| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2024-01-01 | - |
| 2024-04-01 | - |
| 2024-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
The Diploma in Interior Design program at BCIT provides a comprehensive foundation in commercial design principles, including sustainability practices, lighting, and advanced visual communication. Through hands-on experience in the Joinery shop and industry-based faculty, students develop practical skills for careers in residential and commercial design. Graduates can pursue careers with interior or architectural design firms or continue their studies in the Bachelor of Interior Design program to become Registered Interior Designers.
Program Outline
Outline:
Program Content and Structure:
The Diploma in Interior Design program comprises courses in commercial design principles, including hospitality, offices, and retail environments. Students develop advanced design theory, commercial space planning, sustainability practices, codes and accessibility compliance, lighting, design history, advanced 2D & 3D visual communication, critical reading and writing, construction drawings, and architectural millwork. Additionally, students gain practical experience in millwork details and assembly through hands-on experience in the Joinery shop. The program provides a solid academic and technical foundation for a rewarding career in interior design.
Course Schedule:
The part-time format of the Diploma program allows students to work during the day while attending classes in the evenings and weekends. Some courses may require students to be available on Friday afternoons for field trips. Students can contact the part-time studies program assistant at interior_design@bcit.ca for various schedules of completion.
Individual Modules:
The program curriculum includes the following courses:
- Introduction to Western Visual Culture: European Renaissance to the Present (AHVC 1126): Explores key images, sculptures, and buildings in the Western cultural tradition, focusing on European art from the Renaissance to the present.
- Communication 2 (COMM 2320): Builds on skills acquired in COMM 1120, enhancing students' persuasive writing and presentation abilities for professional success.
- Design Theory 2 (INTD 3100): Examines design theories and processes in the built environment, emphasizing sensory perception and sustainability concepts.
- Commercial Lighting for Interior Design (INTD 3240): Develops skills in creative and detailed lighting design solutions for commercial spaces, focusing on concepts, applications, specifications, and enhancement of interior environments.
- Revit for Interior Design (INTD 3260): Covers basics of Autodesk Revit for Windows as used in the Interior Design industry, introducing tools and concepts for working with a parametric building model.
- Commercial Design Studio A (INTD 3300): Emphasizes workplace and retail design, guiding students in creating distinctive design concepts, branding, and planning for retail spaces, as well as applying design processes for planning offices and incorporating systems furniture.
- Materials and Specifications (INTD 3320): Expands knowledge of materials for commercial interior projects, preparing students to create specifications considering physical properties and appropriate applications, with a focus on sourcing responsible materials.
- Advanced Digital Illustration for Interior Design (INTD 3360): Enhances digital illustration skills using SketchUp and rendering software, applying advanced techniques in lighting, 3D modeling, and texturing to create photo-realistic images of interiors.
- Human and Environmental Factors (INTD 4110): Examines the interior built environment in relation to human physical and psychological needs, incorporating sustainable principles like WELL, LEED, Cradle to Cradle philosophy, Living Building Challenge (LBC), Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and other environmental methodologies in interior design.
- Interior Construction and Renovation (INTD 4120): Provides understanding of residential wood frame construction and commercial steel stud construction, including the production of a partial model for various stages of wood frame construction and field trips to construction sites.
- Architectural Millwork Studio (INTD 4200): Introduces design of millwork and freestanding custom furniture for residential and commercial spaces, exploring materials, joinery methods, hardware types, wood species, and characteristics, and producing detailed working drawings.
- Commercial Design Studio B (INTD 4300): Applies design theories and processes to a hospitality project, guiding students in creating comprehensive solutions that support human behavior in the built environment, translating concepts into construction drawings, and exploring design concepts derived from conceptual and spatial analysis.
- Commercial Construction Drawings (INTD 4320): Builds on construction drawing knowledge, enabling students to complete a set of commercial construction drawings using AutoCAD for Windows.
- Building Codes and Barrier Free for Interior Design (INTD 4360): Introduces the latest BC Building Code Part 3 as it applies to interior design, covering code objectives, definitions, appendices, and their relevance to the built environment, emphasizing life safety issues, occupancy classification, fire ratings and separations, and means of egress.
- Commercial Directed Studies Project (INTD 4550): Allows students to apply knowledge, concepts, skills, and techniques from previous courses to generate a creative solution for a design project that supports human behavior in the interior environment, developing conceptual solutions through research, documentation, and critical analysis.
- Joinery Fundamentals for Interior Design (JOIN 4350): Focuses on the relationship between Cabinetmaking (Millwork) and Design, providing opportunities for interaction with professional cabinetmakers and hands-on experience in BCIT's millwork shop.
- Critical Reading and Writing (LIBS 7001): Develops advanced composition and rhetoric skills, including critical analysis and interpretation of materials from various discourses, essay writing, including critiques and research papers, and application of principles of rhetoric and critical theory.
- Virtual Reality for Interior Design (INTD 0060): (Optional elective) Introduces Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications in interior design.
Assessment:
The program uses a 65% passing grade requirement for all Interior Design diploma courses. For specific course prerequisites, refer to the course descriptions. Students intending to continue to the Bachelor of Interior Design program must maintain a minimum of 65% in all INTD and COMM courses and 70% in JOIN 4350.
Teaching:
The program's faculty consists of industry-based professionals who provide students with hands-on experience and extensive practical skills for rewarding careers. The program utilizes a combination of lectures, discussions, individual and group activities, and field trips to complement the theoretical aspects of the curriculum.
Careers:
Graduates can pursue careers in the field of residential and commercial design with interior or architectural design firms. Individuals aiming to become Registered Interior Designers must complete their studies with the Bachelor of Interior Design program. Students may also apply for a student membership with the Interior Designers Institute of BC (IDIBC).
