International Center University of Florida

Students at UF and overseas were required to work with their counterparts in designing a restaurant's interior space that acknowledged the culture of that place. See final project examples above.

The main objective of this project was for students to engage with a different culture and diverse disciplinary background. Students had to interview one another in assigned groups between the three institutions to learn about cultural traits and spatial characteristics to propose a design solution. Also, they had three disciplinary backgrounds, all design-related. At UF, our students were Interior Designers and at the Universidad Autonoma de Occidente, Industrial designers taking an Interior design course. At the same time, at Universidad Icesi, they were Industrial designers working on experience (UX/UI) design. This blending of different views will enrich their cultural background and help them understand how different disciplinary perspectives can shape the same project.

• Understand the terminology and language necessary to communicate effectively with members of allied disciplines 
• Learn how to propose an exciting concept for a design proposal (applied creativity)
• Demonstrate the ability to apply space planning techniques throughout the design process
• Understand and apply building codes and regulations in a design proposal
•  Effectively express ideas and their rationale in oral communication and visual media appropriate to a range of purposes and audiences
• Understand the elements and principles of design and related theories, including spatial definition and organization
• Effectively apply the elements and principles of design throughout the interior design curriculum to two-dimensional and three-dimensional design solutions