News Release
February  4, 2008

Real-life projects enhance learning for UW interior design class

Not every college student has God perusing the final class project.

Each fall, students in Treva Sprout’s senior level interior design class conducts a project with a client. This year, the students are designing plans for The Gardens in the Wyoming Union.

Last fall, students provided designs for several areas of Laramie Valley Chapel in eastern Laramie, across from Wal-Mart. Sprout, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the College of Agriculture and a member of the church, asked if her students could submit designs. The answer was yes.

“I didn’t even hesitate to recommend this as a project for our students,” said Sprout, who is busy helping implement the accepted concepts by the church’s building committee. The eight students in the class formed teams of two  to create design ideas for the church entry, standing area, sanctuary, hallway to the coffee shop/commons area, and the men’s and women’s restrooms.

“It’s a senior-level class. They’d learned so much before,” said Sprout. “All they had to do was expand on that knowledge. Everybody starts with the basics and uses this foundation to solve design problems. I didn’t have any qualms.”

The class met with the church building committee members, who told students the general design ideas they sought, and discussed areas of the chapel they wanted help with, said Allison Boomgaarden of Laramie, a student in the class.

“Having personal experience with real clients and the possibility of our ideas becoming real designs was incredibly important for what our future careers may hold,” she said.

Not all the designs are being incorporated into the church, and some have had modifications. “The students’ job was to give ideas,” said Sprout. “Everything was presented in a 3D model and rendered format. There is such a conglomeration of ideas; there is no one student’s design. It’s a real-life experience and excellent resume material, too.”

That aspect is important, noted Boomgaarden. “I feel designing for a real-life scenario extremely enhanced the learning experience of the class,” she said. “This real-life scenario will help us greatly when applying for jobs and working on future real-life designs. I would highly recommend a project involving a real-life scenario for any interior design student.”

Each student received a letter from the design committee discussing the quality of the designs. The letter can be part of a portfolio or resume, said Sprout.

The high praise comes with a large time commitment. “They are introduced to a project the second week of the semester,” said Sprout. “The students meet twice a week, but they also have to put in many hours in the lab outside of class time. It’s a big time commitment, but it’s a senior design project – it should be.”

Students are graded on whether they solved the design problem, said Sprout, “and whether it worked for the intended function, their creativity, their unique approach, and on how well they used the computer programs.”   

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Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/news.asp

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