Five Interior Design Students Named to Metropolis’ Future 100
Five UT Austin School of Architecture interior design students have been selected for inclusion in Metropolis Magazine’s Metropolis Future 100. Now in its second year, the Metropolis Future 100 highlights, through a competitive process, the top 100 interior design and architecture students graduating this spring.
SOA interior design students Ashley Chen (BSID), Paige Frost (BSID), Elvira Lathrop (MID), Mary Claire Moravits (BSID), and Hannah Smith (MID) were five of only 50 interior design students selected for the exclusive list out of nearly 300 submissions from schools across the United States and Canada. Nominated by members of our faculty, students were evaluated by a jury of experts led by Metropolis editor-in-chief Avinash Rajagopal and vetted on measures of creativity, rigor, skills, and professionalism.
“We could not be more excited about what this means for these emerging designers and the interior design program itself,” said Igor Siddiqui, Program Director. “Having this many students from our program selected for this honor is a testament to the value and impact of our program in the profession, and it speaks loudly to the quality of our students’ work.”
Check out each of the 2022 Metropolis Future 100 recipients' portfolios here: Ashley Chen | Paige Frost | Elvira Lathrop | Mary Claire Moravits | Hannah Smith
In addition to being featured in the March / April 2022 print issue of Metropolis and online at MetropolisMag.com, work from the Future 100 student cohort was shared directly with recruiters at architecture and design firms across the country. Launched in late 2020 amidst the height of pandemic and employment uncertainty, the Metropolis Future 100 was envisioned as a tool to help connect the most talented design students with leading firms across North America. Beyond the Future 100, the School of Architecture’s Interior Design Program has a proven track record of student employment. It was ranked as the #3 “Most Hired From” interior design program in our size group by DesignIntelligence in 2019, and recent graduates have been recruited by firms such as IwamotoScott, Baldridge Architects, STUDIOS, and Page.
The Future 100 news comes on the heels of other exciting developments within the program, including the recent accreditation of the three-year Master of Interior Design program—the only CIDA-accredited professional graduate program in Texas – and the reaccreditation of the Bachelor of Science in Interior Design program. Additionally, the program has also recently announced a new five-year initiative focused on craft and artisanship in interior environments that will enhance the program’s capacity to advance interiors as a cutting-edge field.
“The Interior Design Program at UT educates future leaders in the field, offering a robust combination of intellectual inquiry, creative exploration, and professionalism,” says Siddiqui. “The field of interiors is experiencing unprecedented relevance; our students are prepared to respond to the resulting opportunities, and to act as effective stewards of the field’s developing trajectory.”
All five Future 100 students from the School of Architecture will graduate this semester. Post-graduation, Chen will head to Los Angeles; Frost will be attending Rice University to pursue her Master’s in Architecture; Lathrop will join Page’s Austin Government Studio as a designer; Moravits will head up to Washington D.C. to work for STUDIOS Architecture; and Smith will take on a role at Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.
For more information about the Metropolis Future 100, visit https://metropolismag.com/programs/future100/, and check out our Q&A with the interior design student who was selected for last year’s Future 100 list, Xie Maggie Hill (BSID ’21).