We are living in a time where creative thinking and design have gained a vital position across disciplines and in everyday life.  Simultaneously, new technologies are radically changing how we work, what we produce and how we share information.  It is necessary as designers to be aware of our professional contribution to these cultural shifts.  A new generation of practitioner needs to be trained to face these emerging challenges. In the Master of Interior Architecture & Retail Design programme we are rethinking what we do as designers, how and why we do it, and how we can do it better.

The production of the interior is a “multidisciplinary” practice.  Our programme is motivated by a design-research methodology that views interior architecture as an applied “artistic synthesis” of building design, technology, theory, history, humanities and visual studies. As interior architecture matures and evolves as a profession, we examine its role at various scales in the built environment, and participate in the push to shape and improve cities, neighborhoods, buildings, spaces and the communities and individuals that inhabit them.

We train our students to meet the challenges they will face as the next generation of designers. Relevant design projects are the core of the curriculum. Students get integrated training in technology, industry, history and theory as well as other specialized coursework to realise their projects. Emphasis is placed on “new media” as a design, production, communication and promotional tool for the future practice of interior architecture. Unique to this Master programme is a specialisation in Retail Design.

Based in Rotterdam, a dynamic metropolis, we plan and organise projects directly for the city and local affiliations. Students work with a talented and highly regarded international faculty of professional architects, interior architects, designers, scholars and specialised practitioners. We offer public events in the form of lectures, exhibitions, field excursions, interdisciplinary workshops, and collaborative projects with external organisations, companies and schools.

As part of the Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam University, our students are offered university wide resources and facilities, as well as collaboration opportunities with experts from other disciplines in a highly stimulating and multifaceted setting.