Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture

Interior spaces are nowadays laboratories of contemporaneity. Whether it is through renovation projects, temporary scenography or artistic installations, the interiors have become an endless arena for the exploration of cultural, environmental and social agendas that transform the contemporary condition from within.

The BA in Interior Architecture is a three-year undergraduate programme that prepares its students for a professional career in interior design. The curriculum focuses on the variety of spaces, objects and societies that configure contemporary interiors in every domain and on every scale, from private to public, local to global. The courses combine studio projects on different aspects of the discipline (private/public interiors, heritage renovation, scenography, object design) with theory modules (history/theory of architecture and design) and technical modules (construction and materiality, energy and sustainability, analogue and digital representation, professional practice). Students in the BA programme are thus led to master every aspect of the profession, while learning to position themselves on contemporary issues.

Interaction with reality
A primary quality of the Bachelor program is its constant interaction with reality: the Interior Architecture Department often collaborates with design organizations, institutions and companies. Thus, students are required to work on real projects (domestic, commercial, work spaces, exhibitions or temporary scenography) preparing them for all the conceptual, technical and administrative aspects inherent in professional practice. Recent work by our students includes projects presented at the European Heritage Days in Geneva , Open House in Genthod, Mudac in Lausanne, as well as collaborations with prestigious commercial brands such as AesopBucherer or USM.

International Community 
The student community of the Interior Architecture Department works closely with an international team of interior architects, designers and experts in various fields. Welcoming guests and renowned lecturers from all backgrounds, the BA programme is conceived as a space of freedom and responsibility, both professional and social. A significant aspect consists of incorporating other perspectives to avoid a monolithic and exclusively Western vision of history, design and art: our approach to education praises diversity, and we encourage students to develop their own creative identity. The curriculum is supplemented with workshops, public conferences, exhibitions and study trips.

HEAD – Genève: the Institution and the city 
The BA in Interior Architecture provides students with the opportunity to interact with a broader community that includes other subjects taught at HEAD–Genève such as Visual Communication, Cinema, Fine Arts, Fashion Design and Media Design. Workshops and cross-disciplinary courses are regularly organised to introduce multidisciplinary programmes and arouse interdisciplinary creativity. On HEAD’s new campus, students work in spacious design studios and have access to advanced technical workshops (wood, metal, prototyping, models, photography). Finally, the school is located in Geneva, a city where architecture and design have made remarkable headway, with numerous cultural institutions such as Maison de l’Architecture and Pavillon Sicli.

instagram : @head_baai

Teaching language : French. See all language requirements

Bachelor's studies at HEAD – Genève are in French.

Candidates whose upper-secondary level qualification has not been issued by a French-speaking institution must, once they have been admitted, submit a B2-level French certificate by 31 August.
Candidates do not have to submit this B2-level French certificate if they hold:

  • an upper-secondary level qualification from a German-speaking Swiss canton or from Ticino that includes French as a subject.
  • a tertiary level A qualification (Bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification of at least 180 ECTS credits) in which French is the official language of instruction.

See all Interior Architecture’s projects here

Head of Department
Javier Fernandez Contreras

Scientific Deputy
Valentina De Luigi

Secretary
Lucie Landenbergue

Assistants
Camille Bagnoud
Maria Clara Castioni
Robin Delerce
Cécile-Diama Samb
Paule Perron
Valentin Calame
David Viladomiu Ceballos

Teaching staff
Endrias Abeyi
Ahmed Belkhodja and Ana Luisa Soares (Fala atelier)
Irma Cilacian Gandolfi
Yves Corminboeuf
David Fagart and Line Fontana (Fagart & Fontana) 
Simon Husslein
Youri Kravtchenko
Leonid Slonimskiy
Roberto Zancan
Michael-Franz Jakob
Philippe Rahm

Invited speakers

Barbara Brondi et Marco Rainò (BRH+)
Adrien Comte et Adrien Meuwly (Comte/Meuwly)
Valentin Dubois
Sébastien Grosset
Thomas Juguin
Christophe Lombardo
Dorothée Loustalot
Anna MacIver-Ek et Axel Chevroulet (MacIver-Ek Chevroulet)
Jonathan Martinez
Valentine Maeder
Federico Neder
Manon Portera
Shizuka Saito
Bertrand Van Dorp