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.
Theses from 2022
Notes in improvisation : Spatializing Black Identity through music, Esther Akintoye
Dying differently: designing a death-oriented psychedelic treatment center, Grace Caiazza
Blurred lines : Border crossing between Macau and Zhuhai, Weiwei Chen
Regenerative residences: shrinking stress levels in the sky, Peter de Lande Long
Adaptive reduce: forging architectural futures through degrowth, Erika Kane
Unfolding embodied experience: a process-driven immersive exhibition design model, Mooa Seongah Kang
Amending the idle: an analysis of urban idle spaces + third places, Jonggun Lee
Last sunset : design to alleviate social isolation for Chinese elderly, Linghui Li
Rebuilding Collective effervescence : a "Ballroom" for post-pandemic revelry, Di Ma
Re:Connection: exercises in unplugging and mindfully reconnecting, E. J. Roseman
Dear City, give me some space; creating space for ephemeral forces in a city, Abinaya Sivaprakasam Thamilarasan
From invisible to visible: the third wave/way of intervention for Dashilar, Jiali Tian
Endless construction : occupant activism and authorship, Jiayi Wang
Beyond Spectacle : parametric design to life in space, Ding Xu
Design for designers : An incubator for young designers to grow, Jiajie Yang
The Cthulhu Journey : storytelling through an architectural immersive experience, Rui Zhang
Theses from 2021
Posthuman ecologies, Christine Chang
Loneliness / Togetherness : Interiority and connection under isolation, Huaqin Chen
Space between memories: pause, Young Jae Cho
Cultural acupuncture: decentralization and deocratization in Chinese exhibition design, Ruohan Duan
Adaptive reuse as evidence of scientific progress: recontextualizing a space for growing knowledge, Kayci Gallagher
Reclaiming modern architecture: an urban visual narrative of Kuwait City, Yara Hadi
Unraveling the living: reframing cramped housing as a social living, Dong-zoo Han
Beyond pasta: understanding Italian American culinary culture in Federal Hill, Chufan He
Going back, Zhiyi Hilary He
Augmented city, Xing Huan
Woven healing: reimagining the rural health center, Mahasweta Jayachandran
Living · Sharing · Connecting : rebirth of Longchang Apartments Heritage Community, Linhong Jiang
Migrating architecture: vernacular futurism, Yichu Jiang
The second home: breaking the cycle of lonely death, Woohee Kim
Reinforcing connection within collective housing: a new vision of Red Steel City, Guangyi Niu
Ascents and descents in the 21st Century: restoring Chand Baori, Japneet Pahwa
Nossa quadra, nossa historia: the power of collaborative and communal outdoor spaces as a tool for belonging & agency, Rebecca Maria Pepl
Terminal: through the "windows" of a Tram Car Museum, Yuyi Si
Ritualizing of space in the 21st century: fostering of communal identity through celebration of Tamil culture, Mridula Swaminathan
Sensory refreshment: TCM reconsidered, Ni Tang
Remember me: how we can modify the home for people with dementia, Wenjin Wang
The retrieval of memory: holding time in the Shanghai gasometers, Liman Wei
Fostering cultural understanding: mirroring ways of living in Providence, RI, USA and Beijing, PRC, Jiarui Tina Wu
The future of Beijing urban courtyards, Zhuoqi Xu
Remembering Chinatown: a fusion of food, identity, & memory, Robert Yang
Overflowing boundaries: competition and mutualism in urban villages, Chen Zhang
Rural acupuncture: carefully introducing tourism within an underground village, Shangyun Zhou
Theses from 2020
Lacunae in the urban landscape, Meriem Aiouna
Melting away - Ilha Formosa, Hao-Chun Chang
Behind appearance : hidden dimensions in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Ning Ding
Realistic utopia : utopian architecture exhibition at Arcosanti, Xiao Fang
Contextualize, Jiaai He
Community pop-up galleries : the instruction manual, Mary Iorio
Living under surveillance, Fan Jia
Urban memory : Beijing City wall ruins reconstruction & exhibition, Yuan Jin
Dialogue across time : Atlanta, 1996 and 2020, Qianyu Liu
Exploration and autonomy : wild children in the city, Xiaojie Li
Getting closer : exploring re-contextualization in exhibition, Yiran Mu
Generating tension : memorial of sexual slavery, Mary Park
Ciudad informal : a new model for urban living, Rebeca Isabel Peña Reinoza
The milky way : agritourism on a Chinese dairy farm, Wanyue Qiao
Reactivating street life : fostering more communal interaction in Longtang, Ziyang Qiu
Banoo-Serai : an all women sanctuary, Kimia Rahnavardi
Envisioning work : an autism friendly and anxiety free office, Naixin Ren
Re-connect, Xin Ren
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
Unite the divided : the transition between death and life, Qing Shi
Practicing a senior living, Siyu Shuai
Re-source : Re-source your resources, Raquel Swartz
Lived-in grassland : nomadic architecture in the nomadic community of Mongolia, Linxi Wang
Living and alive : homeless shelter design, Zixu Wang
Re-occupation : buildings, ideology and decolonization in Northeastern China, Ziyu Wei
The ultimate task of public libraries : introducing architecture as pedestal, Elaine Wu
Reality behind beauty : Hayao Miyazaki's perspective of human and nature, Tianyang Wu
Individuality : enhance living in Shenzhen's urban village, Lanting Zhong
Theses from 2019
[Super] structure : expanding the network / reclaiming the path, Anna Albrecht
Integration as a catalyst for change : school for Rohingya children, Naeera Ali
Architecture as magnet : extension to Fort Adams, Mingyi Hu
Exhibiting materiality : object for love attachment therapy, Yunhong Hu
Tea journeys : exhibition as experience, Liujun Liao
Road home : family renovation in rural China, Guijiadong Lin
Playfulness : exploring experience through a trajectory, Yingjing Qu
Re-activating collective memory : museum as a workshop, Sfoorti Sachdev
Field in adaptive reuse : discussion of the existence of the field and its influence, Yilun Shao
Breaking barriers, opening doors : integrating the formerly incarcerated with community, Ruoyi Song
Remembering culture in the modern era : cultural center SPA Grössling, Alex Trajanov-Godmas
Theses from 2018
Evoking the divine : from secular to sacred and back again, Dragos Tiberiu Alexandru
Environmental diversity for student residence life, Jiaying Bai
Architecture as water-human mediator, Hui Bao
Creating connection in a digital society, Mariah Bennett
Revealing context & complexity in urban historic sites, Simin Chu
Amending the idle : an analysis of urban idle spaces + third places, Paige Davidson
Reveal the aura : RISD contemplative atrium, Shuyi Guo
Moments of rotary motion : temporary use in vacant industrial heritage architecture, Xuecheng He
Preventing lonely death, Hyun Kyu Lee and Menghan Zhou
Rising above disruption, Paola Alexandra Mondino
Bound by // to // in earth, Lila Pickus
Gassed out, Toban Shadlyn
Purpose after tragedy, Elena Tepavac
Understanding dwelling beyond the terrestrial, Sungkyu Yang
Architecture as an adapter : a revolution in high-rise corporate architecture, Nan Zou
Theses from 2017
RISD Club, Madeleine Devall
Imagine of space : rest(ing) rooms for high-stressed RISD students, Fang Ho
We are what we dispose : continuation of culture through recycling at Rhode Island School of Design, Xinzhou Jiang