School's Out for Summer at NYSID

Designers for the Future The latest term at the New York School of Interior Design is ending --- and it’s both rewarding and a little sad to see the latest group of students graduate. They’re a talented and enthusiastic cohort, and most important, they represent a new generation of designers who are just as interested in making a contribution to society as in creating beautiful spaces.  This term’s thesis projects included a museum, an eco-friendly crematorium, a library, a hotel, an opera house, a hotel, and a riding club --- but also a healthcare facility for breast-cancer patients, an alternative high-school for students with behavioral problems and another for disadvantaged children. Not the kind of projects associated with the old-time decorators, are they? These young people are interested in expressing themselves, and in making a comfortable living, but they’re also committed to sustainable design, to exploring the possibilities offered by science and technology in order to do things differently – and to practicing their profession responsibly as well as creatively.  It’s exciting to think about what they’ll accomplish, to the benefit of their clients, and the profession.  And for my role as a professor, it’s time for summer break and a chance to look forward to the next group, and the Fall term, with new classes in design history and theory.

Judith Gura

Caption:  For his thesis project, NYSID graduate Stefan Stiel converted Brooklyn’s historic McCarren Park Pool into an environmentally-sensitive  crematorium.