The NKBA’s College of the Year and Excellence in Education honorees show a keen understanding of the Association’s exacting requirements. By Dianne M. Pogoda

 

They’re celebrating at San Diego Mesa College — the winner of NKBA’s College of the Year for its outstanding technical merit in student kitchen and bath design.

The College of the Year is chosen from among all the entries in the Association’s annual Student Design Competition. Each school that enters picks its top two entries to compete for the College of the Year. This year, there were about 300 entries for the assignment, which was designing a kitchen or bath for a Habitat for Humanity home in Warren County, N.J. The judging is based on technical expertise and precision of drawing and compliance to NKBA’s industry-leading standards. Colleges may enter this technical merit competition without entering the design competition, but the assignment is the same.

“We are especially proud because we are a two-year program and we compete with many of the four-year programs,” said Helene Lindquist, adjunct professor in the interior design program at San Diego Mesa College. “This was an especially good group. They were very dedicated to figuring out what they needed to include in these drawings. They took a lot of initiative.”

Lindquist pointed out that as a two-year school, students are not required to take the same number of general education credits as for a four-year degree. “But our students get the same amount of design education — they are required to take 60 units in design.

“I get them toward the end of the program, so they come in with a very strong skill set,” she added. “We teach them how to refine their design processes, as well as teach them about the NKBA standards and requirements. Most of our design classes include parts of the NKBA standards, but we have one class dedicated to teaching them for kitchen and bath drafting. That makes a difference. Kitchen and bath drafting is done on a different scale from general drafting.”

Lindquist said that in addition to a tremendous attention to detail, the student submissions showed a particular knowledge of the lighting plan.

“They specified particular lighting brands and bulbs. They also had a very tight budget because this was a Habitat for Humanity project, and they priced out very specifically to stay within budget.”

Peter Albanese, CKBD, a veteran judge for the Student Design Competition as well as for the College of the Year and Excellence in Education evaluations, said San Diego Mesa had the most precise and accurate drawings. The winning submissions each scored 97 out of 100 points. The program coordinator chooses two drawings — which can be two kitchens, two baths or one of each — to submit to the CotY competition. In this case, two kitchen designs were chosen.

“We were looking to see whether they captured what the client was looking for, and did they meet the NKBA standards,” said Albanese. “The winners were very clean — the facilitator there is running a good program. We were very impressed. The top drawings showed a good understanding of kitchen and bath standards.

“Over the years, I’d say the drawings have gotten sharper,” he added. “They are more cleaned-up.”

Albanese noted that collectively, overall student submissions showed a lot of the same errors in not meeting the standards across the board. “Some of these are from the newer schools, and some are from interior design programs, not specifically kitchen and bath design programs. Interior designers draw a little differently from kitchen designers — that’s why we set these standards. But I’ll say a high percentage of the students get it. The goal now is to get them through school and get them jobs. I think if they stick with it, the industry is in good hands.”

When asked what makes SDMC stand out, Lindquist said that the school’s interior design curriculum  falls under the architecture department, where there’s also a building and construction program. “Our students can take courses from all these areas,” she explained. “It gives them a greater understanding and makes their skills especially strong. It strengthens the whole program. We recently added classes in blueprint reading and architecture for interiors.

“We get a lot of very highly educated people who have already had a first career,” she said. “for instance I have a lot of bankers lawyers nurses — practically from every walk of life. They’ve spent a number of years doing something that wasn’t as personally fulfilling, and now they’re looking to do something with more personal enrichment, something more creative.”

SIDEBAR

Excellence In Education Honorees

The following colleges are recognized for Excellence in Education:

  • Century College, Saint Paul, Minn., online and in-class
  • Front Range Community College — Larimer Campus, Fort Collins, Colo.
  • Joliet Junior College, Joliet, Il.
  • Lakeland College, Vermillion, Alberta, Canada
  • Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, Ca.