Interdisciplinary Activity in Interior Design, Architecture

Legions of serious and influential thinkers are turning in their graves—and those that have not yet died of shock are sitting straight-up on their chaises longues—contemplating the suggestion that the practice of interior architecture/design has little in common with the practice of architecture. They are even more disturbed by the thought that there is no shared body of theory among the fields. [“Why Shashi Caan is Overhauling Interior Design Education”] I can only hope that the informal interview style of this brief reflection by Shashi Caan is to blame.

If we look beyond the mere stylistic or formalistic practices of interior design and decorating, we find serious cross-disciplinary activity on both the undergraduate and graduate level. We also find progressive curriculum models and provocative discourse and practice that have long been freed from the bureaucratic mechanisms that attempt to categorize and constrain. In fact, Shashi Caan’s own academic background is an example of this fluidity.

Hennie Reynders
Architecture, Interior Architecture & Landscape Architecture
University of Pretoria, South Africa