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.
Zhurong Kuang, BFA’25
Pause of Mind
This project explores space as a medium for emotional healing, creating a meditation-centered environment that transforms an existing tunnel. Through the interplay of materials, light, and translucency, it creates a sensory experience that invites visitors to pause, pass through, and embark on an emotional journey of healing.
Thesis advisor: Melissa Cicetti
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Lin Chen, MFA’25
Experiential Museum:
Re-framing Temporal Narratives Within the Interior
Through spatial sequencing and choreographed circulation, this thesis proposes a museum interior that invites users to navigate the emotional and psychological tensions between past and present. By confronting unrealized possibilities, the space becomes a vessel where reflection and imagination coalesce, prompting users to embrace the present through a re-framed perception of time.
Thesis advisor: Edwin Zawadzki
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Ritu Bhargava, MFA’25
Activating Rural New England’s Collective Memory to Redefine Cultural Identity in the Face of Contemporary Social, Political, and Ecological Crisis
The confluence of social, political, and technological conditions in contemporary rural New England have alienated individuals in physically and emotionally constructed public realms and wreaked havoc on the natural world. This thesis activates collective memory by highlighting locality, materiality, and programming to redefine cultural identity in the face of crisis.
Thesis advisor: Stefanie Werner
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Yudi Dong, BFA’25
“Shape it”
The thesis counters the decline of inclusivity and diversity caused by ongoing gentrification in the Bowery by proposing adaptable modular furniture and interchangeable programs for the area’s void or vacant spaces - tools designed to extend daily routines and personal expressions into the public realm. By activating these in-between spaces, the interventions invite diverse uses and spontaneous encounters, fostering a strong sense of shared experience and collective identity within the community.
Thesis advisor: Will McLoughlin
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Amy Cui, BFA’25
Until Death Do Us Part adapts the interior of a historic greenhouse at Greenwood Cemetery’s entrance to host non-traditional weddings. An ephemeral reproduction of this structure, sewn in silk, can be temporarily installed at the cemetery’s significant locations for ceremonies celebrating life to layer with a sense of eternity.
Thesis advisor: Alexander Schweder
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Jiamin Ao, MFA’25
Shaping Social Interaction
Shaping Social Interaction explores how design can foster authentic connections for Gen Z in the age of online dating. Inspired by New York’s fast-paced culture, it proposes a rooftop bar that bridges digital and physical worlds through organic flow, intimate seating, and sensory-driven spaces.
Thesis advisor: Frederic Levrat
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Kefei Xiao, MFA’25
Title: Paths of Stillness
This project explores how interior design can reduce anxiety and improve sleep by reshaping time perception. This physical circulation model demonstrates how movement through indoor and outdoor space, guided by natural vegetation, can slow one’s sense of time, encouraging mindfulness, relaxation, and deeper engagement with the natural environment.
Thesis advisor: Stefanie Werner
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David Gu, BFA’25
Bunkers of tmrw
This thesis explores a discomfort-driven spatial narrative by disrupting daily routines through the transformation of the Hudson Yards subway station into an immersive post-apocalyptic bunker. This project examines how design can provoke critical reflection on global conflict, human self-destruction, and the psychological effects of subterranean survival, offering a lens into fear and adaptation in the event of war.
Thesis advisor: Sarah Lippmann
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Zunyou (Alex) Chen, BFA’25
This exploded diagram illustrates a mindfulness-centered redesign of the Pratt Institute Library, re-framing it as both an academic and restorative environment. The design curates spatial experiences that support mental well-being through calming forms, quiet moments of reflection, and circulation paths inspired by walking meditation. By offering opportunities for pause and cultivating critical distance from coursework, the intervention positions the library as a site for both cognitive and emotional restoration, proposing a more holistic model for institutional learning environments.
Thesis advisor: Rachel Paupeck
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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.
