A Guide to Interior Design Research

Revised regulations for Titles II + III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), published in 2010.

Operated by the College of Design at North Carolina State University, CUD is a national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products.

The IDEA Center is dedicated to improving the design of environments and products by making them more usable, safer and appealing to people with a wide range of abilities throughout their life spans.

Contains over 38,000 projects, with browsing, searching, and other filtering options available. "Our aim is to collaboratively archive the world's built environment. OpenBuildings was founded by architects and architecture fanatics who became increasingly frustrated by the lack of online resources for learning about architecture and finding companies to work with. Until now this has been a difficult and fragmented experience, with no single destination offering a complete resource."

Web site dedicated to the study of international multi-family housing. HousingPrototypes.org contains examples of housing designed by different architects in different historic periods, countries, and cities. Projects range in scale from single buildings to examples of large social housing projects containing thousands of dwellings.

Database of over 8,000 LEED projects. Sort or search by project, location, owner organization, and certification level. Approximately 150 of the projects include case study details and images.

ASID is a community of people—designers, industry representatives, educators, and students—committed to interior design. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building, and outreach, ASID strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people’s lives. Its more than 38,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 chapters throughout the United States and Canada. ASID membership also includes more than 12,000 students of interior design who participate via student chapters at colleges, universities, and design schools with two-year and four-year programs throughout the U.S. and a “virtual” chapter through Rhodec International.

The Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) is an independent, non-profit accrediting organization for interior design education programs at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally. For more than 35 years, this knowledge-driven organization has been passionately committed to the ongoing enrichment of the interior design profession through identifying, developing and promoting quality standards for the education of entry-level interior designers, and then encouraging, accrediting and supporting educational programs to aspire to those standards.

IDEC was founded in 1963 and is dedicated to the advancement of education and research in interior design. IDEC fosters exchange of information, improvement of educational standards, and development of the body of knowledge relative to the quality of life and human performance in the interior environment. IDEC concentrates on the establishment and strengthening of lines of communication among individual educators, practitioners, educational institutions, and organizations concerned with interior design education. Its members are interior design educators, practitioners, researchers, scholars, and administrators in institutions of higher education. Membership is also offered to individuals who are interested in interior design education and the activities of IDEC.

For 27 years, IDC has served the Canadian interior design industry, advancing the profession through high standards of education, professional development, professional responsibility, and communication. IDC, with the support of its seven provincial association members, provides a forum for the unified voice of Canadian interior designers, so that the profession continues to grow and receive recognition and respect locally, nationally, and internationally from government, industry, and the public sector.

IIDA works to enhance quality of life through excellence in interior design and to advance interior design through knowledge, value, and community. IIDA is a professional networking and educational association of 12,000 members practicing in nine specialty forums and more than 30 chapters around the world. Additional information on how IIDA represents interior design professionals throughout the student to expert continuum is available on IIDA’s web site.

The core purpose of the NCIDQ Examination is to protect the health, life safety, and welfare of the public by establishing standards of competence in the practice of interior design. It serves to identify to the public those interior designers who have met the minimum standards for professional practice by passing the regularly updated NCIDQ Examination, considered as a universal standard by which to measure the competency of interior designers to practice as professionals.

Browse the sample codes and Driehaus Award winners for case studies of form-based codes used for corridors, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. Includes a library of codes and several professional learning opportunities.

AskNature is the world’s most comprehensive catalog of nature’s solutions to human design challenges. This curated online library features free information on more than 1,800 (and growing!) natural phenomena and hundreds of bio-inspired applications.

High quality images and descriptions of marble and granite.

An evidence-based design tool that transforms research into an easy-to-read, easy-to-use format.

Inhabitat is a forum for investigating emerging trends in product, interior, and architectural design. The site is devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

High quality images and descriptions of granite and marble.

High quality glass and ceramic tile images and descriptions.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based, market­-driven program that provides third-party verification of green buildings.

A partnership between the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). REGREEN guidelines address the major elements of any green renovation project, including the site of the home, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

Wall, floor, decorative tile source, includes images and descriptions.

"The Center for Health Design offers a variety of resources for those looking for the latest trends in healthcare architecture and design and how using evidence-based design to create healing environments can impact patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction, nurse retention, medical outcomes, safety, quality, and financial performance."