Great interiors can look effortless.
The education behind them is anything but.
Interior architecture requires designers to consider how people use a space, how buildings function, how design decisions affect human experience, and how creative ideas work within technical requirements.
Cal Poly Pomona's Online Master of Interior Architecture approaches those challenges through a 42-unit sequenced studio curriculum.
Learn to investigate the problem before designing the answer
Design begins with understanding.
CPP's curriculum introduces design research and theory to help students frame design problems, conduct evidence-based research, and connect design decisions with human outcomes.
Students also study space planning and programming, examining how people move through, inhabit, and experience environments such as workplaces, health care facilities, hospitality spaces, and civic environments.
Understand how buildings actually work
Interior architecture also requires technical literacy.
Coursework addresses building systems and codes, including life safety, ADA accessibility, egress, mechanical coordination and structural integration.
Those technical considerations help connect a design concept with the realities of the built environment.
Develop through studio work and critique
The MIA is delivered online but retains a studio-centered approach.
Students participate in live evening critiques, collaborate within a cohort, and progress toward advanced studio and capstone work.
That creates a learning process in which students do more than study design concepts.
They develop work, receive feedback, refine their thinking, and build toward the portfolio standards expected of graduates of the program.
Want to see what you would study? Explore the curriculum for Cal Poly Pomona's Online Master of Interior Architecture or request more information about the program.
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