NYSID’s MFA-1 Turns 10 and Alumni Share Their Stories

“As a dancer I was a shaper of space, and as an interior designer, I got to be a shaper of space again.”

NYSID’s MFA-1 has changed significantly since its inception in 2009, but the resolve of its career-changing students has remained a constant. Shannon Andrews ’11 of HLW, Andrew Kaplan ’14, Topaz Wong ’16 and Carrie Anne Li ’16, all of Gensler; Nick Domitrovich ’12 of NICOLEHOLLIS; and Brett Helsham ’12 of Brett Helsham Designs discuss the education behind their exciting careers.

Shannon Andrews ’11 loves her career in interior design. She’s currently transitioning from five years of growth at Gensler to an exciting new job as a senior interior designer specializing in workplaces at HLW. She says, “I love problem solving, and that’s what design is. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy going back to the places I’ve designed after the construction is completed and seeing the impact on people’s lives.” Andrews’ former team at Gensler recently finished work on the new Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia, a project for which she and her colleagues helped design the interiors of the 44 story workplace within the building. The project challenged her to come up with spaces that promoted collaboration between workers located on different floors possible. She says, “Diagonal braces tie together three floors on one end of the building, creating atriums that stack three stories, what we call Lofts in the Sky. Each has become a gathering place and is used differently. They’re used as coffee bars, mothering spaces, meeting rooms, quiet zones and more.” Another facet of the project she enjoyed was her research into the work of Philadelphia artists and furniture makers, as the space showcases the vibrancy of the local art scene in this regional HQ.

Shannon has worked hard to get to do what she loves at the most prominent architecture and interior design firm in the world, and her hard work began at NYSID, where she was a member of the first class that graduated from the MFA-1 in 2011. Like so many of the students who attend NYSID, Andrews didn’t grow up knowing she wanted to be an interior designer. She started her professional life as a dancer. When she was sidelined by an injury, she worked as an office manager, but she longed to get back to creative work. In 2008, she started at NYSID, in the Associates in Applied Science program (AAS), because the degrees at NYSID stack into each other, and she figured the AAS would be a “safe way to figure out if interior design was for me.” By 2009, when NYSID announced the launch of its MFA-1 program and invited her to transfer into it, Andrews was hooked on interior design and determined to make it her career. “As a dancer I was a shaper of space, and as an interior designer, I got to be a shaper of space again,” she muses. Andrews decided to commit, and has never looked back. She remembers the MFA-1 as difficult and totally immersive. She says, “It was the support of my class (there were only 12 of us) and the faculty that got me through. My peers and teachers critiqued my work formally and informally. I immediately had the feeling that I was in a working studio, and that set me up to work collaboratively when I entered the work world.” Andrews did much more than “get through” NYSID: she graduated with high honors and won the Chairman’s Award.

History & Evolution of the Program

In the late-2000s, NYSID’s administration, including former Dean Scott Ageloff, perceived the need for NYSID to offer an MFA-1, a postbaccalaureate first professional degree in interior design. Barbara Lowenthal, NYSID’s Associate Dean, recounts, “There were students who already had a bachelor’s degree in another discipline who wanted to go further than an associate’s degree, but they were reluctant to get a second bachelor’s. They wanted a master’s. From the start, the MFA-1 was responsive to the ambitions of our students.” Ageloff and Ellen Fisher, then Associate Dean (and now Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean), reasoned that because the post-baccalaureate first professional degree is the model for law school, medical school and many architecture schools, offering such a degree in interior design at NYSID would be a step toward aligning interior design education with other postbaccalaureate professional degrees. In 2008, NYSID applied for, and was granted, New York State Board of Regents approval of the program—the first MFA in interior design approved by the State of New York. Lowenthal, who began teaching at NYSID in 1994, and who had overseen the MFA post-professional (MFA-2) thesis courses since that program’s inception, was brought on to run the program in 2009, its inaugural year.

The 90-credit MFA-1 was designed to be an intensive, full-time program for serious students focused on following a career in interior design. Says Lowenthal, “These students are not thinking maybe design is for me; MFA-1 students have already made up their mind that they’re going to do this. They expect to succeed, and they do.” From the outset, prospective students could apply to the program without a portfolio. But Lowenthal and Ageloff both realized that this meant that while some students would begin the program with a background in fine art and design, some others probably would never have picked up a pencil or even visited an art museum before. Consequently, one of the very first innovations Lowenthal and Ageloff brought to the program was a two-week summer workshop to introduce these students to the language and principles of art and design, what she calls “a crash course that functioned to help level the playing field for people with no formal art or design training.” This course still persists today. Says current second-year MFA-1 student Mona Nahm, who had a flourishing career in production set design before she came to NYSID, “I thought I had plenty of practical experience in design and wouldn’t need to take the course, but it turned out to be transformative. I found I was so afraid of drawing, but the summer course forced me past my fears. I was creating four or five drawings every day, and it was a skill I hadn’t realized I was hungry for.”

The Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) first accredited the MFA-1 program in 2013. In response to student feedback and an in-depth review of the program for CIDA, the Office of Academic Affairs determined that having students take required studio courses in the summer prevented them from getting out from behind their desks and experiencing design in the real world. So Lowenthal and Fisher introduced two summer session Experiential Learning courses. Today, MFA-1 students engage in self-directed study every summer; selecting, planning, executing and evaluating one of three options for the summer experience: an internship; independent study, which encompasses study travel and service learning, or a graphic communications boot camp. During the summer, students actively participate in on-line weekly discussions, from anywhere in the world, and submit a final reflective essay, assessing their own learning outcomes and identifying opportunities for improvement in the following year.

Says third-year MFA-1 student Ryan Lacy, currently an intern for Arthur Dunnam for Jed Johnson Studio, “For the summers, I chose to do an internship that I’ve continued throughout the school years. I’ll have two and a half solid years of work experience under my belt by the time I graduate, and the internship that I currently have will turn into a fulltime job upon graduation. Having time scheduled into the program for this kind of experience is extremely beneficial.”

The summer service learning studios are unique to NYSID and extremely popular. Over the years, this summer experiential option has allowed students to work to effect social change through interior design, such as by designing a series of spaces in the 73rd Police Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn; at the Queens Child Advocacy Center, serving children from 0–18-years old who have experienced physical or sexual abuse, and at the largest shelter for victims of domestic violence in New York City. Architect and NYSID faculty member Terry Kleinberg says service learning provides her students with the powerful experience of “having real clients with real parameters.” For many students, this is a life-changing experience.

The MFA-1 advisory board consists of some of the most respected professionals in interior design, who all work diligently to ensure that the MFA-1 curriculum is constantly evolving to reflect the best practices of the industry. The success of the MFA-1 program can be gauged by its robust enrollment and the fact that 100% of its alumni are employed within six months of graduation.

Diverse Backgrounds; Uniform Ambition

Students and alumni of the MFA-1 consistently say their peers were an integral part of their education. Nick Domitrovich ’12, who studied business as an undergraduate and who is now senior interior designer at the Hospitality Studio of NICOLEHOLLIS, says, “In NYSID’s MFA-1, you are in a studio with other individuals who have decided to switch careers and commit to a full-time program. In the room with you are former lawyers, marketers, dancers, actors, accountants and businessmen. My classmates made for a unique experience. The level of their work pushed me. I didn’t want to do a presentation unless I could rise to the level of excellence around me. The culture of the program is competitive, but it’s equally collaborative. When I was stuck, there was always someone with another talent or perspective who could help me. Everyone in your studio is so supportive and it helps you get through the challenging program.” Post-graduation, Nick has orchestrated the design of many diverse projects, including Four Seasons Hotels, Delta Sky Clubs, Sheratons and restaurants and bars around the world.

Brett Helsham ’12, who after working at Wettling Architects and Mr. Call Designs, founded her namesake firm in 2014, found that the close relationships between the students she knew at NYSID have transformed into an invaluable network. “Obviously, the technical skills learned at NYSID are important,” she says, “But I think the friendships that I made have been the most valuable resource. We are each other’s greatest advisors, mentors and sounding boards, whether we need help on a project or just need to vent!” Helsham’s bustling firm, Brett Helsham Designs, handles commercial, residential, retail and hospitality clients. Recently, she’s worked on a retail concept store for 5phere in The James Hotel, the offices of the president of Sony Records, and the gut renovations of residences in Miami and in Milton, Ontario.

A Practical Program that Dares to Dream

Says NYSID’s Associate Dean, Barbara Lowenthal, “Our studio curriculum takes students from the design of a single room to more conceptual projects, such as the design of a hotel around the theme of a book, introducing the idea of the narrative in interior space. We teach practical skills, such as digital drawing software like Revit, construction documents and building codes, but we never forget that interior design is also an art, and artists need the freedom to imagine.”

Andrew Kaplan ’14, an interior designer who currently works in a hospitality-design studio in Gensler’s Austin, Texas, office, says, “What I appreciate most about my education at NYSID is that my instructors kept pulling us back into reality. The projects were very theoretical, but always required us to think about how they would be built, how they would be maintained. The teachers would not let you get away with a hallway that was narrower than the building code allowed. When I interned at Gensler, I felt more prepared than the Ivy-League architecture students around me. NYSID provided the skills I needed to jump in and be an effective team member on any project.” Kaplan is drawing on both the tactical and artistic sides of his education on his current project: a renovation of the historic Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.

Topaz Wong ’16, a designer at Gensler, says, “The most important tool I took from NYSID is time management. At NYSID, you’re taking six or seven classes at a time, and this teaches you to juggle. Our projects were quite open-ended in the studios, but the teachers gave us a schedule and kept us to it through regular check-ins and critiques.” Wong is currently working on a fast-tracked renovation of a floor of the Barclays Building in San Francisco, where he’s responsible for the construction documents and bids for all the contractors.

The Power of Critiques

Most of NYSID’s faculty members are working designers and architects. It’s common practice at the College for faculty members to bring their colleagues into the studio to provide guest critiques on student presentations. Says Carrie Anne Li ’16, a designer working on financial sector projects at Gensler, “Presenting our studio work to a jury or panel was particularly helpful to me. The skill translates to the real world in the way I present work to clients.”

A Facility Shapes a Culture

The Graduate Center is a sleek, LEED-Platinum-certified space, designed by Gensler and completed in 2011. Students in the MFA programs have dedicated desks, computers and pedestals in the Graduate Center for the entire three years of their matriculation. Each year, the MFA-1 students share a studio environment with other MFA-1 students for the entire year. Rene Johnsen, second year student and Graduate Students’ Association president, says, “I love the fact that we are put in a studio space with the same group of students for the year. You are there with your peers 24/7, Monday to Friday, and it comes to feel sort of like a homeroom, sort of like a family.” There is an intentional openness to the “grad center” that serves an educational function. There are no doors on the classrooms. The corridor ceilings have mesh panels allowing sight of the building services: the HVAC, plumbing, sprinklers and electrical conduit. The construction of the staircase is also exposed. Corridors are wide to accommodate student presentations and pin-ups, and are lined with tackable panels. Andrew Kaplan ’16 recalls, “Everything is visible so you see what everyone else is working on. This created a culture in which we were all feeding off of each other’s ideas. When the work of your peers is out in the open and that good, it motivates you to work to your potential.”

Don’t Fear Difficulty; Crush it

Interior design requires its practitioners to have deep knowledge of interior construction, architecture, the fine and decorative arts, and the relationships between the environment and human behavior. Nick Domitrovich ’12, says, “One of the things I loved about the NYSID MFA-1 program is that your educators don’t try to pretend interior design is an easy career. They insist you become fluent in everything: art history, color theory, building codes, space planning. What I know now is interior design is fun, but not for the faint of heart, and I’m glad I got an education that gave me the real tools I needed to do this work.” Mona Nahm comments, “When you start a program like this, everyone comes in with a different toolkit of experiences. Everyone is missing some tools initially. But by the end of the program, you will have all the tools.”