This special issue invites us to reflect on how design education systems, professional practices, and organizations must evolve to face today’s wicked problems (e.g., climate, health, and inequity). This invited perspective reflects on how we can shift our perspectives on design through regenerative development and design, an evolving meta-discipline that offers pathways forward by shifting the paradigms of how we see the role of design, and of designers, in an evolving and precarious world.

Design is human (and consequently imperfect). Design requires ethical decisions about when to start and stop. And design appropriately addresses problems where a single choice is insufficient. Ethical interior design leadership requires us to define our values, make decisions based on these values, and lead by taking on the hard problems. What we celebrate, how we present our discipline and profession, and why we advocate for people (and the planet) implicitly reveal our ethical frameworks. How we define problems exposes our values. When we choose to start and stop solving problems matters.

Throughout my career in architecture and interior design (A&D), I have encountered experiences that have evoked both love and frustration for the profession. My journey, profoundly personal yet potentially relatable to other marginalized A&D professionals, is a testament to resilience and strategic defiance in the face of exclusion. I am now sharing my experiences publicly for the first time to contribute to the discourse on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession and break a taboo. As a professional and a fellow human who has felt the sting of exclusion and the power of resilience, I hope to inspire others facing similar challenges.

To reclaim their seat in the rapidly growing market of virtual space, designers of the built environment can benefit from reevaluating theories that see the virtual as a mere extension/reflection of the physical. By claiming ontological autonomy from external worlds, the virtual is liberated from the hegemonic control of the physical. To explore the opportunities that such disruption in the physical/virtual continuum offers, I reflect on a series of pedagogical experiments that challenge the “myth of total virtuality”—the idea that the ultimate virtual experience is total immersion. The persistent obsession to fully immerse the user in a supposedly unmediated interiority of the virtual is evident in the minimization of the virtual reality apparatus to a state of almost nothingness. In this paper, I introduce a series of alienation/defamiliarization strategies, through which designers can invoke awareness about the mediation involved in a virtual experience—a condition that I refer to as “metavirtual.” One strategy emphasizes the pixelated ontology of the virtual space by techniques of glitching, low-resolution, low-fidelity, and low-color bitmap renders. Another involves manipulating the phenomenological expectations that our perception often experiences in non-virtual environments. This includes, not only a reconceptualization of the spatial object but also revisiting the agency of the subject in the virtual world. Different modes of spatial experience through portals, flying, and teleportation, affect the subject’s perception of space, and thereby alter their measurement of time.

Numerous studies have observed the importance of sense of community in online learning. However, developing sense of community in online interior design studios is yet to be explored. The primary purpose of this study was to assess students’ perceptions of the sense of classroom community (SCC) and learning experiences after switching their in–person to online design studios during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic. Additionally, we examined students’ characteristics that affect SCC in online learning and the impact of SCC on students’ academic motivation and comfort levels. An online survey was administered to 100 undergraduate students enrolled in design studios at an accredited interior design program at a large public U.S. institution. From this, 57 students responded to the survey. The SCC questionnaire was based on the four dimensions of Rovai's classroom community scale. Additional items included open–ended questions and students’ characteristics such as their overall grade point average (GPA), family home environment, students’ prior online learning experience, and adaptation time to the Zoom platform. The results showed that the SCC scores of four dimensions (trust, spirit, learning, interaction) were significantly less among students during their online than in–person studios. Students’ characteristics had a mixed impact on SCC dimensions. Additionally, SCC was a significant predictor of students’ academic motivation and comfort levels in online learning. The study results are important as they make a valuable contribution to the growing area of research on online learning by advancing the understanding of students’ SCC and learning in online design studios.

Given the growing recognition of design's influence on a range of performative outcomes, interior designers stand to capitalize on new opportunities—if they adeptly respond to new responsibilities. These responsibilities often begin by formulating well–defined problems, which, in turn, serve as the basis for informed–design solutions. However, the extent to which commercial interior designers offer informed–design services has yet to be identified. This study sought to understand the knowledge acquisition and knowledge application practices of commercial interior designers during the project–defining phases of the design process. It investigated these tactics by first identifying designers’ perceptions of their clients’ priorities and then comparing the delivery of informed–design services across contextual factors and individual characteristics. Finally, the study examined the communication processes involved in providing these services. Survey results from 165 commercial interior designers suggest that the provision of informed–design services is influenced by client priorities, market sector, and firm characteristics. Differences were also revealed among individual factors of professional preparation, title, and experience level, with senior–level staff more inclined to perform informed–design services. Moreover, while designers seemingly value services that employ dynamic, diachronic communication processes, they most often perform those involving two–way communication. Findings point to disparities between the most frequently provided services and those designers perceive to offer the most project insight. Taken together, results suggest that designers value a range of voices, but may not always invite these voices to the table.

The Hindu temple is a place where gods may be approached, and divine knowledge discovered. The design of the temple based on the cosmic man, the “ vastu purush mandala,” allows the experiencing body to be aligned with celestial elements, obtaining harmony with the cosmos. Exploring the sequence and processes of bodily engagement as one progresses from the periphery to the core, the article seeks to apprise designers on the rituals encompassed in worship at a Hindu temple. The article creates a mosaic of hybrid fragments via photographs, drawings, and text to emphasize the intertwining of the bodily and divine.