Four interior design faculty represent LSU at national IDEC conference. From left: Marsha Cuddeback, TL Ritchie, Jim Sullivan, and Jun Zou

Four LSU School of Interior Design faculty members will present at the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) 2015 Annual Conference | Catalyst for Innovation. The mission of the IDEC is the advancement of interior design education, scholarship, and service.

Marsha R. Cuddeback, Ruth Z. McCoy Professor of Interior Design, will present a workshop entitled, “Dynamic Balance: Crafting an Immersive Approach to Interdisciplinary Course Design.” This workshop is an opportunity to examine a dynamic and balanced teaching pedagogy and learn how to develop, implement, and assess a short-term, off-campus, interdisciplinary, and vertically integrated course based on experiential learning. The workshop will help develop the “behind-the-scenes” framework educators need to gain institutional support.

Cuddeback and Associate Professor TL Ritchie will present their paper, “Cultural Agency: Exploring Perception, Product and Approach,” at the conference. The paper integrates research and analysis informed by cultural diversity in the design studio to provide opportunities to understand the interior environment as both a product and expression of culture.

Cuddeback was appointed as an IDEC National Teaching Collaborative Coordinator in June 2014. IDEC will launch a new online resource for educators during the IDEC 2015 Annual Conference, which includes innovative teaching ideas, online Pecha Kucha, K-12 teaching modules, and workshop webinars. These are the first of a series of offerings that IDEC will be providing to members and non-members.

Jim Sullivan, associate professor and chair of the LSU School of Interior Design, will present his paper, “Koolhaas and the Autonomy of the Interior,” which examines writings and projects by Rem Koolhass to illuminate the statutes and operation of interiors of his work.

Jun Zou, associate professor of interior design, along with Feihu Chen, professor at the College of Architecture at Hunan University in China, will present their paper, “Concerting with Past Souls and Future Minds,” during the Journal of Interior Design Symposium directly following the conference. The paper outlines two design scholarship=pedagogy projects: Meishan (Plum Mountain) Ecological Park design (Anhua, China) and Magnolia Mound Plantation daylighting analysis (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Both projects involve environmental art & design programs at Hunan University and the School of Interior Design at LSU. The collaborative experience is examined to motivate further thinking and actions from interior design professionals riding the waves of the globalization and sustainability movement in which local culture and traditions may be overwhelmed or rejuvenated.