The IIDA Student Design Competition (SDC), sponsored by OFS and Carolina, celebrates the talent and fresh design ideas of design students around the world who are currently enrolled in an interior design or interior architecture program. The competition provides emerging professionals the opportunity to showcase their work and gain exposure in the interior design industry.

For this year’s competition, students were challenged to space plan and design a primary care clinic in a rural community of Northwest Montana. The aim was for the students to create an efficient workspace for physicians while providing a dignified and seamless patient experience through innovative design, ensuring flexibility, reducing anxiety, enhancing focus, and supporting comfort and autonomy. Students were inspired to craft a welcoming atmosphere that feels like "home" and accommodates a variety of physical, sensory, and cognitive needs, promoting inclusivity for neurodiverse individuals. Explore the winning submissions from students who utilized design strategies to transform healthcare into a more compassionate experience.

Jurors

WINNERS

FIRST PLACE:
Deborah Wroblewski, George Washington University
Uplift Primary Care Clinic

Northwest Montanans face healthcare barriers related to geographic isolation, provider shortages, and limited access to specialty care. Uplift Primary Care Clinic is a community anchor and civic space, supporting integrated care delivery and addressing the realities of rural healthcare access. Reimagined as a vibrant community space, the waiting room has social and private zones accommodating a spectrum of needs like internet access, educational resources, social interaction, and privacy. Self-rooming and check-in kiosks improve efficiency and promote patient autonomy, while staffed reception zones preserve human connection. Integrated treatment models make treatment across multiple practices seamless, while balancing evolving technologies with personal interactions. The materials and layout draw inspiration from Montana’s expansive landscape, wildlife, and mining history, with air quality and breathable materials as architectural expressions of care for residents who have had their health impacted by the mining industry. Integrating community gathering spaces, coordinated care environments, and regionally responsive interior strategies, the clinic improves access to care, strengthens provider collaboration, and reinforces primary care as essential civic infrastructure across the region.

SECOND PLACE:
Elise Hewitt and Kelsey Kamerling, Kirkwood Community College
Care That Belongs

Care That Belongs explores how healthcare environments can create spaces rooted in familiarity, rhythm, and place. The project focuses on thoughtful design that fosters emotional comfort, intuitive movement, and long-term trust. Circulation paths are clear and intuitive, reducing stress and reinforcing predictability. Subtle transitions in lighting, materials, and scale help define public, transitional, and private zones without harsh separation. Inspired by the surrounding landscape, materials and finishes blend soft textures and muted tones to balance support, comfort and familiarity with the technical needs of a medical environment. Human-centered planning informs each area of the clinics with waiting spaces that support autonomy and personal comfort, and exam consultation rooms that prioritize clarity and adaptability for both patients and providers. Staff areas are designed as restorative spaces that support caregivers who are essential pillars in rural communities. Consistent visual cues, cohesive material palettes, and gentle spatial rhythms create an environment that becomes easier to navigate with each visit and reinforces a sense of belonging. The clinic is a space that reinforces trust and is shaped by comfort, clarity, and connection.Care That Belongs explores how healthcare environments can create spaces rooted in familiarity, rhythm, and place. The project focuses on thoughtful design that fosters emotional comfort, intuitive movement, and long-term trust. Circulation paths are clear and intuitive, reducing stress and reinforcing predictability. Subtle transitions in lighting, materials, and scale help define public, transitional, and private zones without harsh separation. Inspired by the surrounding landscape, materials and finishes blend soft textures and muted tones to balance support, comfort and familiarity with the technical needs of a medical environment. Human-centered planning informs each area of the clinics with waiting spaces that support autonomy and personal comfort, and exam consultation rooms that prioritize clarity and adaptability for both patients and providers. Staff areas are designed as restorative spaces that support caregivers who are essential pillars in rural communities. Consistent visual cues, cohesive material palettes, and gentle spatial rhythms create an environment that becomes easier to navigate with each visit and reinforces a sense of belonging. The clinic is a space that reinforces trust and is shaped by comfort, clarity, and connection.

THIRD PLACE:
Grace Becton, George Washington University
The Grove

The Grove mirrors Northwest Montana’s heavily forested landscape, transitioning from open, public waiting spaces to sheltered “groves” of care. The design uses natural elements to establish a sense of place with a peaceful backdrop. The patient journey begins in the waiting area, conceived as an “open meadow,” surrounded by “trees.” Wood-wrapped structural columns and perforated metal screens evoking light filtering through a forest canopy and support emotional regulation and anxiety reduction, while feeling familiar and non-institutional. A dedicated sensory room serves neurodiverse patients through adjustable lighting and sound, a sensory pod, and a green wall providing visual and tactile engagement. Zones are clearly articulated by shifts in lighting, ceiling condition, and materiality signaling entry into the core clinical zone. Exam rooms are organized to improve workflow efficiency, reduce travel distances, and support provider oversight, and the central care desk and staff lounge promote caregiver well-being and retention. Through evidence-based design strategies, and empathy for patient and provider experiences, The Grove delivers an inclusive, welcoming healthcare environment rooted in the local context.

Honorable Mentions

HONORABLE MENTION
Alexa Condenton and Lilly Gleaton, Florida State University
Pondera Health

HONORABLE MENTION:
Haoen Chen and Yu-Sien Tsao, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
HEARTH Primary Care Clinic

HEARTH Primary Care Clinic focuses on three key priorities: supporting collective; organizing space through visibility over separation; and creating a supportive environment for patients and healthcare workers. Care is understood as a “shared and visible condition.” The design ensures care remains perceptible and visible with a centrally located care desk serving as a visual anchor for the entire clinic. Exam rooms become relational spaces rather than standardized, isolated boxes, responding to different conditions, and acknowledging that primary care is often experienced collectively. Single rooms support focused consultations, a sensory room aids patients who feel overwhelmed, and family exam rooms accommodate larger groups. We also place emphasis on staff well-being as a critical design priority rather than a secondary concern. Staff areas are organized to reduce unnecessary movement, support short moments of recovery, and improve retention. This design offers a balanced and sustainable solution for long-term healthcare environments by integrating shared care, relational exam spaces, and staff well-being into the structure of the clinic while balancing the realities of comprehensive primary care.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Gabby Gilden, George Washington University
Juniper Primary Care

Juniper Primary Care supports neurodiverse and rural patient populations through familiar and legible spaces. Drawing. While overly stylized design can feel unfamiliar and intimidating, when inspired by home it fosters trust, comfort, and a sense of well-being among patients and providers. Neurodiverse individuals with heightened sensitivity to sound, light, color, and movement need predictability, clear and intuitive wayfinding, and flexibility. Fractal patterns translate a natural, familiar pattern into an organizing framework providing and are seen subtly throughout the clinic. The patient corridor has a linear organization that minimizes patient confusion and offers a calming view of the mountains. Provider efficiency and privacy is achieved through an on-stage off-stage model with intentional space planning and same-handed layouts within exam rooms. Materials that aid in acoustic mitigation and cleanability, stimulating and adjustable features in the sensory waiting room, and resources for the providers were also considered. By incorporating principles of neurodiversity, domestic familiarity, and natural pattern into spatial organization, Juniper Primary Care supports patient well-being, clinical efficiency, and comfort for everyone involved.

Learn more about the Student Design Competition here.