What Is Interior Architecture?

What Is Interior Architecture?

by Colleen Wittman
Graduate in Interior Architecture and Product Design


Any IA student up here has undoubtedly been asked over the years, “why exactly did you choose interior architecture?” or better yet, “what IS interior architecture?” Perhaps the reason many of us chose interior architecture is because of its broad approach to design. This is a profession that offers a choice to each of its students… what aspect of design do you wish to explore? Although it may seem adding the word “interior” before architecture more narrowly defines what we do, our class has exemplified that we are not at all restrained by these limits. Interior architecture offered our class as diverse an education as the students in it. We have watched each other mature as designers over the years (a process by no means over, as nothing in design is), watching each person find their niche, their own unique skill set; everyone is able to explore and excel at something a little different than the other. Sitting up here are incredibly talented furniture, product and interior designers and architects, yes, but our class has also developed into talented lighting designers, graphic designers, artists, computer technicians and even filmmakers.

In one way, though, all of us share a similarity: we have shared our time together in Seaton Hall, more or less in the same room, and in some way or another we have all taught each other, grown with each other, and learned a great deal from each other.

Our faculty has been the other constant; they have directly and indirectly guided us into becoming the young designers we are today. They have provided endless support and encouragement, putting out our fires (literally), braved icy weather and met us in studio on the weekends, and even dodged deer on their commute (pause) - or at least they attempted to dodge the deer (pause) you did try at least to miss them, right Vicky? Their passion for what they do is incredibly inspiring… There is this Steve Jobs’ quote which I feel really resonates with design students: he says, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. And if you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

It is hard to imagine, after being in Seaton Hall for a disproportionate amount of our college days (“working hard or hardly working”, as Neal says) that we will walk through these doors today and not have to go back into studio… I had wanted to come up here and tell you a hilarious architecture-related anecdote that would sum up the experience we’ve had over these past 5, 6 or 7 years (depending on who you are)…and also inspire us to do great things from this point on…and then I came to the now obvious conclusion that there are no funny architecture-related anecdotes that could do justice do our experience. But I would like to share one last piece of advice someone gave me before we go our separate ways…

The gist of it was basically that something is only hard or scary if you don’t do it. Nothing is ever as hard or scary as you think it will be-you just have to have the courage to actually do it. Everyone up here has at one point questioned (most likely while pulling an all-nighter) whether this education is the right direction to lead our future. Each person up here today has answered ‘yes’ to that question and has pursued this degree with hard work and patience, but even deeper than that, a love of design. Let’s have the courage to do what we believe is great work, to love what we do, to find what it is each of us is looking for.