Interior Design Essay Example

Interior Design Essay In their article, Interior design education within a human ecological framework, Kaup, Anderson and Honey (2007) argue for an interdisciplinary model of interior design education that would incorporate the study of human ecology. Kaup, Anderson and Honey contend that such an approach would enhance the overall skill set of interior designers, allowing them to provide a greater benefit to businesses, homeowners and communities, while also addressing some of the perceived training gaps in current interior design education. While Kaup, Anderson and Honey (2007) structure their article as an argumentative essay, they rely heavily on a literature-review format to help cement their points. To begin their argument, Kaup, Anderson and Honey define human ecology as the study of human beings, their environments and human-environment interactions from a holistic perspective (p. 45). Human ecology incorporates the science of human behavior study with the art of creating functional design to enha nce how humans thrive in their environments. In short, the authors argue that students who study human ecology as part of their interior design curriculum will be exposed to such diverse fields as anthropology, archeology, architecture, biology, demography and more (p. 46). This would provide a more complete education than most interior design students are currently receiving at U.S. colleges, Kaup, Anderson and Honey contend. According to Kaup, Anderson and Honey (2007), state licensing of interior designers has been increasing steadily since the 1960s, and the Council for Interior Design Accreditation has established minimum standards that accredited colleges must adhere to in the construct and delivery of their programs. Those standards, however, leave colleges a fair degree of latitude in deciding which disciplines to align their programs with. For example, some colleges emphasize the artistic element of interior design,