The Master of Interior Design (MID) program provides an education in interior environments that elevates and reinvents the discipline of interior architecture by mining and re-imagining the range of our human experiences. In doing so, this graduate program cultivates scholars, academics and critics, while generating emergent and alternative approaches to the profession, specifically in the Southern California region.
Apply Request Information Take a TourAll architecture and interior design programs at Woodbury have been designated as STEM degrees. The School of Architecture received approvals internally from the University Curriculum Committee and Office of Academic Affairs, and externally from WASC (WSCUC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Starting in the fall of 2020, students enrolling in the following programs will graduate with STEM-designated degrees:
Master of Architecture
Master of Science in Architecture
Master of Science in Architecture in Real Estate Development
Master of Interior Design
Bachelor of Architecture
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design
All international students enrolled in these programs can now apply for a 24-month extension of their post-completion OPT (Optional Practice Training) for a total of 36 months.
The Interior Design program at Woodbury School of Architecture explores new design frontiers and expands professional possibilities. Designers of interior environments craft spaces and design atmospheres for a wide range of situations: picturesque private spaces defined by physical boundaries, public spaces bound by landscapes and exterior vistas, spaces for community engagement, exhibition installations, and virtual spaces, both real and imagined. Customizable interdisciplinary possibilities provide rich territories for interior architecture students seeking to mine new frontiers and intersections: personalized curricula that can incorporate courses in gaming, film, animation, psychology, graphic design, fashion, curation and business, all expand the rich possibilities for exploration and innovation.
Our internationally recognized and award-winning faculty work closely with students, teaching the skills required to push the limits of practice and explore disciplinary possibilities in both theoretical and professional arenas. Through individual attention, we foster close mentoring relationships between faculty, staff and students that extends to network opportunities after graduation.
The MID program provides students with a flexible and relevant curriculum. This agile program allows students to actively participate in crafting their education, to inflect each course with their own critical approach, and to specialize in their own professional pursuits.
Students who possess baccalaureate degrees in any discipline can enter the MID three-year track, while students who possess baccalaureate degrees in interior architecture, interior design, environmental arts or architecture are eligible to enter the MID with advanced standing. Transdisciplinary project-based studios allow students to work across practice, from the built, to the virtual, to the augmented.
Woodbury School of Architecture supports our students in building a strong foundation for professional practice while investigating the expanding boundaries of practice itself. Surrounded by major creative industries — to include film, animation, and gaming — and in a city of constant adaptive re-use, our students graduate well-positioned to engage with and transform practice. Visit our School of Architecture Career Services page for more information about our services.
The MID Scholars Program is student-centered resource in which notable thinkers in the creative fields such as interior design, industrial design, architecture, landscape architecture work directly with MID students in their final year of the program. MID Scholars provide expertise in an area of research that aligns with that of the student they are working with. The context for this pairing is the MID student’s thesis project. Scholars may be Woodbury faculty or drawn from outside the university.
The Unmentionables Symposium is a biannual event highlighting critical issues concerning the constructed environment. It provides a forum for rarely mentioned ideas in spatial practice and theory. The inaugural symposium in April 2017, hosted by the Woodbury University Interior Design Department, featured compelling presentations and panel discussions that brought together a broad range of renowned designers and thinkers from literature, architecture, film, art, philosophy, and interior design.
The Burbank facility takes full advantage of the university’s academic offerings, student support services, comprehensive library, and residential campus life. At the same time, it offers specialized facilities including a wood shop, a metal shop, a materials resource library, a digital fabrication lab, a lighting lab, computing facilities, a render farm, and 24-hour access to studios, including a 15,000-square foot studio building.
The Intelligent Lighting Laboratory allows the students to simulate lighting scenarios and explore through hands-on experience the effects of light on materials and space. It allows them to question the status quo of lighting design and to develop innovative ways of using lighting in architectural spaces. During their coursework new technologies are tested and the equipment and facilities help with the investigation of new ideas. Experiments investigate the impacts of these applications on both the experience of human users of architecture and energy consumption.
The Materials Resource Library holds a large collection of physical samples and online resources, including a subscription to a comprehensive online material database called Material ConneXion. Samples represent a wide range of both standard interior finishes, and more experimental materials.
The Advanced Material Testing Laboratory is equipped for its role as both a space for hands-on education and as a resource for cutting-edge research in the area of material science. It contains a range of equipment and technical support staff for the testing of material samples. Students can manipulate the interior space of the experimental environment with various materials and test the result to determine how color, surface textures, shade devices, lighting systems, and similar factors change the climate and perception of the space.