Course in Interior Design – Focus on Retail and Commercial Spaces – Fall Semester IED – Istituto Europeo di Design Florence

Nowadays commercial interior design, which may include hotels and lounges, restaurants and retail spaces, offices, banks, theaters, and everything in between, plays a pivotal role in the success of any business. Whether it’s a luxury hotel or a small business owner, it is up to the commercial interior designer to translate the client’s vision in ways that are practical, profitable, and of course, chic, prioritizing functionality and safety without sacrificing style or aesthetics.

The space planning, together with a good knowledge of computer-aided design (CAD) skills are essential elements in such a competitive and growing market.

Through this program IED guides you across the whole design process, from the first sketches to computer renderings, providing you with the basic theoretical and technical training, as well as cultural background, which are the necessary elements in the creation of interior designs.

Schedule

Lessons run from Monday to Friday morning and/or afternoon.

Level and prerequisites

This is an intermediate program designed for students with at least one year of academic background or professional experience in Interior Design, Industrial Design, Furniture Design, Architecture. Applicants have to master representation techniques such as drawing, sketching, and rendering, and visual communication skills such as computer graphics and rendering, as well as model making and verbal communication.

Methodology and structure

The education path deals with different topics that allow you the acquirement of the cultural, methodological, technical, and technological skills necessary for the design of commercial spaces. You will learn the project methodologies, prototyping techniques, and acquire a comprehensive introduction to the history of architecture, as well as learn about sustainable materials and approach by using clean technology within the interior design.

You will then refine your technical skills of a formal and functional representation of commercial spaces, starting from the free-hand drawing to technical design, up to the production of 3D spaces.

Finally, you will be encouraged in the development and the completion of a specific retail project, with a focus on restaurant design.

By the end of the course, you will take a final exam for every single subject and will present the project/s you realized so to demonstrate the knowledge and skills achieved.

This program is integrated into the 3 year Interior and Furniture Design course. By enrolling in this course you will join the regular classes and will study alongside IED undergraduate students.

Study Plan

Materials Typology 2

This course introduces studies related to new technologies and their applications in the fields of the construction industry and of design, building on your analytical skills and understanding of materials and of structures, including habitats, in the framework of a project and referring coherently to all the latest legal regulations and the results of research in this sector. It examines the physical and mechanical properties of several families of materials in relation to the

technologies that can be used to work with them and to related risks and advantages. In particular, the course discusses the relationship between design and a material’s energy and environmental qualities, including its construction and structural properties. Theoretical and practical studies are coordinated, so as to encourage you to become more aware of innovative technical methods in line with the international and domestic Italian contexts. Through active dialogue with firms that produce certain materials, you analyze the materials’ individual properties and potential for application, both for the category of traditional and for that of natural or ecological materials.

Drawing Techniques and Technologies

Through this course, you will acquire the techniques of representation by software and hand drawings. The teaching method, through theoretical lectures demonstrations, is organized into two main parts: the basic knowledge of the instruments of representation and professional application of them. The course deals with the issues of visual thinking and uses visual and conceptual maps as an essential tool for the storytelling and the expression of an idea. Use of the software alternates with exercises in which you learn to use the acquired technical and instrumental knowledge and to communicate through an effective presentation of your project.

History of Contemporary Architecture 1

The history of architecture is analyzed from the point of view of project methodologies and the technological and social contexts. The course explores the heritage of the Modern Movement and its expression in various geographical contexts, both European and international. Through the analysis of buildings, projects, and documents, the characteristics of the architecture of the last fifty years are outlined.

Design 2

This course will allow the development of skills and methods to approach the retail design, with a focus on restaurant design. The retail industry is experiencing a revolution where most of the business will move on-line. The traditional brick and mortar retail will survive developing new concepts to appeal to a public looking for experiences, entertainment, and leisure, in this scenario the design will play a critical role. Starting from the analysis of the brand, the competitors, and the market, you will develop an original design to respond to aesthetic, marketing, and operational needs.

Sociology of Culture

Sociology, as the science of social phenomena, sociology constitutes one of the most effective paradigms for understanding the complexity and the incompatibilities typical of today’s world. This makes it one of the most useful tools for learning how culture, ethical and social values, lifestyles, and new social changes come about.

The course studies the discipline’s historical origins, its various schools of thought and, the different methods of analysis adopted. It develops on thinking about the lifestyles within which affinity groups come about and the dynamics of social interaction, with their relative processes of dissemination, communication codes, and languages. It then discusses the social forms of communication, the advent of communication processes, and the tools used, from the alphabet to new forms of mass communication, analyzing how mass opinions are constructed as a consequence.

3D computer Model-Making Techniques

The course focuses on digital image processing in a 3D context. The first part analyses 3D surface modeling software, automatic generation of perspectives, views, and sections, shadows, surface texturing, and rendering. In the second part, students explore rendering and animation to create, view, and assess 3D spaces with texturing and lighting techniques.