Acoustics & Lighting Project

The interior design studio is located in the NDSU Memorial Union on the second floor. It is a space for the students of the interior design program to unleash their full creativity. To enhance productivity, the classrooms have been placed near the South windows and a DIIRT Wall System has been placed in the middle of the studio to allow natural light to flow through the entire space. Along with the two classrooms, there are also different collaboration spaces and designated workspaces. When walking into the studio, students will be welcomed by a critique wall where they can pin up their work and receive feedback on it from their peers. On the other side of this wall is the open workspace. Here students will find Herman Miller Pullman Booths for private work or even collaborating. There is also a large sectional sofa placed in front of the TV. Here students can socialize, practice presentations, or even take a quick rest between classes. Finally, a space dedicated to model and material board making or any other hands-on project. This gives students an area for them to be messy without having to feel confined.

Since this interior design studio is being used by college students and professors the overall design of the space has a sophisticated, yet earthy feel to it. The overall color palette in the space is earth tones, including a terracotta orange, many different shades of green, beiges, and browns. This color palette along with the different living walls that are in the space will make the users feel closer to nature and incorporate biophilia in the studio. When in the classroom areas students have the option to choose from sitting at the standard studio desks along with Steelcase Think chairs or sitting in a comfortable tablet side chair. This gives students two different options to choose from when taking notes or listening to lectures.

 Finally, the collaboration space ceiling is finished with Armstrong’s Woodworks Grille ceiling panels. This is an acoustic solution for the space and will keep reverberation in the studio to a low. The ceiling in the classroom space was kept as is but for acoustic solutions a linear LED light that is finished with acoustical material to help with the noise level in the space.