Interior Designers Institute
The interior design program is a four‐year, professional degree program that leads to a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design Degree. Our curriculum provides an educational foundation that prepares students to enter the interior design profession and positions the student to seek professional status through the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) exam as well as state‐specific licensure.
The Board accomplishes this mission by ensuring that those entering the professional practice of Interior Design meet and maintain the qualifications, standards and professionalism required to competently practice their profession in Louisiana. All applicants must meet the minimum education, experience, and examination requirements before obtaining a registration and the Board must evaluate each application to ensure those minimum qualifications are met.
The Bachelor of Science in Interior Design program is five years in length and requires approximately 1.5 years of cooperative education experience. According to DesignIntelligence , DAAP's Interior Design program is number two in the nation for 2013. DesignIntelligence lists the Interior Design program as the number one most admired by academic deans and department heads in the country, citing "its co-op program, dedicated studio space, and competent graduates."
The Interior Design Program at the Antionette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is committed to develop the leaders of tomorrow. We believe that combining a studio-based, sequential interior design curriculum, with broad liberal arts study and the experiential learning of a well-established co-op program develops skillful designers, creative thinkers and potential leaders. We offer each student the opportunity for intellectual and personal growth through a hands-on approach to teaching, advising and collaborating. Developing skilled designers, creative thinkers, responsible citizens and professional leaders through academic, experiential and professional learning is the mission of the Interior Design Program.
In the mid- to late-19th century, interior design services expanded greatly, as the middle class in industrial countries grew in size and prosperity and began to desire the domestic trappings of wealth to cement their new status. Large furniture firms began to branch out into general interior design and management, offering full house furnishings in a variety of styles. This business model flourished from the mid-century to 1914, when this role was increasingly usurped by independent, often amateur, designers. This paved the way for the emergence of the professional interior design in the mid-20th century. 3