The Master of Interior Architecture at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague offers a two-year professional education that strives to explore the field of spatial design in its broadest sense by reimagining the role of the practicing designer with concerns about a society in transition.
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The programme is entitled INSIDE as a metaphor for the broader position we envision for the professional practice of the interior architect. This role is gradually expanding beyond the physical interior and proving increasingly relevant in a wide range of environments where people live, interact and where communities emerge.
Whether these spaces are actually interiors or even purely physical, is less important than how future designers contribute as mediators of spatial inclusion towards a more socially-just society.
We aim to create an inspiring, reciprocal learning environment for those who wish to explore the world of spatial design both from the perspective of the designer and the user. This environment is not only a space to learn, but also for exchange. Students not only learn from users, tutors, and each other, while tutors also pick up lessons from the emerging generation.
The programme has both linear and non-linear elements; not as a fixed path from A to B, but rather a dynamic landscape with undefined routes. In the first year, this landscape is formed by an underlying structure of studios each representing various spatial design cultures and thematic challenges. In the graduation year, students choose their own research topics and curate the composition of their educational programme.
A questioning and investigating attitude lies at the core of the curriculum and is expressed through presentations, interpretation and writing throughout the two-years programme. This research-driven approach is developed across four parallel programmes: Flows, Theory, Skills and Travel.
The Flows programme features a series of research tracks where students examine shared sources such as materials, energy, food and other commons. By mapping the dynamic relationships among these flows, students are capable to dismantle the numerous sources as a design strategy that supports a continuous and circular cycle of creation.
Central to the programme is to unfold a variety of positions and alternative practices and to strengthen the students’ skills as resilient visual makers and thinkers. By identifying the students’ own values and fascinations in this broad landscape, they can reason on the impact they pursue on the built environment.
The fact that the programme is offered in the context of an art academy has an undeniable influence on the structure of the curriculum. This artistic rather than polytechnical framework places emphasis on nurturing the students’ personal and artistic abilities, encouraging open and critical thinking.
There is an urgent need for a new generation combating market-driven paradigms and advocate for underlying (non)human, social and cultural phenomena in an increasingly diverse world.