Become an interior design leader and innovator, setting standards for critical thinking, sustainable practice, ethical and social responsibility, professional aptitude and collaboration as you enhance and transform the built environment.
At Pratt, one of the most prominent programs in the country, you’ll study interior design as an integral element of the built environment, generating creative solutions that combine light and color, craft and making, material research, evolving technologies, sustainable practice, and social responsibility, including global cultural histories and diverse contexts. Our CIDA accredited BFA program prepares you to think critically, innovate, and become an interior design leader, expanding the potential of professional practice, design education, and research that affects the interior environment.
The design studio is at the core of your educational experience at Pratt. It is a creative space and a community in microcosm, from which we connect to the larger design community. We believe education takes place in the studio and the classroom and that the work in the studio benefits the student’s growth equally. Working with tools and materials in the studio deepens knowledge of the opportunities inherent in form-making and design exploration.
Maker Spaces and Labs
Sustainability and material exploration drive our passion for making. We are hands-on and immersive; any student of design can discover, iterate and refine their investigations through our many labs. Learn more
Thesis
The Senior year spring semester design studio is devoted entirely to the development of a major design project: the Senior Design Thesis – a full semester of work on a self‐initiated project based on a strong sense of professionalism and design maturity. The thesis project is presented at the annual design show, a public event attended by industry leaders and potential employers. See Pratt Shows 2023.
Study Abroad
Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the college experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world. Junior year students have the opportunity to spend the spring semester at DIS in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many exchange and study abroad options, including the Custom Semester program for juniors, are available to Interior Design students. See where you can go.
Learning Resources
We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn more.
Our Faculty
Our faculty are practitioners of interior design, architecture, industrial design, lighting design, furniture design, and communications design. They run or work for some of the most exciting and successful design firms in the world. All faculty have extensive experience working at the scale of the interior, and their expertise and abiding interests are brought to bear upon the coursework.
Interior design alumni have risen to the tops of their fields in affordable housing, community economic development, transportation, government, community development and advanced research.
Thinking seriously about Pratt? Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
Building your portfolio can be daunting. We’ll answer your questions and help you feel confident about the portfolio you submit with your application. Start building your portfolio, now.
Find yourself at home at Pratt: our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighbors. Check us out.
Jiawen (Gaven) Yu, MFA’25
SPATIAL COSTUME: Space Meets Body, Body Meets Space
This thesis explores identity transformation and empowerment through sensory engagement with space, inspired by mythological feminine villains. Drawing from the performing arts, it proposes that extreme costuming can inform spatial design that interacts with the body to evoke bold personal expression.
Thesis advisor: Nina Freedman
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Yeva Rajpal, BFA'25
Look deeper, Think deeper, Feel deeper
This laundromat becomes a portal to the subconscious, where spinning machines mirror life’s hidden rhythms. Light, sound, and scent evoke memory, subtly revealing internal patterns. Routine gives way to reflection, stillness becomes movement, and waiting transforms into introspection, offering not just clean clothes, but an emotional cleansing.
Thesis advisor: Rachel Paupeck
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Funing An, BFA'25
Feel Within
This thesis investigates the role of spatial design as a tool to help college students navigate and process emotions during the transition into young adulthood. Through the creation of distinct experiential spaces, the project explores how physical environments can serve as coping mechanisms, offering students a path toward self-awareness, emotional release, and healing.
Thesis advisor: Sarah Lippmann
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Crystal Sun, MFA’25
Weaving Place, Weaving Self
Spatial Interventions for Reclaiming Space, Identity, and Mental Health Among Asian American Women
This thesis project explores the potential of site-specific interventions, which integrate participatory design and hands-on weaving workshops, to empower Asian American Women to claim space, de-stigmatize mental health, and disrupt associated cultural barriers within the Asian American diaspora.
Thesis advisor: Nina Freedman
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Hsiang-yi Chen, BFA’25
Exit Through the Art Shop
"Exit Through the Art Shop" re-imagines 58 Kent Street as an interactive cultural space where visitors navigate through an art supply store, encountering exhibitions by chance. The Peep-box facade teases hidden activities, encouraging curiosity and unplanned exploration. Self-directed circulation fosters spontaneous discovery, enhancing memory retention through unexpected, immersive experiences.
Thesis advisor: John Nafziger
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Jessie (Yixuan) Zhao, MFA’25
Beyond Sight - Creating Soundscapes for the Visually Impaired
By creating aural and tactile ‘soundscapes’ for the visually impaired, this thesis explores subtle, sensory accentuated engagement and navigational methodologies in spatial, prototypical, interventions of performative public space.
Thesis advisor: Nina Freedman
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Lili Zhu, MFA’25
This thesis reimagines residential interiors by integrating AI-driven adaptability, creating spaces that are flexible, sensory, and user-centered. By challenging static layouts and traditional dependencies, the project proposes a new model for living that merges technological innovation with human comfort and emotional experience.
Thesis advisor: Frederic Levrat
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Emily Nunez, BFA'25
Eco-Rehabitat
This project reimagines the classic brownstone as a sustainable, community-driven co-living model for young urban professionals. Prioritizing shared experiences, eco-conscious habits, and inclusivity, it offers an affordable, scalable solution to the housing crisis. Eco-Rehabitat fosters financial and environmental resilience, redefining urban living for a greener, more equitable future.
Thesis advisor: Calvert Wright
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Kaitlyn Jones, BFA’25
Governors Island Exploration School
This project critiques the American public school system by proposing a model for future schools, prioritizing positive mental health in children as a foundation for preventing acts of violence in the future. The outdoor intermediate school (4th-6th grade) engages students with nature and community to foster a deeper sense of empathy and responsibility.
Thesis advisor: John Nafziger
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BFA students at Pratt study interior design as an integral element of the built environment by generating creative solutions that integrate an understanding of light and color, craft and making, material research, evolving technologies, sustainable practice, and social responsibility, including knowledge about global cultural histories and diverse contexts. The program prepares students to engage in critical inquiry that establishes them as innovators and leaders in the field of interior design, expanding the potential of professional practice, design education, and research affecting the interior environment.
Students begin their study of interior design in the sophomore year upon completion of a required year in Foundation. As the curriculum proceeds, interior design projects become more complex. The structure of the 126-credit program prepares graduates for a leadership role in an established profession.
Interested BFA students may apply to spend the spring term of the junior year at the Danish International School (DIS), studying interior architecture in Copenhagen. The program at DIS includes extensive study tours throughout Scandinavia. Individuals interested in transferring to Pratt from other institutions are also encouraged to apply.
To support our commitment to technological excellence, personal laptop computers are required for all undergraduate students.
Students are able to engage in analysis, research, and application of the fundamentals of human behavior.
Students are able to research, analyze, and integrate light, color, and materiality as essential design elements and principles.
Students are able to visually present and communicate their intentions through appropriate media.
Students are able to present their own work through oral and written formats.
Students are able to analyze and integrate knowledge of historical, cultural, and social contexts.
Students are able to research, identify, and evaluate constraints, rules, codes and conventions that govern the built environment.
Students are able to identify and integrate principles of human and environmental health.
Students will be prepared to work collaboratively and in multidisciplinary environments.
