Mission
Embedded in the School of Architecture, the Master of Interior Design program seeks to advance the study and practice of the human-centric, design-thinking methodologies and approaches toward defining and solving real-world problems of the human condition in the built environment domain.
Licensure
The Woodbury University Master of Interior Design (MID) professional degree program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and is designed to meet the California educational requirements for Interior Design certification in California. Woodbury University’s MID program also prepares graduates to complete both the NCIDQ and the IDEX exams. Though our program meets the educational requirements in all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Canadian provinces, students who wish to practice in a location outside of California may or may not have additional non-educational requirements to fulfill prior to applying for a certificate or registration status in that location. Prior to enrollment, prospective students are strongly encouraged to review the Master of Interior Design (MID) professional licensure webpage to determine whether our MID program meets the educational requirements for certification/registration in the location(s) they wish to practice. Woodbury University would like to assist prospective and current students with navigating this process. Please contact Admissions at admissions@woodbury.edu or 818-252-5221 for help.
Additional Learning Opportunities
The Interior Design courses provide a theoretical basis and practical skills needed for conceptualization and visual communication of interior spaces that are meaningful to the human experience and well-being. The Interior Design program offers interdisciplinary engagement with allied programs in the School of Architecture and across the Woodbury campus. The School of Architecture offers five programs in addition to Interior Design: Architecture, Design Computation, Construction Management, Sustainable Practices, and Computer Science–Media Arts. In addition, opportunities to incorporate courses in gaming, film, animation, psychology, graphic design, fashion, and business expand the potential for collaboration and exploration.
Technology and Computer Requirements
Students in the Interior Design program need to have the use of a laptop or desktop computer that can run multiple graphic software programs. The computer programs that are necessary to commence the first year of the program are: Revit, Rhinoceros, Adobe Suite, and Microsoft Office Suite. The licenses for these programs are available through the Woodbury University IT Department. Due to the fact that some of the courses are offered online, students are also required to have a working camera and microphone as part of their computer setup. For qualified students, loaner laptops are available in addition to access to computer labs on the Woodbury campus.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students gain the ability to engage in the analysis, understanding, and development of the built interior environment as a viable object of critical inquiry evidenced through design and research processes, written communication, proficient and multivalent visual communication, quantitative analysis, and historical research.
Students gain the ability to analyze, understand, critique, and develop space as a social and cultural construction, as evidenced in the development of programmatic, behavioral, ethical, and collaborative strategies for the built environment within different scalar contexts and various professional settings.
Students gain the ability to analyze, understand, critique, and develop interior spaces that elicit human response through the manipulation and enhancement of the sensual, as evidenced through the design of interior environments that illustrate and elicit experiential responses.
Students gain the ability to analyze, understand, critique, and develop interior spaces through the techniques of innovative building processes, as evidenced through quantitative reasoning, systems integration, and production expertise.
Students gain the ability to act in professional and academic environments with the highest ethical and cooperative character, as evidenced in the increasing ability to self- direct research and engage in team activities.
Students will develop comprehensive critical thinking skills necessary for multidisciplinary approaches to problem-solving issues dealing with interior environments.
The program will provide students with learning experiences that incorporate professional values, practices, and business procedures.
Students will develop design skills as a way of researching and solving problems.
Students will develop a comprehensive set of skills that focus on design problems regarding the human inhabitation of interior spaces.
Students will develop quantifiable visual, verbal, and oral communication skills necessary to express research, analysis, and expression of design solutions.
Students will develop skills necessary for understanding and representing the technical art and regulations of building and designing interior spaces.
Assessment Process
Portfolio Requirements
Individuals holding baccalaureate degrees in any discipline may enter the Master of Interior Design three-year track, while individuals holding baccalaureate degrees in Interior Architecture, Interior Design, Environmental Arts, or Architecture are eligible to enter the Master of Interior Design two- year track.
To be placed into the two-year track, students must submit a portfolio of their undergraduate work and any work product obtained through work experience that they have generated. For the three-year track, students need to submit an assemblage of evidence demonstrating their skills and techniques in drawing and composition using freehand and software tools and media.
Formative Assessment Experiences
Formative assessment occurs within each studio and is the foundation of the Woodbury School of Architecture studio education. As they develop their projects, students receive regular, rigorous, and critical feedback in small groups, larger groups, and via individual desk critiques. They also provide rigorous and critical feedback to their peers as well as to their own progress and process.
Summative Assessment Experiences
The two-year and three-year track curricula have two points for assessing summative student learning: review of the thesis proposal at the end of the thesis preparation seminar (IDES 645, Criticism 4), and review of the capstone graduate thesis (IDES 660, Studio 6: Thesis). While these projects provide summative measures of student learning, a review allows the faculty to gauge the effectiveness of the curriculum and the extent to which the core MID curriculum builds on and integrates the supporting electives in a student’s chosen focus.
Program Specific Academic Standards
Design Studio Academic Standards
Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher for every two consecutive design studios to continue in the design studio sequence. A student whose two- studio GPA drops below 3.0 must repeat one of the two as necessary to achieve the minimum GPA prior to enrollment in the subsequent studio.
Satisfactory Studio Progress Policy
Any student who does not pass a studio with a grade of “C” or higher after enrolling in it three times is subject to dismissal from the program.
Repeated Courses
A student may remediate a course for the purpose of improving the grade. However, the student only has one chance to repeat a course in which they have received a passing grade. If a passing grade was not achieved, then a student may repeat the course until they do achieve a passing grade. Financial aid cannot be applied to courses repeated voluntarily.
Completion Time Limits
Part-time graduate students may receive an additional two years to complete their degree objective.
The graduate academic progress and grading policy is administered by the department and the Registrar with Office of Student Development support.
Curriculum Summary
Program Major Curriculum
Students in the two-year MID track study for five semesters; students in the three-year MID track study for seven semesters. Each semester has at its core a six-unit studio. The summer semester before the final year of study is devoted to Fieldwork; this studio requires both research and design. Students take professional and elective courses in addition to the studio during fall and spring semesters. The final spring semester centers on a graduate thesis studio culminating in a public thesis review.
Two-year MID students take a minimum of 63 units in their graduate studies, and three-year students take a minimum of 93 units in their graduate studies; for both programs, at least 12 of the units are elective.
Three-Year Track
| Unit Type (UT) |
Number of Units (U) |
| Major (MA) |
84 |
| Unrestricted Elective* (UE) |
9 |
| Minimum Total Units Required |
93 |
Two-Year Track
| Unit Type (UT) |
Number of Units (U) |
| Major (MA) |
54 |
| Unrestricted Elective* (UE) |
9 |
| Minimum Total Units Required |
63 |
*Unrestricted Electives must be graduate-level courses
Suggested Sequence of Courses
Three-Year Track
First Year
Fall Semester
| IDES 616 | Criticism 1: Fieldwork Southern CA | 3 |
| IDES 610 | Studio 1: New Frontier of Space | 6 |
| IDES 600 | Visualization 1: Making Technique | 3 |
| IDES 624 | Figuring Space 1: Materiality and Making | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 18 |
Spring Semester
| IDES 617 | Criticism 2: Declaring the Canon | 3 |
| IDES 620 | Studio 2: Synthesizing Complexity | 6 |
| IDES 605 | Visualization 2: Analytical Construction | 3 |
| IDES 625 | Figuring Space 2: Code Analysis | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Second Year
Fall Semester
| IDES 618 | Criticism 3: Rewriting the Canon | 3 |
| IDES 640 | Studio 3: Pathways and Modalities | 6 |
| IDES 606 | Visualization 3: Adv. Drawing and Model | 3 |
| IDES 626 | Figuring Space 3: Impact and Implication | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Spring Semester
| IDES 645 | Criticism 4: Methodological Slant | 3 |
| IDES 6__ | Criticism Elective | 3 |
| IDES 6__ | Visualization Elective | 3 |
| IDES 632 | Practice 1: Ethics and the Profession | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
IDES 645, IDES (Criticism Elective), IDES (Visualization Elective), and IDES 632: MA.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Summer Semester
| IDES 647 | Studio 4: Fieldwork | 6 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 6 |
Third Year
Fall Semester
| IDES 619 | Criticism 5: Thesis Preparation | 3 |
| IDES 650 | Studio 5: Convergence | 6 |
| IDES 633 | Practice 2: Commentary on Interior Des | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Spring Semester
| IDES 660 | Studio 6: Thesis | 6 |
| IDES 634 | Practice 3: Collaboration | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Suggested Sequence of Courses
Two-Year Track
First Year
Fall Semester
| IDES 618 | Criticism 3: Rewriting the Canon | 3 |
| IDES 640 | Studio 3: Pathways and Modalities | 6 |
| IDES 606 | Visualization 3: Adv. Drawing and Model | 3 |
| IDES 626 | Figuring Space 3: Impact and Implication | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 18 |
Spring Semester
| IDES 645 | Criticism 4: Methodological Slant | 3 |
| IDES 6__ | Criticism Elective | 3 |
| IDES 6__ | Visualization Elective | 3 |
| IDES 632 | Practice 1: Ethics and the Profession | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
IDES 645, IDES (Criticism Elective), IDES (Visualization Elective), and IDES 632: MA.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Summer Semester
| IDES 647 | Studio 4: Fieldwork | 6 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 6 |
Second Year
Fall Semester
| IDES 619 | Criticism 5: Thesis Preparation | 3 |
| IDES 650 | Studio 5: Convergence | 6 |
| IDES 633 | Practice 2: Commentary on Interior Des | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
Spring Semester
| IDES 660 | Studio 6: Thesis | 6 |
| IDES 634 | Practice 3: Collaboration | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective* | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |