Routledge Handbook of Interior Architecture Research

This handbook examines the important relationship between interior environments and their users, presenting diverse analyses of human-centred design approaches. It encompasses empirical research across multiple dimensions – from the various scales at which interior spaces are experienced to cultural influences, theoretical frameworks, health impacts, and educational methodologies.

Interior architecture has evolved significantly, establishing itself as a rigorous and crucial academic discipline and profession in global society. Rectifying outdated perceptions of designed interiors as merely a decorative realm, this handbook – featuring contributions from international authors – highlights the profound social, cultural, technological, and ecological impacts of interior architecture in the 21st century. The handbook presents cutting-edge research that emphasises technological advancements in interior design processes, comprehensive analyses of human-centred design through empirical studies and intellectual on spatial experience at various scales, cultural context and influences, theoretical perspectives and frameworks, health and well-being considerations, and educational approaches and professional practices.

The volume is relevant to academics, design researchers, practitioners, and students by exploring interior architecture through multiple disciplinary lenses: psychology, sociology, neuroscience, anthropology, and ecology. Readers will gain valuable insights into how analytical approaches to interior architecture contribute significantly to positive human experiences and conditions in our built environments.

Nisha A. Fernando is Director and Associate Professor of Interior Architecture, School of Architecture and Design at the University of Kansas. Previously, she was Professor of Interior Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She received her Ph.D. in Architecture (Environment-Behaviour Studies) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Her research focuses on culture-space interactions, including sensory aspects of built environments, place attachment and meaning, as well as interior architecture pedagogy. Her most recent publication (2024, co-edited with Kapila D. Silva) is Theorizing Built Form and Culture: The Legacy of Amos Rapoport, a festschrift to her doctoral advisor Professor Amos Rapoport, published by Routledge. It received the EDRA Achievement Award in 2024.