Interior Design students take home top honours at Industry Awards

Several students and graduates from Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Interior Design program recently won awards at the Innovation in Design Thinking: Student Competition, hosted by Interior Designers of Canada (IDC).

The Student Competition was created exclusively for Canadian interior design students. The awards intend to provide students with a national platform to demonstrate the value of interior design and illustrate the positive impact design has on the users of spaces, supported by evidence-based research.

Representing more than 5,000 design professionals, IDC is the national advocacy association for interior design professionals.

Sheridan projects dominated the Student Competition, earning recognition in three of the eight categories – more than any other institution.

Each of the winning designs were based on studio projects that students completed while in the program.

Fourth-year student Yoojeong (Erika) Bae earned an Award of Excellence for her Thousand Islands Long-term Care Residence design, a project submitted as part of her third-year Health Care Studio project. As part of the course, students are required to design a solution for an acute care unit in a healthcare environment, using evidence-based design and research.

Classmates Ashley Yachiw and Francesca Mak took home an Award of Merit for their Certitude Advertising Office design, a project they completed during their second year as part of a course dedicated to design for large-space corporate office settings.

Alumna Cathryn Kennedy (‘24) received an Honourable Mention for her fourth-year capstone project - the design of “Soundscape”, a Centre for Audio and Visual Wellness, located in Oakville.

“We are immensely proud of our students, who have successfully incorporated evidence-based design practices into their socially responsible, all-inclusive designs,” says Miranda Craig, Honours Bachelor of Interior Design program coordinator. “A special thank you to all of the faculty members who have provided our students with guidance, inspiration and encouragement along the way. These awards are a testament to our program’s mission statement: Inspiring students to design and create the future for all.”

The four winners will be honoured at an IDC Awards Celebration on Nov. 7.

Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Interior Design program is recognized by the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO) and accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). Focused on preparing students for careers in design, studios are designed to look and feel like professional spaces, rather than classrooms.

Learn more about Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Interior Design.

Pictured top: Rendering of 'Certitude Advertising Office Design' by Ashley Yachiw and Francesca Mak

Pictured in body: Renderings of 'Thousand Islands Long-Term Care Residence' by Yoojeong Bae