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Fighting Fire with Fire: Redefining the Interior Design Value Proposition

Setser, Katherine
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377873629

Abstract Details

2013, MSARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture.
According to the interior design professionals' codes of ethics, the first priority of interior designers is the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the public in the built environment. This responsibility is paramount and the dangers very real. According to The Geneva Association, the U.S. is among the deadliest of industrialized nations, despite the fact that it outspends all others on building fire protection by a factor of ten or more. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and numerous fire commissions consistently find that proper selection, specification, arrangement, and/or installation of interior finish materials and other interior space content such as furniture, fixtures, and equipment – the very issue with which interior designers grapple daily – are significant contributors to the loss of life and property. Yet, the interior design profession has not succeeded in making an effective jurisdictional claim to public protection of health, safety, and welfare in interior environments. This failure is not for lack of effort; the interior design profession has made significant strides in defining itself and its specialized expertise, documenting and disseminating its body of knowledge, and linking specialized tasks and research outcomes to the expertise of the profession. Rather, the obstacle appears to be a failure to articulate its definition and expertise in concrete, observable, demonstrable terms that take into consideration marketplace culture: the behavior, delivery systems, vernacular language, and the values of its various audiences. In short, it is a failure to recognize an existing and distinct cultural gap between interior design and other design practices (architecture, engineering, interior decoration and decorative arts), a gap that permits – even promotes – misperceptions or misinterpretations of its value. This work first explores the practice-related and cultural gaps that prevent the presentation (both fact and form) of evidence of harm most recognized by allied licensed professions in their own path to licensure, and investigates alternative data that provide compelling evidence of a causal relationship between interior space content and irreparable harm to the occupants in public and high-risk occupancies. Study methodologies for this portion of the work include case study analysis of select NFPA fire investigations, detailed analysis of NFPA annualized fire data, and comparative analysis of preliminary data published in 2010. Second, this study evaluates the relationship between the current delivery system for interior design services and the existing regulatory protections and customary design practice standards in order to determine their effectiveness in mitigating risk to the public caused by interior design content. Included in this examination are the customary regulatory review and permitting process, the timing and overlap of architectural and interior design services, and the effective coverage of interior design regulation, professional credentialing, professional certification, and the accreditation of educational programs with respect to the protection of public health, safety, and welfare in interior environments. Implications of this study include the identification of existing impediments to productive collaboration by regulatory officials, allied professionals, and those within the interior design industry and related educational systems necessary to acknowledge and accept an expanded model of responsibility.
Edson Cabalfin, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Patrick Snadon, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
369 p.
Architecture
interior design; cases of harm; interior space content; fire safety; interior finishes and materials; interior design regulation

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Setser, K. (2013). Fighting Fire with Fire: Redefining the Interior Design Value Proposition [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377873629

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Setser, Katherine. Fighting Fire with Fire: Redefining the Interior Design Value Proposition. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377873629.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Setser, Katherine. "Fighting Fire with Fire: Redefining the Interior Design Value Proposition." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377873629

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.