Interior – Inferior – In Theory? Contemporary Positions in Interior Design Theory
17-18 May 2018, Berlin, Germany

International conference organised by BAU International Berlin – University of Applied Sciences, Prof. Dr. Carola Ebert, Chair of Interior Design, History and Theory of Architecture and Design, in cooperation with Architektenkammer Berlin, Bund Deutscher Innenarchitekten, European Council of Interior Architects and Netzwerk Architekturwissenschaft.

The conference Interior – inferior – in theory? Contemporary positions in interior design theory brings together interior design researchers and educators from different countries to discuss contemporary theoretical positions within/about the discipline.

What constitutes interior design/interior architecture? How may interior design’s relationship to architecture and design be defined and reflected theoretically? How is this discipline, which for decades has been classified as „emerging“ or „relatively young“, taught, researched and understood professionally in different countries? How has this changed over time?

Taking theory building to be one of the most important acts of defining a discipline, the conference wants to draw connections between interior design theory and its historiography, historical research in interior design/interior architecture, and disciplinary conceptions as they are embodied in interior design programs and professional institutions in different countries.

Given interior design’s status as an „emerging“ discipline, often taught only at universities of applied sciences or, in some countries, not even established as a university subject, the title „Interior – inferior – in theory?“ refers to the notion that interior design lacks a historically grown body of research and, especially, a theory of its own, and instead largely relies on architecture and design theory.

Instead of continuing to rely on related discipline’s definitions, which result in a definition ex negativo, the conference aims to support the current trend of establishing a body of theory for the discipline that is its own.