Interior Architecture Masters Theses

 

Interior Architecture offers the following degree program options at the graduate level:

• Master of Arts (MA) in Adaptive Reuse, a one-year+ program

• Master of Design (MDes) in Interior Studies / Adaptive Reuse, a two-year+ program

• Master of Design (MDes) in Interior Studies / Exhibition + Narrative Environments, a two-year+ program

Both programs take an innovative and progressive approach to addressing design issues intrinsic to the reuse and transformation of existing structures. US News & World Report and Design Intelligence have both ranked RISD’s Interior Architecture programs among the top in the country.

Each MA candidate produces a final project that begins with a research component in the fall and evolves into a studio/design project in the spring. MDes candidates demonstrate competency through self-directed Degree Projects that include a seminar on theory, a research component and a studio component. Each DP focuses on the transformation of an existing structure of their choice in the city of Providence. All MA and MDes candidates also participate in the RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, a large-scale public show held annually.

Graduate Program Director: Markus Berger

These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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Theses from 2022

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Notes in improvisation : Spatializing Black Identity through music, Esther Akintoye

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Dying differently: designing a death-oriented psychedelic treatment center, Grace Caiazza

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Blurred lines : Border crossing between Macau and Zhuhai, Weiwei Chen

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Regenerative residences: shrinking stress levels in the sky, Peter de Lande Long

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Adaptive reduce: forging architectural futures through degrowth, Erika Kane

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Unfolding embodied experience: a process-driven immersive exhibition design model, Mooa Seongah Kang

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Amending the idle: an analysis of urban idle spaces + third places, Jonggun Lee

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Last sunset : design to alleviate social isolation for Chinese elderly, Linghui Li

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Rebuilding Collective effervescence : a "Ballroom" for post-pandemic revelry, Di Ma

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Re:Connection: exercises in unplugging and mindfully reconnecting, E. J. Roseman

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Dear City, give me some space; creating space for ephemeral forces in a city, Abinaya Sivaprakasam Thamilarasan

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From invisible to visible: the third wave/way of intervention for Dashilar, Jiali Tian

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Endless construction : occupant activism and authorship, Jiayi Wang

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Beyond Spectacle : parametric design to life in space, Ding Xu

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Design for designers : An incubator for young designers to grow, Jiajie Yang

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The Cthulhu Journey : storytelling through an architectural immersive experience, Rui Zhang

Theses from 2021

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Posthuman ecologies, Christine Chang

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Loneliness / Togetherness : Interiority and connection under isolation, Huaqin Chen

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Space between memories: pause, Young Jae Cho

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Cultural acupuncture: decentralization and deocratization in Chinese exhibition design, Ruohan Duan

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Adaptive reuse as evidence of scientific progress: recontextualizing a space for growing knowledge, Kayci Gallagher

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Reclaiming modern architecture: an urban visual narrative of Kuwait City, Yara Hadi

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Unraveling the living: reframing cramped housing as a social living, Dong-zoo Han

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Beyond pasta: understanding Italian American culinary culture in Federal Hill, Chufan He

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Going back, Zhiyi Hilary He

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Augmented city, Xing Huan

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Woven healing: reimagining the rural health center, Mahasweta Jayachandran

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Living · Sharing · Connecting : rebirth of Longchang Apartments Heritage Community, Linhong Jiang

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Migrating architecture: vernacular futurism, Yichu Jiang

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The second home: breaking the cycle of lonely death, Woohee Kim

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Reinforcing connection within collective housing: a new vision of Red Steel City, Guangyi Niu

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Ascents and descents in the 21st Century: restoring Chand Baori, Japneet Pahwa

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Nossa quadra, nossa historia: the power of collaborative and communal outdoor spaces as a tool for belonging & agency, Rebecca Maria Pepl

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Terminal: through the "windows" of a Tram Car Museum, Yuyi Si

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Ritualizing of space in the 21st century: fostering of communal identity through celebration of Tamil culture, Mridula Swaminathan

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Sensory refreshment: TCM reconsidered, Ni Tang

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Remember me: how we can modify the home for people with dementia, Wenjin Wang

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The retrieval of memory: holding time in the Shanghai gasometers, Liman Wei

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Fostering cultural understanding: mirroring ways of living in Providence, RI, USA and Beijing, PRC, Jiarui Tina Wu

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The future of Beijing urban courtyards, Zhuoqi Xu

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Remembering Chinatown: a fusion of food, identity, & memory, Robert Yang

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Overflowing boundaries: competition and mutualism in urban villages, Chen Zhang

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Rural acupuncture: carefully introducing tourism within an underground village, Shangyun Zhou

Theses from 2020

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Lacunae in the urban landscape, Meriem Aiouna

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Melting away - Ilha Formosa, Hao-Chun Chang

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Behind appearance : hidden dimensions in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Ning Ding

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Realistic utopia : utopian architecture exhibition at Arcosanti, Xiao Fang

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Contextualize, Jiaai He

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Community pop-up galleries : the instruction manual, Mary Iorio

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Living under surveillance, Fan Jia

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Urban memory : Beijing City wall ruins reconstruction & exhibition, Yuan Jin

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Dialogue across time : Atlanta, 1996 and 2020, Qianyu Liu

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Exploration and autonomy : wild children in the city, Xiaojie Li

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Getting closer : exploring re-contextualization in exhibition, Yiran Mu

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Generating tension : memorial of sexual slavery, Mary Park

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Ciudad informal : a new model for urban living, Rebeca Isabel Peña Reinoza

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The milky way : agritourism on a Chinese dairy farm, Wanyue Qiao

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Reactivating street life : fostering more communal interaction in Longtang, Ziyang Qiu

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Banoo-Serai : an all women sanctuary, Kimia Rahnavardi

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Envisioning work : an autism friendly and anxiety free office, Naixin Ren

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Re-connect, Xin Ren

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Creating a safe haven : a study on coastal resilience in a time of climate change & sea-level rise in the Philippines, Maria Carla Victoria M. Sebastian

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Unite the divided : the transition between death and life, Qing Shi

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Practicing a senior living, Siyu Shuai

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Re-source : Re-source your resources, Raquel Swartz

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Lived-in grassland : nomadic architecture in the nomadic community of Mongolia, Linxi Wang

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Living and alive : homeless shelter design, Zixu Wang

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Re-occupation : buildings, ideology and decolonization in Northeastern China, Ziyu Wei

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The ultimate task of public libraries : introducing architecture as pedestal, Elaine Wu

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Reality behind beauty : Hayao Miyazaki's perspective of human and nature, Tianyang Wu

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Individuality : enhance living in Shenzhen's urban village, Lanting Zhong

Theses from 2019

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[Super] structure : expanding the network / reclaiming the path, Anna Albrecht

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Integration as a catalyst for change : school for Rohingya children, Naeera Ali

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Architecture as magnet : extension to Fort Adams, Mingyi Hu

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Exhibiting materiality : object for love attachment therapy, Yunhong Hu

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Tea journeys : exhibition as experience, Liujun Liao

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Road home : family renovation in rural China, Guijiadong Lin

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Playfulness : exploring experience through a trajectory, Yingjing Qu

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Re-activating collective memory : museum as a workshop, Sfoorti Sachdev

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Field in adaptive reuse : discussion of the existence of the field and its influence, Yilun Shao

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Breaking barriers, opening doors : integrating the formerly incarcerated with community, Ruoyi Song

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Remembering culture in the modern era : cultural center SPA Grössling, Alex Trajanov-Godmas

Theses from 2018

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Evoking the divine : from secular to sacred and back again, Dragos Tiberiu Alexandru

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Environmental diversity for student residence life, Jiaying Bai

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Architecture as water-human mediator, Hui Bao

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Creating connection in a digital society, Mariah Bennett

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Revealing context & complexity in urban historic sites, Simin Chu

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Amending the idle : an analysis of urban idle spaces + third places, Paige Davidson

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Reveal the aura : RISD contemplative atrium, Shuyi Guo

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Moments of rotary motion : temporary use in vacant industrial heritage architecture, Xuecheng He

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Preventing lonely death, Hyun Kyu Lee and Menghan Zhou

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Rising above disruption, Paola Alexandra Mondino

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Bound by // to // in earth, Lila Pickus

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Gassed out, Toban Shadlyn

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Purpose after tragedy, Elena Tepavac

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Understanding dwelling beyond the terrestrial, Sungkyu Yang

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Architecture as an adapter : a revolution in high-rise corporate architecture, Nan Zou

Theses from 2017

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RISD Club, Madeleine Devall

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Imagine of space : rest(ing) rooms for high-stressed RISD students, Fang Ho

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We are what we dispose : continuation of culture through recycling at Rhode Island School of Design, Xinzhou Jiang