Course General Description

In the Master of Fine Arts in Interior Architecture (IA) program at the Corcoran School, we believe in fostering a community that encourages creativity and pushes the boundaries of design with an emphasis on conceptual thinking and the design process. Our studio-based curriculum, the core of our program, is where you’ll learn to design three-dimensional environments through the use of dynamic concepts, cutting-edge materials, and innovative methods and techniques. Our studio projects take advantage of our location in an arts + design school within a major research university in the nation’s capital. Through interdisciplinary studies we collaborate with diverse GW departments, work on adaptive reuse projects positioned within historic contexts in DC, and on projects that highlight the global vision of the university. Through our studio-based core curriculum, you’ll learn about habitable environments ranging from small interiors to larger, more complex commercial and institutional spaces. With projects focused on current design issues as well as lectures and critiques from distinguished professionals, the IA program is a carefully sequenced series of courses building on theoretical, technical and creative challenges and experiences.

School General Description

The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at the George Washington University prepares its graduates to be the next generation of global leaders. Part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the school functions as an incubator for artists, designers and scholars, who learn from internationally renowned faculty at the intersection of creativity and social innovation. It is an academic experience like no other—inspiring students to research, create and innovate with the potential to shape the world around them. We are a community of civically engaged artists and practitioners, aiming to impact the world through social change. Our students are poised to not just join the creative field of their choice, but to define it for themselves as they become well versed in both practice and research. We embody and exemplify the Columbian College’s Engaged Liberal Arts credo, which strives to link disparate fields and better prepare our graduates for rich, multidimensional careers in the evolving world we live in. The challenges society faces are diverse, requiring different modes of thought, and we prepare our students by encouraging inquiry and collaboration. While we at the Corcoran School can prepare specialists, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our practice and view ourselves as a place of possibility for students instead of teaching art in a singular way.