation with other Moore programs.  Our students start their major by taking History of Interior Design in the first year and begin their interior design studios in the sophomore year. 

Moore’s undergraduate program in interior design is a four-year, first professional degree program that confers a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Our full-time, day program requires a total of 127.5 credits for completion.  This includes a required internship that is completed in the summer between the junior and senior year.  Our students may choose to declare a minor to customize their course of study or to explore their personal interests. Moore is on the semester system.

The interior design program is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA).

Interior Design Program Mission Statement
The interior design major prepares women to be creative and responsible designers.  The curriculum stresses the broad intellectual development needed for leadership in the professions and the fundamental skills to enter the profession.

Interior Design Program Philosophy

Faculty share a commitment to a philosophy of an integrated curriculum that demands that the student be simultaneously and sequentially involved with diverse disciplines and concepts, faculty and other students.  The program is rooted in design and is supported by a foundation program and a broad spectrum of liberal arts courses.  The interior design curriculum is structured to enable the program to teach the fundamentals of interior design and to reflect changes in the profession.

Interior Design Program Goals

• Think critically, analytically and conceptually to solve spatial problems.
• Acquire the technical knowledge base that is fundamental to interior design.
• Communicate effectively in written, oral and graphic form.
• Develop a personal value system based on social responsibility and professionalism.
   

City of Philadelphia
Moore's location near Philadelphia’s major design firms, show rooms, museums and other resources further enriches the educational experience and provides access to internship opportunities.  Our interior design program offers tours, lectures and field studies of Philadelphia’s well-known historic and contemporary interiors.

Faculty
Moore’s dedicated, renown faculty, guest speakers and guest critics are active, practicing interior designers and related professionals who challenge and mentor our students.

Career Opportunities
Graduates of our program practice in a wide range of areas including: commercial and residential interior design firms; multi-disciplinary firms employing interior designers, architects, interior and engineers; facilities management, and product sales.  Students may also consider advanced degrees in a design specialty, architecture or environmental theory.