The MADE: In America Student Design House

Most student designers toil away in studio, learning CAD, drawing room plans, and designing presentation boards for imaginary clients, but their vision is never realized beyond the grade on their report card. That’s why, for the first time, The Washington Design Center and the MADE: In America Foundation are allowing teams from five area schools to practice in real life.

The Inaugural student design house opened last week, featuring the work of five teams from Anne Arundel Community College; Howard University; Montgomery College, James Madison University, and The George Washington University. Each team was mentored by a showroom in the WDC, and students were assigned to use furnishings, lighting and accessories that were made in America. 

We were stunned to see these students take what used to be the dilapidated remains of our former show house space and bring them back to glory, using only objects that were available on showroom floors — nothing was by special order or custom upholstery.

Here are the gorgeous results, all photographed by Morgan Howarth.

We’ll start with the room decorated by Howard University, which was deemed Best in Show last week by the ladies of the Congressional Club, whose spouses are current and former Members of Congress.

One of the student designers BUILT the intricate millwork and mantelpiece in four nights.

 The purpose of the Design House is to challenge young designers to interpret classic American interior design for the 21st Century, using American-made products from this year’s MADE: In America award winners: Century Furniture; Keith Fritz; Duralee Fine Furniture; Kindel; MacKenzie Dow; Brighton Pavilion and Mc Neilly. The sponsoring showrooms who carry these lines are Century and Duralee (of course); Michael-Cleary; AmericanEye; Charles Ray; and the Rist Corporation.

Anne Arundel’s central space is the first that visitors enter when they come to the student design house. We love its symmetry and architecture:

Century Furniture, top winner of this year's MADE: In America awards, was the exclusive provider of furnishings for this space.

George Washington’s team created this moody and elegant dining room — we adore the sexy chandelier from Michael-Cleary, which illuminates Keith Fritz’s gorgeous dining table (and don’t miss Keith’s star-studded mirror on the right):

The students painted the U.S. Constitution's preamble on the rug.

James Madison students created this soothing, neutral bedroom:

JMU decided on a green approach; every piece chosen for this room is eco-friendly.

And the students at Montgomery College got creative in using the pre-existing stone wall from a previous design house to incporate into a handsome office with wonderful trim detail on the ceiling:

The team used a reproduction of FDR's fireside chair (foreground) from the Rist Corporation.

The student house is definitely worth a visit, so you can read the detailed explanations in each room as to how the team pulled the design together. And a HUGE congratulations to Howard’s team for its achievement; it is well deserved. The rooms are open on the WDC’s concourse level through Jan. 31, 2012, so don’t miss it!