E+ID students present their works at the Senior Showcase Exhibit
After all the late nights, tears and sweat, 2023 graduating seniors, Montserrat Lanfranco, Laura Flor, Maria Bernaldez, Angela Huber and Sarah Robertson had one last hurdle before Commencement: the Environmental + Interior Design’s Senior Showcase Exhibit. Presenting their projects to industry designers, family and friends on a Thursday night, the five seniors were eager to share a compilation of their works over the course of their undergraduate studies.
“There will be no more crying in the studio and calling security late at night to open the doors,” Flor laughed. “It’s exciting to be done, but it feels surreal because we’re all still busy.”
During her freshman year, Lanfranco built a “light box,” as required in her EID 205 Color for Interiors class, which focused extensively on the use and application of color in interior environments, including color notations, the Psychology of color and human response and application of color.
Using a flashlight utility on an iPhone, Lanfranco pointed a beam inside the box—which had several round cutouts, each covered with a different patch of color cellophane—and explained the effects that color has on people’s moods.
“Imagine this is a building and the sun is moving through it, casting different colors and lighting,” said Lanfranco, shining a beam across her light box. “Color and lighting can certainly impact a person’s behavior and mental state.”
For her senior Capstone project, Bernaldez presented a re-design proposal to members of the Kahuku Medical Center Kupuna Caregivers. She also participated in a pitch to Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center in East Oahu.
“I also had an internship with RMA Architects,” Bernaldez said. “And I just received an email about a full-time junior interior designer job offer from my supervisor at RMA, so I’m absolutely thrilled.”
The mission of Chaminade University’s Environmental + Interior Design Program is to educate, engage and empower students to optimize design of the built environment as it relates to our global, multi-cultural, multi-generational living and working communities. Graduates, like Bernaldez, are prepared to make the transition to entry-level professional practice, and to collaborate with architects and related industry professionals.
“The scope of design has expanded and much broader now,” explained E + ID program coordinator Matthew Higgins. “Here at Chaminade, the program added ‘Environmental’ to the curriculum in attempt to breakdown barriers, and to think beyond windows and doors.”
This was precisely the approach that Fuentes took when she worked on her Art Museum project. “I wanted to see how someone diagnosed with autism—which includes such a broad spectrum—would experience an art exhibit,” Fuentes said. “So, I set out to create more of an interactive exhibit.”
