By MAUREEN JONES
Interior design students learn the importance of working together, researching and creating in VaDes 422R, interior design senior studio.
The main object of the class is to work as a team to develop a project that incorporates research and interior design, said Steve Wright, a senior from St. Louis majoring in interior design.
This semester, the class is working to design retail stores for the River Woods retail complex in Provo. The students are divided into two groups, with one group designing a shoe store and the other designing a golf accessories store.
'Our group must take its own concepts to set up a golf store and design it to make it look like it belongs to the commercial mall,' Wright said.
Students obtain experience on how to work together and to understand what they are designing through this class, said Peggy Honey, assistant professor of design and class instructor.
The questions they must keep in mind when they design the stores are what elements would they add to the store and how do they sell the idea to the client, Honey said.
Working on the research of the project proved to be a lot of work, said Aimee Ludlow, a senior from Reno, Nev., majoring in interior design.
The first month of the semester was spent researching.
'We researched retail sales, how to target a market and budgeting,' Wright said.
After the research was complete, the students began designing the interior of the store. They had to design a floor and lighting plan and choose a design scheme.
The golf store's interior is designed with a conservative, contemporary look which corresponds with the design of the River Woods retail complex, Ludlow said.
River rock and marble are the fixtures in the store, she said.
Once the project is complete, the students will present their design and research to a developer of the complex, Wright said.
'Design is all about solving problems,' Wright said.
The more experiences students get at school, the more diverse their skills are in the real world, he said.
By designing this specialty store, the students are able to see what is required to compete and be successful in the design industry, Honey said.