Prototyping process: interior architecture as a social agency

How can education in interior architecture facilitate knowledge and experiences beyond the standard curriculum? Pause + Play was a design-build public installation, which was the result of a participatory collaboration in an interior architecture graduate program in the southwest United States. The collaboration included students from Arizona State University consisting of seven graduate students in interior architecture, one graduate student from architecture, three graduate students from music and 75 sixth graders from Porter Elementary School, a local school in Mesa, Arizona. The studio explored the social capacity for interior design to engage youth, as well as the material expertise (detailing and building) required to practice effectively in this field. The studio explored interior architecture within a social context and without architecture, in the sense that there was not an indoor room. The graduate students engaged with the youth through games, collages, model making, narrative of their models and intergenerational interviews to establish a participatory collaboration to engage them in the design process. They analyzed the work and ideas proposed by the children, designed, fabricated, and mounted the installation during the fall 2017 studio. The final outcome named “Pause + Play” carried the goals set for the process by inviting visitors to explore, discover and reflect on one’s own culture. This article presents the studio approach for a funded participatory research + design + build effort under the umbrella of a common thesis problem: A participatory collaboration that reflects on culture and play through the eyes of children.