Interior Design Student Seeks to Destigmatize Mental Disorders in Award-Winning Project

Senior Narada Walters’ project of an interactive museum that examines mental disorders through introspection won first place in the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) PA/NJ/DE Student Design Competition.

The interior design student said he wanted to “spark the destigmatization” of these conditions and educate visitors with “Fragmentality.” Through unique visual and auditory experiences, each exhibit portrays a different disorder and challenges viewers to assess the level of control they have in their lives.

With anxiety, for example, the exhibit envelopes people with slight visual and auditory discomfort. For schizophrenia, the walls of perception are fractured and broken down with AR.

The jurors praised Walters for his strong concept, psychological effect of space and 3-D development and detail.

“We’re quite proud,” said Lauren Baumbach, director of Jefferson’s BS in interior design and MS in interior architecture programs. “Narada’s win is a testimony to his incredible creative talent, as well as our interior design program’s long-standing excellence in design education.”

DesignIntelligence recently recognized the University in its annual rankings. In the focus categories, the interior design program made the top 10 for transdisciplinary collaboration across architecture, engineering and construction, and interior architecture earned top 10 spots for project planning and management, sustainable built environments/adaptive design/resilient design, and practice management.