This post is brought to you by the Piet Zwart Institute.

The Piet Zwart Institute houses the international Master programs of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Named after the pioneering Dutch designer, Piet Zwart, who worked experimentally across media and contexts, the Institute offers a rich combination of in-depth specialization and interdisciplinary exchange within an intimate learning environment.

As a small-scale program, MIARD operates from a point of view that education is adaptable to a variety of external forces and should resist institutional idleness.  Practice is considered an expanding field as a means to train practitioners for a career in a changing world. Interior Architects are increasingly faced with a complex world of new realties, technologies, socio-political, environmental and economic challenges; thus, the practice of the designer needs to react, expand and shape future roles.

The program is built around a self-directed, multi-discipline practitioner. Students develop their practice while synchronizing design-led research with critically reflective, theoretical and historical discourse.  The curriculum is multi-disciplinary, designed with international staff and students from diverse backgrounds who share and combine their expertise and resources.  While, the concept of “making public” contextualizes our learning environment directly within the professional field. This is executed within the curriculum’s triad structure of unified modules, Design Project, Critical Strategies, Multiple Media, that together shape thematic ‘spaces’ of design-led research throughout the two-year program.

Visit their online archive to learn about the awards, scholarships, publications, exhibitions, projects and international collaborations of our students and alumni.

Staff 2018-19: Andrea Bagnato (editor, researcher), Max Bruinsma (writer, critic, editorial design), Fosco Lucarelli (architect, curator), Selina Parr (designer), Füsun Türetken (architect, visual artist), Ephraim Joris (architect), Olivier Otten (interaction designer), Lara Tolman (designer), Daphne Heemskerk (graphic designer), Mariabruna Fabrizi (architect, curator), Alex Suárez (Course Director, architect, educator)

Guests, Speakers & Studio Visits: Hilary Sample, Marina Otero Verzier, Aristide Antonas, Cooking Sections, Nick Axel, Shumi Bose, Anna Puigjaner, Erik Rietveld, Lois Weinthal, Aslı Çiçek, Alessandra Covini, Koehorst in t'veld, Gabriel Lester, Chris Kabel, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Random Studio, Tamar Shafrir, Riet Eeckhout, Simone C. Niquille, Tijs Gilde, Laura Herman, Federico Martelli, Niels Schrader, Tomas Saraceno, Point Supreme, Kuehn Malvezzi, Brenden Cromier, Sander Wassink, OS&OOS, Michiel van Iersel, Bastiaan de Nennie, Parasite 2.0, Penny Sparks, Koen Deprez

Application deadline for the Master of Interior Architecture: Research + Design program is March 1, 2019. Click here to apply.