Why study this course?
The design projects featured on this interior design course investigate private, community, commercial and sustainable interior environments. You will consider the spatial and material relationships within surfaces, furniture, artefacts and textiles. You will develop both graphic and applied decorative making skills to enable the testing, sampling and representation of your ideas as a specialist interior designer.
Using the workshop facilities and expertise, you will work with different materials (hard and soft) and mark-making approaches to experiment and collaborate with other students and experts across a range of related disciplines (including furniture, upholstery, textiles and metals) utilising a breadth of material techniques with traditional and digital workshop processes.
Also, our interior design courses are ranked third in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2023. We’re also second in the UK for teaching quality and fourth for course satisfaction.
You can find out more about what to expect on the course in this video presentation from our Head of Interiors.
More about this course
The Interior Design and Decoration BA course enables you to embrace material exploration for decorative interior environments. It draws upon the wide range of contexts within the interiors industry, covering domestic settings, retail, exhibition, hotel, leisure and public spaces.
Through the design projects of Year 1 and the studios of Years 2 and 3 you will investigate private, community, commercial and sustainable interior environments, you will consider the spatial and material relationships within a building envelope of surface, furniture, artefacts and textiles. You will develop both graphic and applied decorative making skills to enable the testing, sampling and representation of your ideas.
You will work with different materials (hard and soft) and mark-making approaches to experiment and collaborate with students and experts across a range of related disciplines, including furniture, upholstery, textiles and metals. You'll utilise a breadth of material techniques with traditional and digital workshop processes.
Historically, decorative designers have expressed through their work the latest advances in fashion and technology, in step with vogues and trends that colour our material culture and vernacular history.
Important archives are kept with institutions such as the V&A, Geffrye Museum and Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) which allow us to research sources, methods and approaches for contemporary practice.
You will have the opportunity to explore and develop ideas for historic and modern contexts, acquiring knowledge of graphic skills and composition, fabrication techniques, manufacturing processes, mark-making, material exploration and practice for the intimate and private, or public scales of interior decoration. As developing designers you will use this knowledge to develop sensory and aesthetically sophisticated decorative environments that communicate emotionally, culturally, socially and physically with your audience.
Throughout the course you will be asked to consider and position yourself, your skills and your interests in relation to the industry to develop a portfolio that expresses your individual practice. The course operates within a programme of related interior design undergraduate awards, bringing together best practice from related fields. Three cognate BA awards (Interior Architecture and Design, Interior Design, Interior Design and Decoration) enables students to explore the fundamental aspects of design for interiors, through the lens of the built environment, the client, and/or decoration and detailing.
Follow @ldnmet_interiors on Instagram for the latest student work and news from the course!
Assessment
A number of assessment methods will be used throughout the course. These range from formative, summative, diagnostic, peer and self-assessment methods to studio based work, workshops, and CAD and digital projects and exercises.
Fees and key information
Apply nowEntry requirements
In addition to the University’s standard entry requirements, you should have:
- a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels one of which comes from a relevant subject area such in the arts, humanities or social sciences (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification in relevant art and design subjects)
- a portfolio review
- English Language GCSE at grade C/grade 4 or above
We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications. We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Suitable applicants living in the UK will be invited to a portfolio interview. Applicants living outside the UK will be required to submit a portfolio of work via email.
If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Interior Design and Decoration (including foundation year) BA (Hons) or Art and Design (including foundation year) BA (Hons).
Portfolios and interviews
Your portfolio should be selective but contain enough work to show the range of your interests, skills and talents. We are interested in seeing how you develop a project within your sketchbooks from beginning to end, not just your finished work as we will be looking for those who enjoy exploration and experimentation and are able to show us design thinking through a range of media and materials.
Please bring any models, 1:1 sculptures, products or furniture. If these items are too large please bring photographs to the interview. We always want to see traditional drawing whether observational, life or concept generating, so please include this, even if you already have good computer-aided design (CAD) skills.
Finally, be ready to talk about your work and how you see your future as an interior designer. The interview day includes a general introduction to the course and the interiors areas of interests and expertise, a tour of Calcutta House where you you'll have the chance to meet a variety of staff and talk to students.
Accreditation of Prior Learning
Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).
English language requirements
To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.
If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.
Modular structure
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year 1 modules include:
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Tuesday afternoon
- all year (January start) - Thursday afternoon
The module aims to orient and critically engage you in the history and theory of your discipline, to examine its scope, conventions, and broader social and material context in culture and practice. The overarching purpose of this is to enable a greater ability to think through and develop your studio practice, enriching it with knowledge and ideas gained from study of the contexts in which it is framed. You will be encouraged to explore issues relevant to your own background and identity.
The module will help you to reflect on what you see and experience, and to find connections between different ideas that have shaped your discipline. In particular, the module investigates how ideas about practice in your field might be framed, for example in relation to history, the economy, cultures, society and the environment, through both theory and practice. You will be encouraged to question received ideas and to broaden your thinking and understanding of the global and previously marginalised contexts and histories of your discipline. The current and historic practice, impacts and implications of your discipline in relation to matters of sustainability, equity and accessibility will also be a focus of your studies.
The module will begin to introduce you to a range of academic skills needed to produce a graduate level study (a dissertation) in your final year. It will help you to develop and define your own interests, and to reflect on and take responsibility for the development of your own learning.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Monday afternoon
- all year (September start) - Monday morning
- all year (January start) - Wednesday morning
- all year (January start) - Wednesday afternoon
Successful design outcomes are reliant on sound design development and principles. These design principles inform and create opportunities for you to apply your creativity to the conception, development and eventual realisation of effective design solutions through an iterative process testing of concepts in the context of a rapidly changing contemporary culture with ever-developing needs and problems. In this way, by engaging with materials, media and processes, interior designers become agents of change, engaging their personal and creative identity and cultural capital in the design process.
Design is concerned with bringing about change, impacting on human experience. This module introduces a range of contemporary and traditional discipline-related design approaches and processes, some of which will be tested in design exercises and some of which may be realised in studios and projects carried across other modules.
You will be introduced to systems and methods of research, observation and analysis, ranging from human behaviors, experience and cultural context to site, building and materials. The module will develop an understanding of spatial awareness linked to design and the organisation of space, interventions and added elements.
Design concepts will be tested through the application of exercises, workshop and studio methods through a range of drawing techniques, modelling and making.
Materials, processes and technologies are introduced, developing creative outcomes relevant to the possibilities and constraints of the context, the needs of the client and users, and industry conventions and regulations, with consideration to sustainable approaches. - This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Tuesday morning
- all year (January start) - Thursday morning
This module introduces the idea of communication through drawing. You will become familiar with what are commonly termed the ‘industry conventions’ for describing architectural details, including those for heritage and conservation sites. You will be taken through a series of workshops relating to your studio project to identify the differing and diverse types of drawings, diagrams, and related regulations that you would encounter within the design process and how these are used to communicate to varying audiences. You will also gain an understanding of how to devise and communicate sustainable and environmental approaches and will explore inclusive design methods and principles, investigating the historic and contemporary contexts in which a building is located and its social, cultural community connections.
Through a series of set tasks and lectures you will acquire key knowledge and understanding of scale, proportion, anthropometrics and ergonomics and principles of geometry, materials, colour and light linked to requirements for design. You will learn orthographic drawing methods, analysing building construction, for exterior and interior contexts. The module will use a range of learning and teaching methods to establish this knowledge, including site visits and surveys, case studies, hand and digital drawing workshops, including developing vital CAD skills.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Thursday afternoon
- all year (September start) - Thursday morning
- all year (January start) - Friday morning
- all year (January start) - Friday afternoon
This module introduces you to the ‘spatial journey’, a critical term used throughout the field of interior design, describing the spatial programming and planning that leads to the realisation of a concept for an entire and complex space.
The module encourages you to explore and manipulate the spatial qualities of interiors by applying design principles relating to, for example, the rhythm, pattern and differentiation of architectural and environmental elements in their contexts, which are often termed the ‘spatial journey’ in the interior design sector.
It considers human responses, both ergonomic and anthropometric, to commercial and community spaces and environments, and the specific impact of these spaces on people. You will consider the physical and emotional values of spaces and learn how to relate these spaces to their purposes. Examples of existing spatial environments will be surveyed and documented, using industry standard recording and publishing techniques and tools.
You will develop and present proposals relating to a spatial journey, exploring ways to manipulate spatial choices and realising your ideas through drawings, models and visualisation techniques. You will be introduced to sector-specific traditional and digital design modelling techniques, and the visualisation and presentation skills necessary for the practicing designer. This module supports the generation and development of design proposals, and will facilitate the realisation of concepts and projects generated in other modules.
Year 2 modules include:
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Thursday morning
Critical and Contextual Studies 2 continues to orient and critically engage you in the history and theory of your discipline, its extent and conventions, and its broader social and material context in culture and contemporary practice. It builds on studies undertaken in Level 4 and prepares you as independent thinkers to be capable of selecting an appropriate topic and producing a sustained piece of independent study in the form of a dissertation in Level 6.
The module continues the process of constructing and questioning knowledge about your discipline, its history, contexts, and professional and ethical dimensions. It introduces and rehearses the analytical and discursive skills you need to become critically aware of the authorities, objects and practices in your field and able to express and debate the issues attaching to them. You will consider the roles and responsibilities of professionals in your field and examine the ethical questions relevant to the discipline, becoming conversant with current debates in the subject. You will consider the priorities and points of view of the industry, the client, the designer, the consumer or user, the critic and wider society.
You are encouraged to think critically and creatively and to take responsibility for the development of your own learning. The module recognises that you are an active contributor to the process of learning: what you as a student bring to the construction and evaluation of knowledge matters – and how effectively you construct and evaluate that knowledge depends on how well you understand the field of your discipline as outlined above.
Critical and Contextual Studies for second year students is structured in order to foster confidence, through applying analytical skills to a growing body of knowledge and expressing this through debate, discussion and public presentation. Dialogue and exchange between students and tutors takes place in informal in-class settings and ensures that student experience and cultural and social capital is expressed and valued.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Friday morning
Materiality, form and structure, colour and light, surface and texture affects meaning and value in all design. This module requires your critical evaluation of subtle and implicit design details, resulting in sustainable and environmental design proposals expressed through materials and construction, considering how material selection and manipulation provides the interior space or the artefact with qualities and values expressed as the spatial experience.
You will explore and experiment with both physical and virtual material representation, drawing on concepts and ideas originally generated within the studio. Outcomes will be developed through material and/ or constructional experimentation including scaled interventions or working models. Through in-depth practice-led research, you will consider the sustainable, social, functional and environmental impacts of material choices and the performance of these upon designed-spaces or objects. You will realise relevant design solutions for studio briefs, in response to specific users and/or sites.
You will work towards a professional standard of presentation, developing a logical and creative approach to design problem solving, appropriate to the needs of users and clients. You will build upon your employability skills, understanding the relevance of your project work within the various industry sectors and work towards confidently presenting your project proposal.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Wednesday afternoon
- all year (September start) - Wednesday morning
As humans, we live in a continuous and ongoing relationship with our environment This module aims to show how our understanding of the human body (its scale, proportions and movement) together with awareness of sociological and physiological human behaviour are key aspects to successful design.
This module will examine how humans live, work and spend time together and through the analysis of contemporary and historical precedents will study performance, interaction and customs and in relation to economic, political and environmental conditions and how this fosters new practice.
Close observation of the interaction between the behaviours of people within the immediate environment will be at the core of this area of study. It will show how analysis of the human being, at a range of scales, is vital to relevant, safe and ethical, innovative design that responds to physical and sensory needs. Environmental observation and reflection will be documented through a range of media, analysed to support the generation of concepts and design ideas.
Informed selection and application of material processes are an intrinsic part of the design and production of both objects and the made environment. Workshop activities will explore and test ideas, resolving design issues through modelling in traditional and digital materials and technologies. Material experimentation and knowledge will enhance both the concept and its communication.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Thursday afternoon
This module develops and applies the knowledge and skills established in DN4018 Interior Design Communication and Techniques, and prepares you for DN6029, Integrated Design Practice, at Level 6. The module will develop your understanding and confidence in approaching the analysis and production of interior spaces through strategic and detailed design processes.
The module focuses in detail, through analytical building studies and reflective precedents, on how different aspects of context and history, and of material, construction, services and environmental design, interact in large or complex interiors and buildings. The module will provide a progressively more detailed knowledge of the interior from structure through interior organisation, to construction details of fixings, fittings and finishes. The module introduces methods, terms and techniques that can be used to evaluate and describe the range of different relationships that exist within interiors. It examines how and why professional practice standards are relevant as well as the remit for research, analysis and knowledge of construction and detail.
The main component focuses on the development and production of a range of drawn information, such as analytical and illustrative diagrams, and orthographic drawings, with written information used to establish an understanding of professional standards in design communication and the individual’s capacity to represent ideas and decisions precisely.
The module will use different learning and teaching methods to establish an understanding of professional practice through the analysis of spatial conditions, including site visits, surveys, case studies, introduction to regulatory guidelines and supportive lectures. The module will enhance development of CAD skills and increase knowledge of construction and detailing.
In addition, the module features a work placement component adding practical, relevant, insightful experience to the curriculum where a strategic and informed approach to the workplace can start to develop, this is embedded and developed through a CV, and reflective journal.
Year 3 modules include:
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Wednesday afternoon
- all year (September start) - Wednesday morning
Critical and Contextual Studies (CCS) in Level 6 offers you an opportunity to understand and explore the historical, social, cultural and economic factors which influence, and provide a context for, the development of architecture, art and design practice. Building on critical and academic skills gained during two years of previous study, the module encourages you to develop an awareness of issues around which there is some debate, uncertainty or contest. Based on this awareness, you will develop a set of research questions which constitute the topic of your study. This topic can be theoretical, historical, or technical and you may, with guidance, decide to engage with an area of scholarly interest outside the territory of your degree course.
You will develop your topic and respond to your research questions in the form of an extended critical study or Dissertation (6,000–7,000 words). Through this study you demonstrate that you can thoroughly research a topic, use appropriate methods of investigation, and work in a methodical and organised way to develop a coherent argument or line of thought. Teaching and Learning on the module is designed to support you in this process through a combination of tutorials and one to one supervision; as well as a series of formative and summative assessments which prepare you for the final submission.
The final form and presentation of your Dissertation can reflect a broad range of approaches to research and writing. It may include visual materials or other non-written forms of presentation as long they support your enquiry and comprise an integral part of the whole. By prior approval at the start of the module, your research can be part practice-based, and include primary research and fieldwork.
The dissertation may, by prior approval at the start of the module from the Head of Subject, be part practice-based and can include fieldwork and primary research in its methods. Its form and approach can reflect a broad range of design-specific approaches based on discussion and agreement with your supervisor.
By virtue of the sustained, independent nature of the learning and substantial final output, the dissertation is also intended to prepare you for possible postgraduate study.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Friday morning
This module provides a link between the completion of your undergraduate studies, and professional interior design practice. It establishes your ability to integrate and document the key areas of design knowledge within the context of your major design project and through this, a readiness for employment within interior design professional practice.
The coursework records and responds to key stages of professional practice delivered through a range of lectures including from specialist contributors. The module aims to enable you to demonstrate a knowledge, understanding of and ability to evaluate the following five areas of study in relation to your major project and that this is effectively and appropriately communicated:
1. cultural context;
2. professional and regulatory requirements;
3. environment and sustainability;
4. construction, materials and specification;
5. communication.The module aims to provide you with the means to demonstrate, through and in relation to your own design work, the extent of your understanding and evaluation of these key areas of professional interior design knowledge that inform a design project. The employability and professional practice lectures offered will enable you to better understand the industry, allowing you to make informed choices and prepare a career strategy.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Friday afternoon
This Major Project module enables you to prepare for independent practice in the workplace or to progress onto higher studies. It is the opportunity to synthesise your specialist knowledge and skills and effectively communicate these. In this module, you will carry out the project conceived and developed in the parallel Project Design and Development for Interiors module, fully realising it in appropriate form by its conclusion.
You will exercise and display your abilities in selecting, analysing and applying knowledge, skills and understanding to a negotiated and fully researched project in order to properly understand your strengths, interests and position in the field, and the potential for your future professional development.
You will show that you understand the complex and changing nature of problems in the professional sector of interior design and can devise and apply realistic strategies for constructing, applying and managing a process designed to provide solutions for complex situations with competing demands.
A professional standard of realisation, contextualisation and presentation will be expected, providing the elements for a portfolio of practice with which you may enter the fields of employment, self-employment or further studies.
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Tuesday afternoon
- all year (September start) - Tuesday morning
Together with your Major Project Realisation module, this module is intended to prepare interiors students for independent practice, entry into the professional workplace, or for higher study.
Through synthesis of knowledge of processes and principles, using an appropriate range of intellectual, creative and practical skills, you will research, analyse, design and develop a self-directed project. This will require in-depth investigation of a site, its cultural context, human inhabitation, activity and enterprise through a well-constructed design process involving practical and digital 2D and 3D methods of exploration and communication as a significant body of creative work for public exhibition.
A negotiated and approved proposal will confirm the individual project. Using creative exploration and experimentation, you will undertake research, selection, concept development, material investigation, modelling, prototyping and visualisation. The final outcome will be produced in the Major Project Realisation modules, and will be distinctive to the course in approach, scale, communication and visualisation or making and modelling.
This module will ensure that you review and reflect upon your own work and understand your prospective position in the creative sector. The module emphasises self-direction and personal focus whilst acknowledging external and professional expectations and constraints.
What our students say
"Best teachers ever! Thank you for supporting us through three years it’s been an amazing experience!" Lina Danileviciute 2018
"I have the most wonderful memories and I feel emotionally attached to the School. I look up to people like my former lecturers Kaye Newman and Janette Harris; they are strong women who taught me to analyse and think not only about design, but about myself and my surroundings. Awareness is probably the best word to express what I learnt during my studies. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to give back what I’ve learnt and become a lecturer myself. Passion and humility are key words for any designer." Alessia Bucci, co-lead for the design team behind Starbucks's first ever café on Italian soil
"The course has excellent contacts in regards to internships, exhibitions and competitions to take part in, giving us the opportunity to get experience in the real world."
"An engaging course and projects that are highly competitive. Great links to people in the industry up-to-date information about the architecture and design world, and great projects led by real clients."
"Flexible, independent and intellectually stimulating."
"...tutors always help with any difficulties you might have... you have the opportunity to meet wonderful people, a friendly environment and much more..."
"Teachers are very helpful and always there for you, you feel very welcome and there's a very friendly atmosphere."
"The course was excellent."
National Student Survey
Where this course can take you
As an interior decoration specialist, you’ll have the skills and expertise to work in all sectors of the interiors industry, from private clients to high-end residential, hotel and retail work. Following graduation, many of our students have gone on to work for some of the best interior design, furniture and architecture practices in London.
Recent graduates have been employed by design companies including Design International, Swarovski, Seen Displays, Turner Bates, Areen, Ayllot van Tromp, Green Room and Lumsden Design. Many graduates have gone on to work in TV and film set design, animation, lighting design, art gallery curation and journalism.
You'll have the opportunity to do a work placement in the 2nd year at some of the best leading design practices in the UK, here are 50 companies that we work closely with:
- Conran and Partners
- Sundae Design Studio
- TP Bennett
- Green Room
- Acrylicize
- Jestico and Whiles
- Foster + Partners
- BDP
- Gensler
- Turnerbates
- Eight Inc
- Seen Displays
- Areen
- IDS
- Wanda
- Nugget
- MKV
- IA: Interior Architects
- Woods Bagot
- Morpheus
- Aedas
- B3
- I am Online
- Carlisle Design Studio
- Aukett Swanke
- Casson Mann
- Jack Morton
- Spiers and Majors
- Jonathan Tuckey
- BDG
- Weston Williamson
- MCM
- Your Studios
- Scott Brownrigg
- Andrew Letts
- Silver Birch Design
- Cousins and Cousins
- Universal Design
- Bisset Adams
- IID
- JHR Interiors
- Alexander Waterworth
- HLW
- Allies and Morrison
- Allidad
- Block One Design Studio
- Oliver Laws
- Piercy and Company
- Lawson Robb
Important information about this course
We're committed to continuously improving our degree courses to ensure our students receive the best possible learning experience. Many of the courses in our School of Art, Architecture and Design are currently under review for 2023-24 entry. We encourage you to apply as outlined in the how to apply section of this page and if there are any changes to your course we will contact you. All universities review their courses regularly and this year we are strengthening our art, architecture and design courses to better reflect the needs of employers and ensure you're well-equipped for your future career.
Additional costs
Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.
Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.
Discover Uni – key statistics about this course
Discover Uni is an official source of information about university and college courses across the UK. The widget below draws data from the corresponding course on the Discover Uni website, which is compiled from national surveys and data collected from universities and colleges. If a course is taught both full-time and part-time, information for each mode of study will be displayed here.
How to apply
If you're a UK applicant wanting to study full-time starting in September, you must apply via UCAS unless otherwise specified. If you're an international applicant wanting to study full-time, you can choose to apply via UCAS or directly to the University.
If you're applying for part-time study, you should apply directly to the University. If you require a Student visa, please be aware that you will not be able to study as a part-time student at undergraduate level.
When to apply
The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) accepts applications for full-time courses starting in September from one year before the start of the course. Our UCAS institution code is L68.
If you will be applying direct to the University you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only be able to consider your application if there are places available on the course.
To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.
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