The designers on the third floor of Grover Center are more at home using screwdrivers and drafting programs than they are choosing the perfect wallpaper or decorating picture frames.
Interior architecture has very little in common with Martha Stewart.
Some people, including prospective students, confuse interior architecture, which is in the College of Health and Human Services, with interior design. Associate Professor Matthew Ziff sets them straight: We're more concerned with interior space ' the physical structure ' and how that space is experienced and used by someone who comes in.
Student's hands-on projects vary from detailed drawings of appliances and furniture to three-dimensional computer designed rooms that are then constructed out of materials ranging from popsicle sticks and wire to plastic fragments, cardboard and paint.
Not everyone is meant to read books
said senior Scotty Geither.
Recently accepted sophomore Danielle Johanson knows that the program will be intense and different from the average college experience. The students have 24-hour-a-day access to the studios and can often be found working late into the night.
Some students toured the new Baker Center during construction. While the average student is discussing the food court and the novelty of the escalators, the interior architecture students talked about the quality of the building materials and where the interior space could be more efficient and student-friendly, said senior Kara Wheeler.
Each student has a workstation and computer in one of two studios. The studios are filled with public art models, color studies and appliances that the sophomores are disassembling to draft 3D renderings of the parts. Design books line the desks and students have t-squares and pencils ready if they need to draft by hand.
The majority of the interior architecture students are female, although most of the professors are male. There is no architecture program at Ohio University, which is one reason Wheeler thinks males tend to over-look the program.
Geither added, The girls are getting dirty and are more surprised about the reality of the major then the boys.
Students must master drawing by hand as well as computer-aided drafting. They use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and make Web sites to showcase their work using programs like Dreamweaver and Flash, said Professor Ziff.
In addition to courses such as Lighting Fundamentals and Design seminars, students take a varied course load. From art courses to public speaking, the physics of color, advertising and real estate, designers must be well-rounded and versatile.
Instead of just doing topical things like paint and fabric I will understand everything from the porch to the physics of the house said Brynna Adams, a sophomore transfer student.
The most recent batch of designers for this competitive and specialized major was chosen over winter break. Out of a pool of up to 40 applicants, only 18 make it into the program annually.
It's a huge weight off my shoulders
knowing I don't have to redirect my life
said Johanson.
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Sophomore Danielle Johanson designs on her computer in one of the interior architecture labs. Her current project includes disassembling an old VCR and rendering 3-D drawings of the pieces. See the full story on OU's interior architecture program on pa
