University of North Texas 
Design of a modern office layout with materials and furniture shown.
The Ray and Georgia Gough Design Research Space allows design students to explore, create and grow as designers.
Dr. Phillip Park curates news and information on job vacancies, internships and student activities on the Interior Design blog on CVAD News and Views.
Interior Design undergraduates pause after a day's visit and competition at the Kimball Showroom in Dallas.
Interior Design B.F.A.
About the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Interior Design
The mission of the Interior Design B.F.A. program is based on the belief that interior
designers bear design responsibilities for all spaces built for human occupancy. Our
curriculum prepares students for the challenges found in design practice, including
accepting and analyzing problems, assessing existing conditions, researching and synthesizing
solutions, visually and verbally presenting solutions, and reviewing the process for
insights on future improvements, all with the goal of creating interior design solutions
to improve the physical environment and protect the safety of the inhabitants.
Interior designers create the environments in which we live, work and play. They work
with residential and non-residential spaces and generally specialize in one or the
other. They understand the fundamentals of design and its technical development in
drafting, computer-aided design, presentation and interior construction. Interior
designers must also have knowledge regarding lighting and building systems and federal,
state and local building codes.
Interior designers are integral to any such project and should be involved early in
the building and planning process. Before beginning a project, the interior designer
meets with a client to determine the intended use of space and learn about the client's
tastes. Interior designers prepare drawings and specifications for interior construction
and work closely with architects and builders. They design lighting and interior details,
coordinate colors and select furniture. They also plan additions and renovations.
The College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas offers undergraduate
and graduate degrees in interior design through the Department of Design. Our faculty
members have years of experience, both national and international, as independent
designers, consultants and architects. As a student in the Interior Design program,
your coursework will focus on computer-aided design, lighting, design for special
populations, green and sustainable design, and the history of furniture and architecture,
among other subjects.
Many graduates of the UNT CVAD Interior Design program work as designers for established
design and architectural firms or run their own businesses. Teaching Interior Design
at the college level typically requires an advanced degree.
Admission to the B.F.A. in Interior Design Program
Entering students interested in pursuing a major in the Design Department in the College
of Visual Arts and Design are classified as pre-majors. To be admitted to the interior
design major — and to be eligible to enroll in advanced art courses — a pre-major
must meet all the following requirements.
Completion of at least 30 hours of college courses, including the following, with
a grade of C or better.
ART 1600, Foundations: Perception and Translation
ART 1700, Foundations: Space — Physical, Temporal and Virtual
ART 1800, Foundations: Narrative and Representation
ART 1900, Foundations: Systems and Transformations
ADES 1625, Introduction to Interior Design
ADES 2630, Drawing for Interior Design
And one of the following.
ART 2350, Art History Survey I
ART 2360, Art History Survey II
ART 2370, Art History Survey III
Entry into the Major: Entry-Portfolio Review
Submit a portfolio for the Entry-Portfolio Review based on work completed in ADES 2630 and pass the review.
GPA requirements
Have a minimum 2.50 GPA from ART 1700, ART 1800, ADES 1625 and ADES 2630.
Have a minimum of 2.25 UNT grade point average.
Technology Requirements 2025
Overview
After completing the CVAD Interior Design Program Entry-Portfolio Review, each student
accepted into the program is required to own a laptop that meets the specifications
listed.
CVAD Interior Design B.F.A. program uses current technology to prepare students better
for their professional design careers. To support competency, we require a laptop
computer for every student entering our program. We use software programs that demand
high-performance processing power, random access memory (short-term memory), and graphic
capabilities — a video/graphics card.
Important Note: Depending on the nature of the course, individual faculty will enforce the laptop
requirement for in-class use along with the necessary associated software.
Students should
- Have a laptop with performance capabilities that can perform efficiently throughout their student life and
- Use cloud services or an external hard drive to back up all files frequently, e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive or UNT’s EagleConnect One Drive — up to 25 GB of cloud-based storage and files up to 2 GB.
Software
Essential Software in the Interior Design Program
Courses may require additional software announced by instructors through the course
syllabus.
- REVIT 2025: Free download available from Autodesk website; not Revit LT
- AutoCAD 2025: Free download available; Not AutoCAD Architecture
- SketchUp: Free download available from Google; SketchUp Pro requires a fee
- Microsoft Office: Including Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign are helpful. Free use of Adobe Creative Cloud is available with on-campus use. Note: To buy a discounted subscription for use anywhere, please visit the CVAD IT Services
web page, Adobe Creative Cloud for UNT Students.
Technical Specifications
Among the design software programs recommended by the program, Revit, building information
modeling software, demands higher system requirements.
Important Note: Obtaining a laptop with the system requirements for the Revit BIM software is critical
to avoid technical problems.
Following are the laptop requirements for UNT B.F.A. Interior Design students based on the Adobe Creative Cloud for UNT Students.
Laptop Requirements
Following are the laptop requirements for UNT Interior Design students based on the
system requirements for Autodesk Revit.
Revit 2025: Performance: large, complex models
Operating System: 64-bit Microsoft® Windows® 10 or Windows 11. See Autodesk's Product Support Lifecycle
for support information.
CPU Type: Intel® i-Series, Xeon®, AMD® Ryzen, Ryzen Threadripper PRO. 2.5 GHz or Higher. The highest CPU GHz recommended.
Memory: 64 GB RAM. Autodesk® Revit® software products will use multiple cores for many tasks.
Video Display: A minimum of 1920 x 1200 with true color; Maximum: Ultra-High (4k) Definition Monitor
Video Adapter: DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5 and a minimum of 4 GB of video
memory
Hard Drive: 30 GB free disk space; 10,000+ RPM Hard Drive — for Point Cloud interactions — or Solid-State Drive
Monitor size: We recommend a bigger sized monitor; minimum of 14 inches.
Pointing Device: MS-Mouse or 3Dconnexion compliant device
Hardware
PC (Windows OS) or Mac PC Dual Platform (Mac OS + Windows OS)
Some of the software used in the UNT Interior Design program is incompatible with
the Apple Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS), and Mac versions of the software are
not available.
ADES 2660 Technology for Design: The Software Applications course uses Revit software on Windows OS only, NOT on Mac
OS.
Important Note: Your laptop must be capable of operating Windows OS. Other software in use may work on Windows OS
and Mac OS. However, the screen appearance is significantly different. Learning these
programs on Mac OS is entirely the student’s responsibility.
The Interior Design program strongly recommends a laptop with the Windows operating
system. Since REVIT and AutoCAD have long been used in the design industry on Windows
OS, it is encouraged for students to operate these programs on Windows OS as it is
more beneficial.
While we recommend the Windows platform, students may use a Mac PC dual platform that
meets the technical specifications listed above.
Note: It has been noticed that the Mac PC dual-platform (using either Parallels or Bootcamp)
experiences more technical problems and crashes while operating AutoCAD or Revit software.
Dual-platform systems seem less efficient and more expensive due to the additional
demands of disk space and possibly increased technical support to run both the Mac
and Windows Operating Systems.
Additional Equipment
External Hard Drive/Flash Drive: Students should save their work frequently and keep at least two backup files in
separate locations. An external hard drive, an external flash drive, or a combination
of both is recommended to make backup files and transfer files between computers.
You may use a flash drive to turn in assignments and others for backups. The importance
of backups cannot be over-emphasized. Please note that lost or damaged files of your
work are not considered an acceptable excuse for any missing assignment.
External Mouse: Operating AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp, and Adobe software using a touchpad are very
cumbersome. We recommend the use of a mouse — preferably with a scroll wheel — for
efficiency and ease of use.
Free Student Copies of AutoCAD and Revit from Autodesk
The Autodesk® website provides free software downloads for students. It includes educational
versions of AutoCAD, Revit, etc. Please be aware that the CVAD IT Services team continuously
updates the software programs in the labs.
Autodesk: To get the free software downloads for students, go to the Autodesk® website, Autodesk Student Access for Students and Educators.
UNT Bookstore: The official UNT Bookstore may offer software programs to students at a discounted
price. Please visit the UNT Bookstore website.
The Interior Design B.F.A. Technology Requirements 2025 can be downloaded here or from the Interior Design: Information to Download web page.
Contact
Associate Professor
Coordinator, Interior Design Undergraduate Program
940-565-3621
Accreditation
The interior design program leading to the B.F.A. in Interior Design is accredited
by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, www.accredit-id.org, 206 César E. Chávez Ave SW, Suite 350, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503.
The CIDA-accredited program prepares students for entry-level interior design practice,
for advanced study, and to apply for membership in professional interior design organizations.
The B.F.A. in Interior Design granted by the University of North Texas meets the educational
requirement for eligibility to sit for the National Council for Interior Design Qualification
Examination (NCIDQ Exam). For more information about NCIDQ Exam eligibility visit:
https://www.cidq.org/eligibility-requirements.