Study profile Interior Architecture & Furniture Design

The IA & FD program of the Bachelor Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) covers the full breadth of the spatial domain by focusing on the spatial conditions that determine how we experience our daily living environment.

We use the department as a research laboratory and in-situ experimental space for interaction in the social field, in materials, in techniques and various forms of knowledge. We emphasize that the essence of design and design processes lies in the everyday, and is nourished by routines, exercises and tests. We see design not as a control mechanism, but as a companion in developing environments that meet our desires and needs; for ourselves and society as a whole.

Learning by doing

Our educational philosophy is therefore: learning by doing. During the four years of the Bachelor’s programme you will develop skills, knowledge and competences through assignments that run parallel to professional design practice. In order to practice "learning by doing" you need courage and specific encouragement. We take an inquisitive look at design and architecture, and describe designs with terms such as provisional, temporary, prototypes, ephemeral, constructions of reality, as found, inventions, improvisation, surprise, the unforeseen, and the unfinished.

In the video below, students, teachers and the head of the department tell you more about Interior Architecture and Furniture Design programme:

Specifications

Degree

Bachelor of Arts

Duration

Full-time 4 years

Study load

Start date

End of August

Costs

Department Head

Herman Verkerk

Language

English-taught programme
(English level required)

Programme / CROHO

B Design / 39111

More insights in this study programme

Listen to a conversation with Elze and Jai, as they talk about their classes, expectations and how they study 'shape' in the Morphology class!

screenshot Graduation Catalogue Bachelor Interior Architecture
screenshot Graduation Catalogue

Professional Perspective

As a graduate of the Bachelor Interior Architecture & Furniture Design you are a critical designer with the habit of reformulating a design brief. You have developed your talent for spatial organization and combined this with a keen ability to materialize with great tactility and sensibility. You’ve sharpened your ability to analyse how things are put together and developed an affinity to make things tangible. As one of our alumni, you will find your place in a wide variety of activities in the professional fields of art, design and architecture.

Choose a specialisation: Furniture Design or Interior Architecture

After your first year, next to generic courses, which cover the full breadth of the spatial domain, you can choose elective courses in either Interior Architecture or Furniture Design to further sharpen your designer's profile.

The study is organized in five domains: Studio, Media & Materials, Independent Practice, Professional Practice and Context. During your studies you will develop an independent mindset, a critical design attitude and strong empathy skills. By combining the scientific and knowledge-based part with a poetic, imaginative and narrative part, we seek to give students the opportunity to overcome or resist specific ingrained procedures and mechanisms that are part of permanent change in the service of capitalism. And we work with professionals from fine arts, architecture and design who will teach you with their practical and theoretical experience. They guide students on their way to an independent practice.

Detailed description of the programme structure