IIDA’s Design Your World Program, an education initiative designed to provide early exposure to architecture and interior design careers for diverse high-schoolers, returned for a second session this summer. The 2022 program included a second annual session in Chicago, and an inaugural session in Miami. Both programs provide opportunities and pathways for students that may otherwise not be exposed to careers in design, with the goal of promoting equity and diversity in the industry, while empowering students to explore their interest in creative or design-oriented careers, and seeing these careers as accessible to them. Returning 2021 sponsors OFS, 3form, Mannington Commercial, and Configura were joined this year by DIRTT, Material Bank, and Sherwin-Williams in supporting the program.

Design Your World Miami

The four-week Miami program kicked off June 14, ran through July 8 and met four times weekly for a curriculum covering the basics of commercial interior design, color theory, textiles, and layout with instructor Kenzie Leon Perry, creative director at Ze Haus Design Studio. A licensed interior designer, visual artist, and product designer, Perry provided 17 students with a deep knowledge of building a creative career in commercial interior design and associated fields. Perry served as not only an instructor but as a model of success for a person of color in the design industry.

Guest speakers and lecturers included interior designers, firm owners and operators, and reps from OFS, Sherwin-Williams, and M.C. Harry & Associates architect Naomi Harrison, AIA. The Miami program was made possible through partnerships with Black Architects in the Making (BAM) (for which Harrison was a co-founder), a Miami-based initiative that develops interest & provides pathways to young students of color into the field of architecture, IIDA Southern Florida, and Florida International University. Students met for classes on the FIU main campus for the duration of the program.

Students took a field trip to the Design District in Miami where they took a walking tour of the neighborhood and learned the history of the district and city, and were shown examples of historical and modern architecture, and interior design. They also visited “The Living Room,” a 42-foot tall landmark sculpture of a room that students sketched to practice perspective drawing. It served as the basis for their final group project where they designed various facets of a community center.

Design Your World Chicago

Chicago’s second Design Your World program was a five-week course meeting four times weekly running from July 12 to August 11th. It was held at the downtown IIDA headquarters’ office, designed by Gensler, and located on the famed Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River. Instructor Jati Zunaibi, a doctoral candidate in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and educator and researcher was joined by co-instructor Joclyn Oats, an interior design and architectural professor at Columbia College (retired) to lead 17 high school students in exposure to a career in design. Chicago-based Afterschool Matters (ASM) returned as the program’s education partner for a second year.

The curriculum for this program was designed so that students would leave with the beginnings of a design portfolio. They learned the basics of commercial interior design, color theory, textiles, and layout, emphasizing telling a story through design, becoming skillful at sketching and elevations, and pitching projects to clients. Students took two field trips in this course including a walking tour from the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAC) where they visited historical examples of architecture in the city, and to theMART visiting the Mannington Commercial and OFS showrooms, and the 3form pop-up booth. For the second field trip, the students visited the DIRTT offices to learn about their wall systems, understand their sustainability commitment, and geek out with some very cool AR/VR technology being used for design.

The final project for students was to work in three groups to create spaces for “repose” or rest and reflection. The teams worked in groups of five to design a snack and coffee area at a Marriott, a lounge in a workplace for a tech company (think Google or Apple), and a student dorm lounge at MIT.

IIDA’s Design Your World program is open to diverse teenagers as young as 13 and provides early exposure to commercial interior design and architectural fields. The program builds an understanding of what it can look like to design spaces and places, products and textiles, or to be a rep, project manager, or business owner; students leave with examples of how to make a path for themselves in a creative or design-oriented field. In addition to continuing the program in each existing city, there are plans to expand the program year by year, offering a curriculum and instructors that represent the diversity of the students, and the cities in which they live.

Cheryl S. Durst, IIDA CEO and Executive Vice President shared, “Our goal is for students to consider design as an accessible profession, but also to feel something—for design to prompt a reaction to their environment in a deeper way and for that feeling to create a ripple effect across the country.” With Design Your World, IIDA, its partners, and sponsors are hoping to impact the industry with a significant shift in the make-up of who feels powered to pursue design as a career, both now and in the future. And more importantly, impacting the trajectory of the students, as they begin to explore what they want to pursue as a career, and what kind of world they want to create.

A huge thank you to this year's sponsors who were integral to the success of the program, and thanks to DYW’s media partner, Interiors + Sources.

Learn more about Design Your World, and how get involved.