NJIT Interior Design Students Win IIDA Awards
Four interior design students won awards at this year’s regional International Interior Design Association Student Design Showcase and Competition.
Okhyun des Lauriers '22, fourth-year student Haylee Merola, third-year student Martina Hanna, and third-year student Caitlin Majewski received awards.
“We have had sustained success in various competitions, and I believe it is also the result of our program,” said professor Glenn Goldman, founding director of the School of Art + Design at NJIT. “We start with an exceptionally strong and rigorous foundation year that, from the very first semester, introduces students to principles of color and composition in both digital and traditional/physical media.”
Two of this year’s four winners, and last year’s only two winners in the IIDA competition were from second-year undergraduate studios.
1st Place: Okhyun des Lauriers '22
Des Lauriers’s winning submission was a movie proposal she called “NineFox Gambit.” Her inspiration came from a science fiction novel by Yoon Ha Lee. With her project, she was able to show how interior designers can be part of the entertainment design industry.
She highlights the freedom Professor Goldman provided her in his Collaborative Design Studio last year to use her imagination as much as possible. Des Lauriers believes that at NJIT they work a lot on the visualization part, which helped the school win four awards this year.
“There were quite a lot of good projects from the other schools, but for our school I think the strongest part is visualization,” she noted. “So not just like, describe word by word, but what we describe, we can actually visualize. Especially in interior design you can describe with fancy words, but if it doesn’t show what we imagine, it’s hard, but I see that all of our winners’ posters are really good at visualization.”
2nd Place: Haylee Merola
Merola, a Hazleton, Pa. native and an Albert Dorman Honors Scholar, won second place with her project Bark & Beyond, a dog boutique that contains traditional retail elements as well as experiences such as adoption services, grooming, veterinary services, pet photography, and training sessions.
She worked closely with Ana Peñalba Estebanez, lecturer in Hillier College of Architecture and Design, who helped guide Merola’s design throughout, including in the initial research and retail experience aspect of the project.
“Professor Peñalba’s free-spirited approach to design helped me to expand my idea of a store and be more creative in my concept, both in form and function,” said Merola. “Our ideas for the project came together in a way that was authentic to my ideas and inspirations for Bark & Beyond, but elevated by her guidance.”
Honorable Mention: Martina Hanna
Hanna’s proposed an arts center located on Halsey Street in Newark called Newark Community Arts Center. She worked with Professor Goldman on her project and highlighted how his advice on taking high risks lead to high rewards in design.
“The center is intended to open opportunities to create art with various mediums to members of both the academic and local communities using a new spin on the famous principle created by Mies van der Rohe, universal space,” said the Bayonne native. “Mies was an advocate of simplicity and open floor plans. He believed in the importance of ‘universal space’ that keeps everyone involved and present.”
Viewer’s Choice: Caitlin Majewski
Majewski’s project was called Café Soleil and it was also featured in the 2022 NJIT Design Showcase Event last May and selected to be on exhibit at the Siggraph event in Vancouver this past August.
“Winning my first interior design competition encourages me to keep exploring the creative depths of what an interior environment can become. Interior spaces are where we spend most of our time; they are the backdrop for the memories we make,” said Majewski. “I believe the talent at NJIT comprises the innovators of the built environment of the future, and I take great pleasure in being a part of this talented and diverse community.”
Café Soleil was inspired by the opulent Arm Chair designed by Warren Platner in 1966.
