Interior Design with Foundation
Interior design is about far more than decoration. It is the discipline of shaping the built environment at the human scale, creating spaces that function well, feel right and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people who live, work and move through them. Interior designers consider light, material, spatial proportion, colour, acoustics, accessibility and the flow of movement through a space, drawing on architectural history, ergonomics, sustainable design and visual communication to develop proposals that are both technically sound and aesthetically coherent.
The University of Plymouth's Interior Design programme includes a foundation year, running over four years in total full time. The foundation provides an important period of exploration and skills development before you progress into the full degree, making the programme well suited to students who are developing their creative practice or have come to the subject from a less conventional background. The structure also includes a sandwich year with work placement opportunities, giving you professional experience in the industry, and a year abroad, extending your cultural and design education in an international setting.
The typical entry tariff is around 56 UCAS points for foundation entry.
You will develop creative and technical skills across the programme, working with drawing, model-making, computer-aided design and digital visualisation tools alongside the conceptual and critical thinking that underpins good design. You will study the history and theory of interior design and architecture, sustainable design principles, materials and construction, project management and professional practice. Project work is central to the learning experience, with briefs that require you to move from initial concept through design development to a resolved and presented proposal.
Graduates of interior design programmes work across residential, commercial, hospitality, retail and exhibition design sectors. Career paths include interior design consultancy, spatial design for events and exhibitions, set design, product sourcing and specification, architectural visualisation and design project management. Many graduates work in studios that serve the hospitality, retail or corporate fit-out sectors.
Further study in interior architecture, sustainable design or spatial design is an option for those who wish to develop a particular specialism.