Piet Zwart Institute. Merle Flügge, The Fantastical Backstage Merle Flügge

MIARD

How the Master’s course of the Piet Zwart Institute at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences is rewriting the codes of interior architecture. The faculty favours early birds applications by March 1.

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Nowadays, interior architects have to deal with a world in continual transformation, made of challenges in real estate, technology, socio-politics, ecology and economics.

Designers are therefore called to broaden their professional horizons in order to face today’s complex problems and anticipate a future role for their discipline. Run by the Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem de Kooning Academy at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Master’s in Interior Architecture: Research + Design (MIARD) was conceived precisely to satisfy the demands of this ever-changing world, offering students in-depth post-graduate training focused on the intricate and dynamic sector of interior architecture.

By re-examining the conventions of interior architecture, MIARD aims to overcome the sector’s traditional disciplinary boundaries, with the objective of spawning new prospects for the creation of space. Thanks to its multidimensional nature, the research project is simultaneously active on a number of didactic paths and a variety of scales, from local to global, from objects to architecture. This cross-disciplinary and proactive educational and design structure produces an open and intellectually demanding atmosphere that seeks to cultivate highly innovative designers for the 21st century.

Piet Zwart Institute. Pawel Szubert, Chromophobia. Photo by Javi Lloret — **Top:** Piet Zwart Institute. Merle Flügge, The Fantastical Backstage. **Above:** Pawel Szubert, Chromophobia. Photo by Javi Lloret

At MIARD, students have access to spacious design studios to develop their projects, as well as work stations equipped with advanced analogue and digital technologies, supported by expert technical assistance. Students and lecturers from around the world bring a variety of cultural stimuli that intertwine with exchanges with the city, its complex history and dynamic urban environment.

Piet Zwart Institute. Sanne van der Ploeg, 7/7

Named after the Dutch pioneer of modernity Piet Zwart – a transversal experimenter of different languages and contexts – the institute offers a fertile combination of specialised training and interdisciplinary exchange in a highly study-focused environment. MIARD’s international student community thus works in close contact with a sizeable academic staff composed of architects, interior architects, designers, artists, researchers and experts of different disciplines. Lecturers thus impart a diversified and versatile educational culture, allowing students to excel in their knowledge, professional relationships and career opportunities. These activities are flanked by the promotion of a full schedule of public events, conferences, round tables, lectures and national and international exhibitions, in addition to numerous field trips. Each year, leading professionals from various disciplines are invited to hold lectures while working alongside students and teaching staff.

Piet Zwart Institute. Sofia Angelopoulou, The New Union Space of Labor

The Piet Zwart Institute’s academic programmes are structured in four Master’s courses: Fine Art; Interior Architecture: Research + Design (MIARD); Media Design: Experimental Publishing and Lens-Based; and Art Education. All the courses are based on a shared attention for the complex social, cultural and political conditions of each discipline. Through an original, specially conceived curriculum – combining face-to-face lectures, intensive individual tutor assistance, applied professional research and theoretical studies – the courses produce young professionals endowed with a critically reflective and inventive conception of their work.

Piet Zwart Institute. The Transdisciplinary Studio, Berlin. Tomas Saraceno Studio visit, Fall 2016. iPhoto by Alex Suarez

Great attention is also paid to the visibility of the results. In fact, another distinctive characteristic of the Master’s lies in its engagement with the public sphere, through both the promotion of students’ work as well as participation at professional events and external collaborations with eminent institutions. For example, recent works by students and alumni have been exhibited at the Milan Furniture Fair, the Het Nieuwe Instituut and Tent London, among others. MIARD’s projects have also enjoyed visibility in the international press, in publications such as Domus, Dezeen, Archinect and Designboom. Furthermore, MIARD was recently defined as a “leading international Master’s course” in the book Masterclass Interior Design: Guide to the World’s Leading Graduate Schools, published by Frame magazine.

Piet Zwart Institute. The Interior Does Not Exist, Interior Biennale Exhibition 2014, Kortrijk, Belgium. Photo by Jaime Serrano

To find out more about MIARD’s courses visit the websites pzwart.nl and miard.pzwart.nl. Course applications are accepted from candidates with a bachelor’s and/or master’s in architecture, interior design/architecture, spatial design, product design, graphic design or other artistic practices. But highly talented and creative individuals from other disciplinary fields are also encouraged to apply. Inscriptions submitted by 1st March 2017 will be given precedence over later applications.

Piet Zwart Institute. Katarzyna Skorupska, Shifting environments of an immaterial worker

Piet Zwart Institute
Wijnhaven 61
3011 WJ, Rotterdam
The Netherlands

Phone (Monday – Friday): +31 (0)10 794 7405
e-mail: pzwart-info@hr.nl
https://www.facebook.com/PZIMIARD/