Two Interior Design Students Recognized at 2019 International Interior Design Association's annual Texas Oklahoma Chapter Student Show

Two interior design students received first and third-place awards at the 2019 International Interior Design Association's (IIDA) annual Texas Oklahoma Chapter Student Show in spring 2019. The finalists presented their projects to a panel of Austin’s leading design professionals at an event that also included mock interviews, portfolio reviews, and a panel discussion. 

Monika Husodo received first place for her BUKU bookstore project. Monika considered how, as digital technology proliferates the means with which people have access to books, traditional bookstores may expand into more flexible social spaces in order to attract the public. According to Monika: “BUKU is a bookstore that strives to become a showcase of reducing carbon footprint by maximizing daylight and spatial efficiency with its skylights and modular bookshelves. The large communal sitting steps are designed for customers to linger and mingle with one another, while the open space can hold public events, such as a book signing event.”

Angela Yu Cai received third place for her VINTAGE MAGAZINE STORE project inspired by Alvar Aalto's Shelf Model use of bent wood. According to Angela: “In this digital age, designing a bookstore needs to approach from an unorthodox way. We need to reconsider the relationship between people and physical books. This Vintage magazine store is an experiment of bringing people back to the traditional way of reading by using social media — creating an immersive, instagramable place to attract people into to brick and mortar book store, and then keep them longer to feel the vibe and enjoy their time with books. This entire place is surrounded by birch wood panel with built in seating and dominated by the central stair. The goal is to make people forget the outside world and enjoy their time reading the physical books.”

All projects were produced in Nerea Feliz’s Design V Studio.