Curious about studying Interior and Spatial Design with Foundation Year - BA (Hons)at Bucks New University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
High Wycombe Campus
Full Time
Sep 2027
4 Year
Work, play, learn; everything we do happens in a space. This interior design degree will equip you with the knowledge and skills to turn these spaces into creative and innovative environments. This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.
Why study BA (Hons) Interior and Spatial Design at BNU?Accreditations
The course is accredited by the ‘UK’s leading accreditation body to the interior design industry’, SBID (Society of British and International Design). As well as this we are also a member of the network Interior Educators, here you’ll be able to take part in forums, exchange ideas and take part in competitions.
Inspiring facilitiesAt BNU we understand that a high standard of facilities is key to your growth and development as a designer.The course gives you access to a wide range of resources including digital suites, where you will learn how to use Auto CAD, Rhino and other software such as Photoshop and InDesign. You’ll also have the opportunity to develop your studio and workshop-based model-making skills using our laser cutting and 3D printing equipment.You’ll find yourself based in the designated studio for the course, where you’ll have an individual workspace, where you can hang inspiration, designs and ideas. The studio encourages professional learning as it mirrors practices within the profession.
Industry-linksLed by a dedicated teaching team with a wealth of experience within the interior and spatial design, exhibition design, landscape design, model-making and design visualisation and animation industry. Many of your tutors on this course are also involved with design practice and research.Not only will you benefit from a rich and varied programme, you’ll also have direct access to guest lectures, potential live project briefs, master classes, and plenty of networking opportunities with leading designers. Our external partners and collaborators include interior designers, architects, exhibition and event designers, museums and music industry contacts. The course offers study trips to London and abroad, focussing on the discovery and understanding of design and its consequences by visiting world renown architectural and design practices. Additionally, our alumni who are practicing internationally, continue to offer work opportunities to you.
A degree for youThis programme focuses on the creative enhancement of architectural environments, involving the design of spaces. By working through sequences of projects, you will acquire a wide range of creative and technical skills which enable you to complete design projects from concept to final presentation.The programme is aimed at those who passionately want to produce designs for the spaces in which we live, work and engage in leisure activities. You will convert and renovate existing buildings as well as design new structures and spaces.
What will I study?The degree embeds core professional skills as design tools in the early stages of the course, such as freehand drawing, model making, object fabrication, technical drawing, 3D modelling and digital visualization. You will learn how to design and specify fixtures and fittings as well as materials for construction, evaluate processes, and communicate how spaces are built.
This theory-based module introduces you to the skills and perspectives needed to research, analyse, speak and write about images, objects and designed spaces. It familiarises you with historical and contemporary topics and issues, as you develop skills in research, critical analysis and communication, and interpretive strategies appropriate to studio-based art & design disciplines.
This module introduces you to the fundamentals for the communication and representation of Interior and Spatial Design through a variety of mediums and techniques. The projects which you’ll undertake will encourage skilled technical competency as well as creative experimentation through model-making with different materials, tools and processes.
The module introduces you to the notions of enclosure and interiority. It invites you to explore ways a designer creates environments for people to inhabit or immerse themselves in, informed by theoretical and spatial contexts. Project work will offer opportunities to explore how interior spaces can be viewed as mise-en-scene of theoretical concepts such as the ones of a script, spatial experiences created through the fundamentals of composition and how spaces can be constructed to anticipate and accommodate speculative characters and living scenarios or evoke them.
This module introduces you to a range of digital representation techniques, which are critical to your application in the design industry. You’ll undertake lessons in CAD (Computer Aided Design) software focusing on digital technical drawing and receive workshop inductions for facilities such as laser cutting and 3D printing.
The module aims to expand your explorations of exteriority and the public realm. You’ll be introduced to site analysis processes to formulate a design proposal for a public space. You’ll build an understanding of the complexity of environmental, political, social, spatial and financial factors which affect the performance of public spaces. The theme of exteriority is further explored through the design of free-standing and independent structures.
On this module you’ll be presented with key global debates which impact our lives and could influence your creative practice and positions as creatives in ever-changing professional industries. Through research and critical reflection, you’ll explore these issues which may be related to sustainability, politics and other ecological or socio- economic factors, and respond to them creatively using your chosen discipline-specific practice.
You’ll develop your understanding of contemporary theories, debates, and practices in Art and Design from a multidisciplinary perspective. Develop your ability to identify and engage critically with information from a wide range of sources and materials relevant to Interior and Spatial Design. You’ll be encouraged to follow independent lines of thought, and to establish links between existing ideas and your own studio practice.
This module aims to support your employability by encouraging you to consider and evaluate your interior/spatial design practice within a professional context and to promote an understanding of the key considerations required to support practice. This module uniquely informs you about the structures and organisations which underpin professional practice within the creative industries.
Adaptation is a subject at the forefront of architectural practice and a solution to the most pressing challenges in the 21st century, such as climate change and urbanisation. This module introduces the key issues associated with sustainability, and the environmental impact of interior design practice, drawing from the concept of adaptive reuse - a term relating to changing the function of buildings as the needs of the economies and societies that originally gave them birth, evolve.
Gain experience linked to your intended graduate employment field within the interior and spatial design sector. Students will complete activities, tasks, projects, or live briefs for, at, or in collaboration with an internal or external organisation. Placements may take place on-site, remotely, or in simulated professional settings, and are formally integrated into the student’s course of study.
This module will develop creative thinking in the context of interior environments, specifically concerning contemporary high-end retail spaces. You’ll be expected to consider existing retail areas that represent forward-thinking aesthetics. The purpose of this module is for you to be imaginative and use creativity and develop skills to design a retail space suitable for the occupier’s identity.
This module will enhance your understanding and appreciation of the roles, relationships, and responsibilities that can play a major part in progressing and sustaining your professional practice. Extending your work in relation to career aspirations, you’ll develop visual, verbal and written presentation skills to support communication within a range of business, financial and professional frameworks.
As prospective Interior and Spatial Design graduate and professional, it is crucial to master the processes of managing and delivering complex projects. During this module, you’ll work on a set design brief exploring all the key aspects encountered during the past two years of your study. The project has real-life applications drawn either from competition briefs or live projects.
Through workshops, seminars, and one-to-one supervision tutorials, this module provides you with the support required for writing your contextual report on practice. This self-directed theoretical/critical and evaluative piece of written work consists of a detailed account of the critical references surrounding your final major project, evidencing the in-depth research conducted.
This module builds on the knowledge and skills to support professional practice in the visual arts, design and the creative industries you’ll need. You’ll develop in-depth knowledge of your chosen field of practice and begin to develop self-promotional material and your understanding of key aspects relevant to business, such as branding, marketing and royalty agreements.
Extending your critical thinking and application of skills, this module develops their research practice from the contextual foundation established in previous modules. You are provided with an opportunity to sustain the creative dialogue between your research and subject-based practice, enabling you to establish your professional and creative identity through a self-directed brief/proposal.
Foundation Year
4.4Bucks New University (BNU) is a student-focused university based in High Wycombe, with over 130 years of educational his...
