Abstract:

As interior architecture education continues to evolve, educators are increasingly expanding beyond traditional, aesthetics-driven approaches to embrace pedagogies that foreground human well-being, socio-cultural understanding, and real-world impact. This presentation highlights an innovative pedagogical model implemented in advance interior architecture studios that integrates community engagement and service-learning to prepare students as socially responsive design practitioners.

In this model, graduate students collaborated directly with community partners to create empathetic interior environments for women and children experiencing sexual abuse, violence, sex trafficking, homelessness, and body-image challenges. Drawing on environment–behavior theories and healthcare design research, students applied Roger Ulrich’s “supportive design” framework to explore how interior environments can promote psychological, neurological, social, and functional well-being. Through participatory discussions with users, students gained deeper insight into trauma-informed needs and cultural considerations, leading to design solutions that intentionally employed lighting, color, materials, texture, acoustics, and biophilic elements to foster comfort, dignity, and safety.

This pedagogy not only expanded students’ technical and analytical skills but also cultivated empathic reasoning, ethical responsibility, and an understanding of design as a vehicle for social advocacy. The findings reinforce the transformative potential of interior design education that intentionally centers human well-being and community partnership—ultimately preparing graduates to reshape the future of the profession and contribute meaningfully to societal resilience and equity.
In this paper, the author will share these pedagogies and the environment-behavior theories she introduced and the resultant project outcomes.

Keywords:

Service Learning, Community Engagement, Enviornment-Behavior Theories, Trauma Informed Design, Interior Architecture, Human Well-Being, Equity, Socially Responsive Design, Design to assists victims of sex trafficking, violence, abuse and homelessnes.