Two Fay Jones School Interior Design Students Win Donghia Foundation Prize

Photos Submitted

From left, Christine Wass and Jessica Baker

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two interior design students in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas each have been awarded $30,000 from the Angelo Donghia Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes design education.

Jessica Baker and Christine Wass both were recognized with Foundation 2016 Senior Student Scholarship Awards based on projects they submitted to the foundation. They were among 15 students selected from a pool of 68 student projects from accredited universities in this year’s competition.

This is the second year for Fay Jones School students to receive this honor. In 2015, Kelly Walsh became the first University of Arkansas student to receive this scholarship.

Baker and Wass, now both in their fourth year of studies, are among winners from top design schools in North America. Twelve of the 15 scholarship winners are from private art schools or universities, and located on the east and west coasts. The remaining three students are from the University of Arkansas and the University of Nevada, the only public schools in the group.

For her Cleveland, Ohio, hotel design, Jessica Baker incorporated the city’s strong arts presence. Artwork courtesy of Jessica Baker.

“It is terrific to see our students competing and winning against students from the top-ranked interior design schools in North America in the biggest scholarship for our discipline,” said Carl Matthews, professor and head of the Department of Interior Design. “This is equivalent to the basketball team playing in the Final Four or the football team in the playoffs for the national championship. I am amazingly proud of the hard work, discipline and talent of students and faculty for attaining this honor two years in a row.”

Baker and Wass said the recognition with this prestigious scholarship brings attention to the quality of their work and the Fay Jones School.

“It was just kind of like an affirmation that I can do this,” Wass said. “I can design. It’s possible.”

“I would really like to shine some light on the Fay Jones School because I think it is really underrated,” Baker said.

The students submitted their projects to the Donghia Foundation as part of their third-year interior design studio with Jennifer Webb last spring. Webb had all of the students create projects for boutique hotels, working with alumni at Looney and Associates in Dallas. Webb narrowed the class’ designs to those produced by Baker and Wass, who then submitted them to the Donghia Foundation.

For her Phoenix, Arizona, hotel design, Christine Wass took inspiration from the myth of the phoenix rising. Artwork courtesy of Christine Wass.

“Both Christine and Jessica began with strong creative ideas and implemented the conceptual framework to every detail,” said Webb, associate professor of interior design. “Even more importantly, they both tackled technical construction details to illustrate that interior design is much more than surface decoration. They demonstrated creative and technical skills that lead to professional success. I just couldn't be more pleased for them and for our program.”

Wass’ hotel was designed to be located in Phoenix, Arizona, while Baker’s was designed for Cleveland, Ohio. Wass said she took inspiration from the idea of a phoenix rising and styled her hotel to symbolize aspects of the mythical bird, particularly its life, death and rebirth. Baker geared the design of her hotel toward clientele who would take advantage of Cleveland’s arts presence and incorporated the city’s arts into her design, she said.

Jim Looney and Jenny Tredway of Looney and Associates worked with Baker, Wass and others in the studio to develop their ideas. The firm provided the schematic design of a real hotel project, which the students used for the basis for their designs.

Baker said that working from the designs of an actual hotel made their studio project seem much more like a real-world situation because interior designers often have to work with existing architecture.

“You’re given this hotel, and you can only change so much about the architecture,” Baker said.

After winning the competition, both students will be able to begin paying off student loans.

Wass’ scholarships ran out last year, and she said that the money will do much to relieve her family’s financial burden, as two of her siblings are also in college.

Both students now also plan to study abroad. Baker said she has never been out of the country before and thinks that the exposure to other cultures will help her become a better designer.

“I’m going to get to do so many things that I wasn’t able to do before,” Baker said.

About the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design: The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas houses professional design programs of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design together with liberal studies programs. All of these programs combine studio design education with innovative teaching in history, theory, technology and urban design. A broad range of course offerings equips graduates with the knowledge and critical agility required to meet the challenges of designing for a changing world. Their training prepares students with critical frameworks for design thinking that also equip them to assume leadership roles in the profession and in their communities. The school’s architecture program was ranked 26th in the nation, and the 12th best program among public, land-grant universities, in the 16th Annual Survey of America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools, a study conducted in 2015 by the Design Futures Council and published in DesignIntelligence. For more information visit fayjones.uark.edu.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs.