Prescriptive Methodology as a Generative Tool: A Case Study Conducted at Introductory Interior Design Studio Level in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

In the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates), interior design education is often misunderstood as interior decoration, wherein the former is a more comprehensive design approach to spaces formed by structural boundaries and curation of human interaction. The conducted case study addressed a small number of students enrolled in Interior Design Studio I at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi campus. In addition to traditional teaching methods compromised of individual desk critique sessions, group pin-ups and presentations, three innovative methods were implemented as a means of guiding students through the process: direct sequential instruction executed within an assigned time frame, reflection on the surfaced result and use of flat photography or panoramas as means of space communication. Throughout the three implemented stages of the project, and through utilizing the above-described generative methodology, students achieved complex representation and revealed higher spatial order related to human occupation and space inhabitation. This methodology allowed students to channel their work through complex sets of interconnected information and derived an outcome from an accumulative multi-layered resolution. The article presents the process and analyses the achieved outcomes.