Distance and Blended education have been studied and applied in many disciplines but there has been limited use and assessment of these learning modes for design studios. The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has forced education delivery methods in the United States to become more online/hybrid in the 2020 school year without much preparation. As schools slowly shift to post-pandemic teaching modes, it is necessary to examine and evaluate what was learned during the pandemic online environment for design education. Previous studies have examined the effectiveness of online delivery of design education by virtual design studios using advanced digital technologies and equipment on a variety of platforms to teach specific design skills. In this study, the researcher uses semi-structured interviews of design educators and a survey of design students to examine their experience with their online learning environment during the 2020 school year. The qualitative and quantitative results of the study shed light on the challenges of online design studio learning during the pandemic and revealed opportunities for improving future design studio education. Lack of social interactions during the pandemic online learning impacted students’ motivation. The use of digital technologies improved communication efficiency, but there is also ineffective communication that negatively affected peer interaction and learning, which in turn affected student learning outcomes and learning satisfaction compared to in-person design studios. The results also revealed openings to promote fully online design education, with studio courses reconfigured using the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and with properly trained design instructors. This hybrid learning environment would lead to students receiving an optimal learning experience that benefits from the advantages of in-person instructions along with the efficiency of digital technology-based learning platforms. Keywords: online design education, hybrid teaching, virtual design studios, COVID-19 pandemic, TPACK.

The Free State Arts Studios (Svomas) was an initiative for arts and design education in Russia during the years after the revolutions of 1917. The revolutionary government closed long standing schools, temporarily, then renewed them with Svomas—a program with free tuition, open admissions, and a philosophy of freedom. Svomas only lasted for two years but was a vast effort, with one branch in Petrograd, two in Moscow, one in Vitebsk, and elsewhere in regional cities. The program was among the first to teach new modern art movements on a large scale, and to integrate them withdesign and architecture. While painting courses were the most numerous, architecture was taught, and many artists had important architectural ideas that would influence developments in international architecture of the 20th century. The dissertation covers the historical progression of Svomas. It gives an idea of how the school system was created, what it was, then what happened after it ended. Five main sections show something of what the avant-garde was doing during Svomas, they highlight: two faculty led studios, a research group, and two student groups. These sections conclude with teaching philosophies derived from analyzing written statements and the work. There are appended documents to show the thinking of the school, as well as appended imagery to show what they were doing and making.

Students’ learning experience in studio are an essential part in studio-based learning mode and design education. Studio-based learning is defined as an active pedagogy in which the student learns multimodal by solving cases or problems. Students work with personal assignments or group assignments that are critiqued on the basis of formal and informal presentations. Studio-based Learning (SBL) is unlike other learning modes, not only because the pedagogy is different but also because of its distinctive learning spaces. SBL is carried out in the studio, a type of classroom within the university that supports this pedagogy. The studio is more like a combination of classroom and study room, students take courses in studio and are encouraged to finish their design project in the studio during their off-school hours.

Nowadays, the development of undergraduate design education and practice varies significantly among countries as a result of the varying curriculum and pedagogical evolution. For instance, Chinese education in interior design has only thirty years of development while the United States has over one hundred years of experience in the field. Even though both educational goals expect students to be able to manage developing design concepts and design projects, the differences between the two are numerous. This thesis studies a comparative analysis between the two systems and aims to identify students’ real needs and their perception of studio-based learning at Nankai University in China and Arizona State University in the United States as a means to recognize possibilities to improve students’ learning experience. The study includes students, their studio spaces, and their interior design undergraduate programs in both universities. The study utilizes qualitative methods including questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observations. The study also includes an analysis of both undergraduate interior design programs in these two universities as case studies. The findings are analyzed and translated into physical and pedagogical recommendations. The findings should be of value for students and faculty in interior design programs in both countries.

Employee wellbeing is a top concern for many organizations as its been linked to job performance and organizational commitment (Colquit, LePine, & Wesson, 2019). Research suggests that overall wellbeing is important to employees as well. Organizations are significantly investing into upgrading workplace environments, and there is a need for a clear understanding of how those improvements truly impact employee wellbeing. Current workplace research reveals that the open-office floorplan accounts for more than 70% of office layouts in the United States and is most commonly used for the benefits of collaboration and efficiency (Gallup, 2017). However, the open office layout ranks poorly in current employee wellbeing studies with a number of office environment stressors such as noise, distractions, and privacy concerns noted to impact employee wellbeing (C. Bodin-Danielsson, 2016; Haynes, Suckley, & Nunnington, 2017). The knowledge work performed in office environments require high amounts of cognitive tasks and when combined with filtering distractions in the workplace it can increase strains caused by common office stressors, thereby impacting employee wellbeing (Bridger & Brasher, 2011). This study will examine common stressors from the open office environment and compare employee’s perceptions of their work environment before and after renovations, as well as observations and behavioral mapping that record how the built environment influences the behaviors of the occupants. This research seeks to understand how wellbeing in the open office is affected by its different physical environmental settings, and how this environment influences employee’s behaviors. The end research goal is to see if there is a significant correlation of physical work environment and workplace behaviors that are common in the open office to help understand how the designed interior workplace impacts the wellbeing of its users.

The main aim of this thesis is to study the Saudi Arabia designers level of awareness about sustainable interior materials and to what extent are Saudi Arabia designers specifying sustainable interior materials in their interior designs? The problem statement relies on understanding how does this may impact the Saudi Arabia environment. In order to comply with these objectives, a telephone interviews were built, to test the designer’s knowledge about sustainable interior materials. The results showed that the Saudi Arabia interior designers are not fully aware of sustainable interior materials and there is a lack of interest in applying sustainable interior materials in their projects.

This research aims to investigate the effect of campus courtyards on students’ satisfaction with education. It will look into two different types of courtyard within the Arizona State University. One courtyard space has more elements and attributes of biophilic design and the other has less. In addition, this paper will provide guidelines for designing courtyards that would improve student’s satisfaction with education. The Methodology used is survey handouts to students after the researcher selects the two types of courtyards by observation. The participant in this study are randomly picked young adult college students (n=60). The results indicate a positive effect of biophilic design on student’s satisfaction with education in courtyards. Furthermore, guidelines for designing courtyards based on biophilic design elements and attributes are suggested.

Workplaces are the place where people spend mostly half of their life there. It is not exclusive to office buildings and companies; indeed, in each department in every building there are individuals working behind the scenes in an attempt to better the society. The workplace environment must accomplish workers’ requirements that vary between physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. Thus, the employees can provide high performance and be more productive, which leads to a successful group, corporations, society, and world generally. The aims for this study were to explore the different strategies that big companies used to attract new employees and to ensure the well-being of the current workers within workplaces. In addition to investigating the effects of the workplace environment on the workers’ well-being in the previous studies, this research analyzes six cases of good examples for companies' headquarters and evaluating their design techniques. The results showed that these companies share the same factors to increase their workers’ well-being. Flexible workspaces that provide workers the ability to choose where, how, and when to work is the first factor. Promoting body movements, reducing stress and depression, and building private spaces or facilities to energize workers are other factors. However, most of the cases involved the inspirational encouragement in interior design as major factors to enhance workers’ well-being. Furthermore, some of the applied techniques in the buildings are similar, like offering a flexible workplace, while others vary following the company industry, image and location.

The artificial lighting plays crucial role in the human life in the contemporary,

globalized and highly complex world. Its influence on the physical and psychological

health of the humans was studied by numerous reputable scholars from across the globe,

however this study focuses on the impact of light on the college students living in the

dormitories. The study seeks to find whether there is a correlation between light and health

of the student, his/her performance, productivity, mood and feelings. The paper uses a

relatively new housing near Arizona State University Tempe-campus as a case study as an

attempt to substantiate the problem dimensions and suggest feasible solutions.

Basing on the available literature on the topic and the case study evaluation, the

author determined the range of possible recommendations for the lighting professionals in

the industry to maximally satisfy the needs of the students and make their stay and life in

the dormitory comfortable and healthy experience. The relevant conclusions are made

basing on the obtained results.

Worldwide there are over 50 million people suffering from epilepsy, eighty percent (80%) of whom live in low to middle income countries. Of that eighty percent (80%) of people suffering from this disease, seventy-five percent (75%) do not receive treatment. The current design and treatment methods of epilepsy have many limitations in these specific countries. These limitations include: lack of education about the disease leading to stigmas surrounding it, inability to afford treatment options, and the absence of healthcare practitioners who specialize in the treatment of neurological illnesses. Additionally, the healthcare system worldwide is a large contributor to climate change calling for a need to implement sustainable practices in both the treatment of patients and creation of healthcare centers. This thesis has been developed in order to theorize the design of a clinic that can be beneficial to epileptics in developing countries and to the environment. Through the methodology of case studies and research on existing strategies implemented in specific hospitals, we were able to focus on three main aspects that should be taken into consideration for an epilepsy clinic: the ambient environment, sustainability, and target demographic - developing countries. The idea ambient environment, it was found, plays a large role in the healing process through reduction of stress on patients. From there the most important features specific to epilepsy were able to be considered and synthesized for the best possible theoretical design of a clinic focused on the treatment and diagnosis of epilepsy in a developing country.