Master Interior Architecture: Research + Design (MIARD)

Application deadline: March 16, apply here.
Open Day online: February 12, visit here for details. 

MIARD is an international Master program with a focus on practice-led research. We teach our students to look beyond disciplinary norms with a critical, imaginative and multidisciplinary approach to their work to gain a better understanding of the complex issues surrounding their field of practice. Interior Architects are faced with new realities, technologies and socio-political, environmental and economic challenges; consequently, the practice of the designer needs to expand, react and set future forms. At MIARD, design as research is viewed as multidimensional, circulating along numerous pathways and scales, from the local to the global, from objects to architecture and beyond. Our proactive approach to education creates a sense of openness, possibility and intellectual rigor.

Students develop their practice-led research with critically reflective, theoretical and historical discourse. The curriculum is multidisciplinary, designed with a distinguished community of international staff from diverse backgrounds who share and combine their expertise and resources. It’s imagined holistically with corresponding modules: Thematic Design Projects, Critical Strategies, Multiple Media and the Graduation Project. To further enrich a student’s professional experience and network, the program emphasizes the concept of making public. We actively exhibit and promote student work, participate in professional events and organize external collaborations.

Digital archive: Visit our online archive to learn more about the program and the projects—including the awards, scholarships, publications, exhibitions, and professional collaborations of our students and alumni.

Piet Zwart Institute houses the international Master programs of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. The institute is named after the pioneering Dutch designer, Piet Zwart, who worked experimentally across media and contexts. It offers a rich combination of in-depth specialization and interdisciplinary exchange within an intimate learning environment.

Staff 2021–22: Alex Augusto Suárez (course director, architect, educator), Golnar Abbasi (artist, architect, researcher), Andrea Bagnato (architect, editor), Cookies, Federico Martelli & Clément Périssé (architects, designers, researchers), Daphne Heemskerk (graphic designer), Kris Dittel (curator, editor, writer), Ephraim Joris (architect, tutor), Studio Ossidiana, Alessandra Covini & Giovanni Bellotti (architects, designers, researchers), Olivier Otten (interaction designer).

Recent guests, speakers & studio visits: 
Aristide Antonas, Alessandro Bava, Arna Mačkić, Ameneh Solati, Bastiaan de Nennie, Bikvanderpol, Cooking Sections, Counterspace, Chris Kabel, Dima Srouji, Erik Rietveld, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Formafantasma, Gabriel Lester, Giuseppe Licari, Hilary Sample, Ivan Lopez Munuera, Irene Sunwoo, JODI, Kirsten Algera, Koehorst in t’veld, Kuehn Malvezzi, Lois Weinthal, Luca Moscelli, Marina Otero Verzier, Mark Wigley, Michiel van Iersel, Moad Musbahi, Natasha Marie Llorens, Niels Schrader, Nick Axel, Noman Studio, OS&OOS, Penny Sparks, Point Supreme, Rachaporn Choochuey, Rafaël Rozendaal, Random Studio, Riet Eeckhout, Shumi Bose, Simone C. Niquille, Studio Folder, Studio Truly Truly, Space Popular, Suzie Attiwill, Tamar Shafrir, Team Thursday, Tijs Gilde, Tomas Saraceno.