Signature Programs

Interior Architecture – Cruise Ship + Super Yacht

The FIU Interior Architecture Department offers the only formal educational initiative in the U.S. focused on designing  cruise ship and yacht interiors. It is a unique curriculum that prepares designers for the specific issues associated with working in the cruise ship and yacht industry. Entrance into the CSSY program is limited to students beginning the second year of the Master of Interior Architecture curriculum who have earned a graduate level GPA of 3.0 or higher. In order to participate in this study abroad, you must first apply to the Interior Architecture department and be accepted into the CSSY program. Each year a limited number of students are selected.

The Spring semester of the CSSY program consists of 3 distinct parts.
1. Two weeks in Miami: Intensive Workshop with Italian Yacht Designers and a collaboration with visiting Naval Design students from University of Genoa. The collaborative curriculum is focused on designing a specific program for a cruise ship. Field trips to the International Yacht Show and the Maimi Boat Show complement the didactic activities in the classroom. Accomodations are not provided during this part of the program.

2. One week in La Spezia, Italy: Collaborative Studio with the Universtiy of Genoa I Naval Design Program. Students work in cross-cultural teams designing a specific program for an Italian Yacht. Field trips to yatch manufacturing facilities in the region complement the didactic activities in the classroom. Hotel accomodations are provided within walking distance of the school.

3. Seven weeks in Genoa, Italy: students will attend classes and have access to studio space at Santa Maria di Castello. Each week, there will be 3 days of studio and instructional activities followed by 3 days of academic travel excursions. Students will learn about design, history, and culture while visiting major Italian and Swiss cities. There will also be a trip to a shipyard in either France or Germany to tour a cruise ship under construction. Accomodations will be provided in shared apartments while in Genoa, and hotels while travelling for academic excursions.

Post Professional Degree in Healthcare design track

Design effects health directly or indirectly. While health factors cannot be based on environment alone, recent research shows the impact of design on health and wellbeing, including stress reduction, cognitive performance, and emotion, mood and preference (The Drive Toward Healthier Buildings, 2016). The National Prevention Strategy proposed by CDC recognizes that good health comes not just from receiving quality medical care but from stopping disease before it starts. It helps move the nation away from a health care system focused on sickness and disease to one focused on wellness and prevention. In this context, evidence-based design for the access and sustenance of healthy spaces is not only vital, but inevitable. In today’s ever-changing world of healthcare, thinking of health as pervasive, rather than episodic is critical.

La Spezia

Assembling a unique team of professionals and educators, The Interior Architecture Department offers a unique study abroad experience for students enrolled in the Cruise Ship and Super Yacht Design certificate program. The purpose of this program is to prepare designers for the specific issues associated with designing cruise ship and yacht interiors.

The cultural exchange workshops involves FIU students in workshops with our Italian partners from Universita degli Studi di Genova Navale e Nautico program. These workshops consist of two separate weeklong sessions – one in Miami, the other UniGe Polo Universitario on the Mediterranean in La Spezia, Italy plus additional travel within Italy and Germany.

In Miami, the focus is on cruise ships – our local expertise. The week is filled with guest lecturers from industry leaders, tours of the latest ships, and office visits to cruise designers and cruise line headquarters. All of this is built around a series of workshops in which the students from both schools team up to work together on designs for a large-scale public venue. To conclude the week, a gala brings together FIU students and industry leaders to celebrate the accomplishments of our program and highlight the final designs of the workshops series.

The European portion of the workshops take place in La Spezia, Italy and focus on yacht design. With a rich history of nautical design, it is the perfect place for our students to experience an intensive week-long look at this specialty of our profession. The structure is similar to the Miami week, but here we are the guests, proudly taking in the knowledge being shared by our generous hosts, who arrange tours and workshops with leading Italian Yacht designers. After our workshop in La Spezia, we travel to Florence, and Rome, and then up to Germany for tours of Meyer Werft ship builders located in Papenburg, Germany.

Interior Architecture - Design @ Sea

2018 design@ sea is a Summer A class aboard the brand NEW MSC Seaside. The study abroad is an 8 day cruise followed by a 3 week design project in the studios at FIU. The cruise sails from Miami on Saturday, April 28 and returns to Miami on Saturday, May 5. This study abroad program will not conflict with other Summer courses - FIU summer classes begin on Monday, May 7.

This ship is the first of MSC's next-generation vessels. It is the largest cruise ship ever to be constructed by its builder, Fincantieri of Italy. When it debuted in November 2017, it was the 14th largest cruise ship in the world, behind Freedom of the Seas and Independence of the Seas.

MSC Seaside will enter into service in December 2017. It will operate year-round to the Caribbean from a dedicated berth and terminal at the Port of Miami.

Multi-disciplinary Workshop in Bauhaus

The Study Abroad program to Dessau and Berlin is an art and design Workshop modeled on the historic Bauhaus pedagogy. Students will work for 4 weeks in Miami on topics related to the history and legacy of the Bauhaus before visiting the Bauhaus for a week-long residency.

Instructors will direct various aspects of the interdisciplinary courses with the aim of producing prototypes and experimental designed objects. The fundamental aim of the program is not to generate products for their own sake but to test a classic method for education students in art and design practice. At the same time, grounding in the historic context of the Bauhaus as a center of art and design production will serve as a foundation upon which students can speculate about current art and design theory and praxis.

After the 4-week preliminary study period in Miami, students will travel to Dessau Germany for one week to work at the Bauhaus in an intensive design workshop. Afterward, the group will go to Berlin to visit the Bauhaus archive as well as tour significant art and design institutions.