At the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Interior Design Studio 3 students apply their interior concept developments within the physical constraints, building codes, and accessibility requirements of a typical commercial building. To explore the variety of resources that inform this type of interpretation within professional contexts, Interior Design professor Nicolette Brehm partnered with University Archivist Heather Stecklein to engage students in use-based primary source research. The collaborative project challenges students to interpret local and open source resources within one of four major restaurant styles: small plates, supper club, tea room, and pop-up. The resulting projects interpret local and historical imagery, recipes, legends, and archival narratives to create themes, textures, color palettes, and furniture selections for a restaurant interior. Each students’ interpretation incorporates their artistic vision within the project’s regulations, seating quotas, required usage zones, and other uniform project constraints.
Nicolette Brehm will describe the scope of the project—including how she developed the conceptual design options for the simulated restaurant and selected the regulations and constraints that the students encountered. She will also demonstrate how students engaged with the Archival and Library resources implemented during the project. The presentation will conclude with examples of completed student projects and student reactions to their experiences developing their designs.
