Abstract

This presentation reflects on a teaching exercise promoting the concept of student as producer in the MA Interior Architecture and Design Programme at the University of Lincoln.

The exercise required each student to situate their individual treatise within the current global event, the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) World Interiors Day 2022. The theme of the event is ‘Pride of the Past. An Incentive for the Future’. Students are to individually produce a titled visual collage and written statement reflecting on the theme in relation to their own treatises.

The students’ projects were compiled in a physical book for submission to the University of Lincoln’s Library and a digital publication which was shared during the IFI World Interiors Day celebration (May 2022). The creation of the book was a collaboration between staff (who produce the exercise and the book) and students, who respond to the exercise and produce the knowledge contained in the book.

The exercise took a pluralistic approach to the concept of student as producer. On an individual level, the exercise was open-ended, it empowered each student to develop a distinct response to a brief that requires self-reflection. The brief prompted a synthesised expression between self, theme, and study through the exploratory medium of collage. On a collective level, the production of the book was collaborative. As compiled by staff, The book is a co-created tangible artefact symbolising staff and students as co-producers of knowledge within the institution. On a global level, the exercise was contextualised within the IFI World Interiors Day celebration through an online submission. The digital resource platformed the voices of students as knowledge contributors alongside a wider global community.

This exercise engaged students as knowledge producers by promoting individual reflection, collectively validating their outputs, and globally platforming their ideas.