Basic design course through art-based research in interior architecture education

This article presents the basic design course applications based on the design education of first-year interior architecture students. This study aims to emphasize the importance of education in the design-oriented thinking process with practice through the content of the basic design course. Within the scope of the study, art-based research in interior architecture education was carried out and the intersections of its results are described. In the studio, basic design elements and principles were conveyed with the techniques commonly taught in schools and architectural movements were given to students as term papers for research. The study directs the student to create 2D and 3D compositions by combining the studies he/she has done during the term and the research assignment. The findings show that students can reflect on their research on architectural movements to new three-dimensional abstract spaces by combining them with basic design education. While grounding this reflection, design process of the students is based on form and elements without color. The results also show a significant correlation between students’ practices and Gestalt Principles. This article emphasizes the importance of applying basic elements and principles of design and being integrated with field-specific studies to achieve better results in design education. This study is an experimental and original studio product. With the basic design education given only in the first semester, the students were given examples to determine and understand forms and approaches without color knowledge, especially through basic principles, using architectural movements instead of abstract expression.