Interior Architecture Design Degree (BFA)

Why Earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Architecture Design at Indiana State?

Indiana State’s Interior Architecture Design program emphasizes artistic innovation and professional preparation. Successfully completing the program prepares you to take the National Council for Interior Design Qualification [NCIDQ] exam and become a licensed interior designer.

Design Your World

The design of interior spaces has a significant impact on people's daily lives, enhancing quality of life and well-being. Our BFA program at Indiana State equips you with the skills and aesthetic instincts necessary to create visually pleasing, functional, and sustainable interior spaces.

In our program, you will gain the necessary creative, technical, and theoretical techniques to excel in creating commercial, institutional, residential, and product designs. With hands-on projects, laboratory experiences, and frequent field trips to meet working designers, your coursework will blend artistic creativity and functional problem-solving into a dynamic, well-rounded learning experience.

Learn from Our Excellent Faculty

Our professors have decades of professional work experience as designers, and some continue to design professionally as they teach. Their industry knowledge and connections can help you complete valuable practicum experiences, secure top internship placements, and develop a robust professional network as you prepare to establish your interior architectural design career. Small class sizes and hands-on learning allow you to creatively collaborate one-on-one with expert faculty and fellow students.

Apply Your Skills in Our Advanced Design Spaces

Practice your design skills in our state-of-the-art learning laboratories. Interior architecture design students work in a dedicated studio space with a critique room, exhibition gallery, resource library, work room, and design spaces.

Workstations are equipped with leading industry software, including AutoCAD, Revit, 20/20, Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch Up, and others. You will collaborate with your peers on studio projects, critiques, design competitions, and presentations, and use the design spaces for exams and research papers.

What You'll Learn in the Interior Architecture Design Program

The BFA in Interior Architecture Design emphasizes professional preparation, collaboration, and innovation in the conceptualization and design of attractive, dynamic interior spaces. In this program, you will complete studio courses in design areas including: healthcare, historic restoration, residential, NKBA kitchen and bath, multi-family residential, commercial, and universal and corporate.

Studio courses will help you create a design portfolio for post-graduation employment. And you will have the opportunity to participate in a senior thesis exhibition. This year-long project begins in the fall semester with in-depth research on your chosen project typology and continues in the spring semester with design and construction documents. You will finish your undergraduate program with a final design solution for your chosen field.

You will also complete an internship. Our students have secured internships with architecture and interior design firms in cities including Atlanta, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, and Phoenix.

Transfer Credit

Indiana State University accepts credit from regionally accredited colleges and universities within the United States, and from selected schools located outside the United States. Credit also may be granted for military training and experience. Previously earned college credit can be applied toward completion of the program per Indiana State's transfer guidelines.

Transfer Guidelines

Career Possibilities for Interior Architecture Design Majors

Our program prepares you for a successful career with interior design and architecture firms, corporate facilities management offices, governmental offices, trade showrooms, and exhibit design offices in museums. Our graduates practice across the United States and abroad.

Current employers of Indiana State interior architecture design alumni include: Carson Design Associates (Indianapolis), CSO Architects (Indianapolis), Jensen & Halstead Ltd. (Chicago), Ratio Architects (Indianapolis), Restoration Hardware (Cincinnati), and Salernos Kitchen Cabinetry (New York).

Azizi Arrington-Slocum, a Black female professor of interior architecture design, stands before three walls of interior architecture blueprints and plans. She has shoulder-length black hair, and she wears a grey shirt and black pants.

Learn from This Expert

“Design is just like poetry. It’s a form of art. The way poems make us feel is the same with design.”

Professor and Built Environment Department Chair Azizi Arrington-Slocum encourages hands-on creativity and innovation as she educates future interior architecture designers at Indiana State.

Learn more about Prof. Arrington-Slocum and the program.

Accreditation

Indiana State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

In addition, the Interior Architecture Design program is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (formerly FIDER) and the National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD).

The CIDA-accredited program prepares students for entry-level interior design practice, for advanced study, and to apply for membership in professional interior design organizations. The BFA Interior Architecture Design granted by Indiana State University meets the educational requirement for eligibility to sit for the National Council for Interior Design Qualification Examination (NCIDQ Exam).

There are three parts to the NCIDQ exam: Interior Design Fundamentals Exam (IDFX), Interior Design Professional Exam (IDPX), and Practicum (PRAC). Students in the IAD program can apply for the Interior Design Fundamentals Exam (IDFX) during their last year or right after graduation. Graduates can apply for the IDPX and Practicum exams as soon as they have completed the required qualified work experience (two years full-time minimum of 3,520 hours).

For more information see: https://www.cidq.org/exams

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA

It typically takes a full-time student taking approximately 15 credits per semester four years to complete the degree program. Transfer students with interior design-specific courses can typically complete the program in 2.5 years. Due to the BFA of Interior Architecture Design being a first-professional degree, many of our graduates do not pursue graduate school. One student who graduated in 2024 applied for graduate school.

The following data was collected using institutional records and a graduate survey submitted to the graduating class of 2024. Thirteen out of 14 students responded to the survey.

STUDENT ATTRITION AND RETENTION

Sixty-two percent of students admitted to the IAD Pre-Design program in the Fall 2023 cohort returned in the Fall 2024, putting IAD attrition at 38%. In the same year, 100% of sophomore-cohort IAD students, and 100% of junior cohort IAD students matriculated to the next level.

GRADUATION RATES:

Of the students graduating in 2024, 93% graduated in four years.

JOB PLACEMENT RATES
Seventy-seven percent of students who graduated in 2024 are employed in interior design or a related profession. Eighty-eight percent of students who graduated in 2023 are employed in interior design or a related profession.